Tuesday from kl. 16.30: Watch Norway Chess on TV 2 Sport 2 or TV 2 Play.
Magnus Carlsen-Alireza Firouzja 3-0
The chess king beat Alireza Firouzja with white pieces. It was his first classic chess victory during the tournament. Previously, he had only taken victories in Armageddon replays, which give 1.5 points.
Against Firouzja, it seemed for a long time to go towards another draw plus replay, but Carlsen found the winning moves when time began to run out for the French-Iranian.
Being put out: – How in black …?
– That we ever doubted him, says Jon Ludvig Hammer.
– We doubted a lot along the way, TV 2’s chess expert continues.
– He made several mistakes
Doubt also had the world’s best chess player.
– I am very surprised to have won, really, Carlsen says to TV 2.
Like the experts – and the chess computer – he envisioned a draw when the game was to be decided.
– He made several mistakes. I would say that. The first mistake was that he spent too much time, states the world champion.
– Now I do not think I would have done anything different if he had a good time. What I played was the only way to try to win, he thinks.
When Norway Chess was decided on the penultimate day last year, Firouzja made a big mistake against Carlsen in a game that went to a draw.
– I had in mind that he was extremely “shaky” after the draw play-off last year, and he has been there many times before as well. So, of course, I had some hope for him. In such playoffs, it does not happen very often, he points out.
Carlsen is in third place in the tournament, half a point behind Jan Nepomnyashchy and three and a half points behind Richárd Rapport.
The latter beat Aryan Tari with white on Monday.
This is how he explains the ingenious winning moves
Big lead
Carlsen played lightning fast against 18-year-old Firouzja. When 18 moves had been played, the world champion had only spent four minutes. Firouzja, on the other hand, had spent just over half an hour.
However, the experts were not entirely convinced by the position Carlsen had earned.
– I can not say that he has gotten particularly much out of the opening, Simen Agdestein said during TV 2’s broadcast.
With few pieces on the board, the 30-year-old struggled to find winning opportunities. The experts were pretty sure that the game went to a draw, given that the players found the right moves.
Then Firouzja spent a very long time on what the experts thought were obvious features. The French-Iranian ended up in a situation where he only had five minutes left, while Carlsen had almost an hour.
A few moves later, Carlsen’s chances of winning skyrocketed, which took the experts to bed a bit:
– Oh my
Agdestein praises the 30-year-old’s plan.
– This is a good sign, because that’s how Magnus won his games before he became world champion in 2013, he said, and elaborated:
– “Slow, clean” way. That’s how he did it. Then you had to change opponents, change gears and win in other ways, but this is the hard way. Oh my.
Tuesday from kl. 16.30: Watch Norway Chess on TV 2 Sport 2 or TV 2 Play.
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