Its Sorcery!" Magnus Carlsen Loses Queen On Move 18 And CRUSHES 2900 GM!

Do you ever wonder what happens to somebody when they get so good at chess that they can basically play any ridiculous opening they want to as poorly as they want to, landing themselves in a dead loss position before move 10, losing their queen by move 20, and then still going on to win the game in less than 15 moves after that? Well, sometimes that's exactly what they do. And what the world's number one wood waxer Magnus Carlsen did just do in this most unholy desecration that you're about to witness, played only days ago on Chess.com. What you're about to see from Magnus represents the height of opening irresponsibility as he launches a totally unsound kingside assault after he's already got a much worse position, going straight for his opponent's jugular, whether it's justified or not, and it's definitely not. He's kind of like a turtle in this one who's lost its shell and is trying to attack a porcupine. It doesn't go well. He ends up losing his queen, and by move 17, the engine is already giving a four-pawn advantage to his opponent. The game is basically over, but do you think Magnus Carlsen resigns? H-no. Instead, he invites his 2900-rated Russian opponent, Grandmaster Klementy Seyshev, to say hello to his little friend, i.e. his pathetic little queenless band of invaders, with which he somehow manages to generate a table-turning checkmating attack. There is no earthly explanation for what you're about to see. Actually, there is, but I think I'll save it for the end of the video. I want to get right into this outrageous game. Magnus Carlsen has the white pieces in this three-minute blitz abomination, and he opens with d4. Klementy replies d5. We have a knight to c3, a move that traditionally has been considered a bit subprime as it blocks white's c-pawn from influencing the center. Klementy responds with a relative rarity of his own, c5, which my database is calling the Irish Gambit. Magnus declines taking on c5, seeing that his wayward pawn would be a bit problematic, if not impossible to hang on to, instead opting for the top engine move, e4. But after d takes e4, we do not have a recapture by the knight, as that would drop the pawn on d4, but rather a pawn push to d5. Knight to f6 is next, defending this, attacking this. Magnus throws a bishop on f4. It is a good move. White's got total compensation for his one-pawn deficit here, having the better pawn structure, as well as the two open diagonals for his bishops, facilitating some rapid piece development. But after g6 from Klementy, we now get our first significant inaccuracy of the game. Now knight to b5 has been the most popular move here, among the relatively few elite players who have ever reached this position, threatening to come into c7, defended by the bishop, to which black should respond knight to a6, defending. But the engine's favorite move here is just queen to d2, looking to castle queenside next, or maybe even play bishop to h6. But Magnus instead opts for queen to e2, which on the surface appears to make a bit of sense. He's increasing the pressure on e4, and after bishop to g7 and a queenside castling, there's now only a single pawn standing between white's rook and the black queen on d8. But after Klementy castles his king, there really isn't any good reason for Magnus to have blocked his light squared bishop's diagonal, seeing that if he were to now capture the pawn on e4, which he does not, then black would be all good to play knight takes d5, seeing that any attempt to win that supposedly pinned pony with c4 could just be met with knight takes f4, counterattacking the white queen, and black would be winning. Which is why Magnus does not capture on e4, but he doesn't find his best move either, which just might be something like f3, further attacking e4 while inviting black to initiate a trade of minions, thus assisting white in the further development of his pieces after the knight recaptures. Magnus takes a good hard look at the position, and he decides that he'd much rather launch a direct assault on the enemy king, beginning with the alpha zero special h4, which isn't the worst thing he could have played. I mean, thrusting your pawns in the direction of your opponent's king, whenever you've castled on opposite sides of the board, is what we're typically taught to do, but after the strong and sensible bishop to f5 from Clemente, and Magnus's decision to belligerently barrel ahead with an immediate h5, just letting his wingman go to knight takes h5, within the space of only a couple moves, the white position has gone from probably losing to definitely losing, with the engine now giving about a two-pawn advantage to black. White's dark squared bishop is now under attack, while its enemy counterpart has suddenly sprung to life, threatening a trade of pieces on c3, which would seriously compromise the structural integrity of the white king's castle, which after Magnus makes the retreat to e3, would be a good and winning option for black, but seeing that g4 is now a concern, forking knight and bishop, we instead have the equally winning knight to f6, just preventing g4. Now, Magnus is able to regain one of his two sacrificed pawns with bishop takes c5, but this does come at a fairly non-trivial cost, seeing that black is now able to develop another piece, with a tempo gaining attack on that bishop, when after it retreats to d4, there now comes rook to c8, and this is a good moment to stop and assess. Black's ahead in development, he's got the extra pawn, and what does white really have to show for it, besides this half-opened h file, which isn't worth nearly as much as Magnus thinks it is, seeing that his rook can't really do much on its own, and the rest of his kingside pieces have yet to participate in the game. But do you think he does anything to remedy that? Nope, he instead just weakens his queenside, with the pawn pushed to a3, which actually isn't a bad move, seeing that black was threatening knight to b4, which would threaten e3, with a discovered convergence on c2, also attacking the pawn on d5, which in this position, black should definitely not capture with his other knight, seeing that bishop takes g7 would win white a piece, and you can fill in the dirty deets of that line if you'd like, but what's played is a much better move, maybe even best, knight to c5. Magnus takes a move to get his king a bit safer, or so he believes, with king to b1, we next have a6, probably thinking about a pawn push to b5 at some point, Magnus decides it's finally time to start developing his kingside, or so it would seem, with the move he plays next, f3, when after the pawn is captured, he's now all good to get his knight into the game. But he does not get his knight into the game, he leaves it sitting right where it is, and instead recaptures with his pawn. Now, was he worried about one of black's knights coming into e4, or is he just so committed to his dubious kingside assault, that he actually thinks that having another half-opened file is ample justification for his lagging development? Well, it's really hard to say, but what I can tell you is that after Clemente's powerful reply, which I invite you to pause the video and try to spot, the engine is giving black a crushing advantage worth well over four pawns. What's played is knight to a4, threatening the capture on c3 with the knight and or the rook, then on d5, unleashing the bishop, targeting c3 again, and the white king's position will be more or less collapsing. So, there really isn't anything better than the move Magnus plays next, which is to simply take the knight on a4, and I think you can probably guess what's coming next, or at least narrow it down to one of two moves. Bishop takes c2 check is quite decisive, when unless white wants to give up his queen, he's going to be losing his knight on a4, leaving him with a two-pawn deficit and virtually no hope of survival, assuming he's not Magnus Carlsen, that is, which he is, but what's played is the equally destructive rook takes c2, attacking the queen, which white doesn't seem to have any way to save, seeing that anything other than just taking the rook here, like queen to e3, for example, would just lose the queen anyway, once black moves his rook with the discovered check. And so, with a heavy heart, or what should be a heavy heart anyway, I'm not even convinced Magnus has a heart, he just goes ahead and captures on c2, giving up his queen to bishop takes c2 check. Of course, after the king recaptures, the most numerically astute among you will have probably already noticed that white now has two minor pieces in a rook for his lost lady, which under normal circumstances would give him the material advantage. Only trouble is, after queen takes pawn on d5, black now has three extra pawns, negating one of those minor pieces, leaving white with the equivalent of about one minor piece in a rook for the queen, aka a material disadvantage. Now, if Magnus had more of his pieces developed, and didn't have this weak pawn on f3, then he'd be a whole lot better off, and might not even be losing, but this position is objectively hopeless for white. What's tried is knight to c3, attacking the queen, she scampers to c6, keeping an eye on the f3 pawn, ready to make the capture whenever Magnus moves his defending knight from g1. Now, white could try to hang on to that pawn with something like bishop to e2 defending, followed by knight to h3, but seeing that the battle for material has pretty much already been lost, Magnus decides that he'd rather try and fight for activity, so he puts his bishop on the more active d3 square, when after rook to d8, attacking the one on d4, he's able to put his knight on e2 defending, though just letting his pawn go to queen takes f3. We next have rook h to f1, makes a lot of sense, he's attacking the queen, putting the rook on a better square, seeing that there ain't going to be much of anything happening on that h file anytime soon. The queen scurries back to c6, per her royal genetics, pinning knight to king, we have king to b1, unpinning, queen to c7, supporting black's next move, which after bishop to c2, fulfilling the requirement to move, is e5, defended by the queen, attacking the bishop, Magnus retreats to e3, a pair of rooks come off the board, and now here comes Henrietta the h-pawn, headed straight for that land of milk and honey, as outside passers tend to do. So Magnus puts his bishop on g5, halting any further progress for the moment, lest the pawn be lost, we have queen to c6 from Clemente, which would be a pretty okay move, if played for any other reason than the reason he plays it, since after Magnus puts his bishop on b3, in this position, Clemente now commits a terrible blunder. What should be played is something like knight to h7, attacking the bishop, which if moved to h4, or to the better square e7, trying to keep an eye on h4, well then comes bishop to f6, challenging the bishop again, ready to get that h-pawn moving again, and white remains without a pair. What's played in the game though, is the catastrophically dubious knight to e4, when after rook to d8 check, and king to h7, there now comes bishop to d5, attacking both knight and queen. So what's the major malfunction here? Has Clemente simply missed this? Well, in the words of Vince Downey, absolutely not. He has of course foreseen that knight takes c3 does come with check, when after Magnus makes the recapture, his queen is free to move out of danger, and everything seems to be just fine, but you want to know something crazy? Everything is not just fine, and it's actually black who's now fighting for survival. Incredibly, he's only got a single move that doesn't lose here. Pause the video if you'd like to try and guess what it is, and while you're doing so, why not hit that subscribe button? There is no better way to get subscribed to the channel, or so I've been told, and if you could go ahead and hit that like button while you're at it, well, that would just be great. Anyway, what absolutely needs to be played here, assuming that self-preservation is an instinct you possess, is going to be queen to b6, threatening queen to g1 check, forcing white's bishop to retreat to the rather pathetic c1 square, lest it be gone. But even more importantly, watching over the f6 square, so that after knight to e4, defending the bishop, threatening bishop takes f7 next, black can respond by pushing his pawn to f6, where it's twice defended, attacking the bishop, and blocking its defense of the rook. When after bishop to g8 check, driving the king to h8, the attacked rook retreats, let's say to c8, and black takes out the bishop on g5, white now has a perpetual check, with bishop to a2, discovered check, king to h7, knight takes g5 check, king to h6, knight to f7 check, king to h7, knight to g5 check, etc. So apparently, that line is the best that anybody has, after black plays his correct move, queen to b6. But in the game, what's tried instead is the terribly dubious queen to c7, which neither threatens a check from g1, nor does it watch over the all-important f6 square, which after knight to e4 from Magnus, white is now threatening to infiltrate. And just to show you what a terrible threat this really is, if black were to play something pointless here, let's say he pushes his pawn to b5, well then after knight to f6 check, bishop takes f6, only move, and the bishop recaptures, what, pray tell, is black to do about rook to h8, defended by the bishop, with check and mate? His king is going to need a square, but if you try pushing the g-pawn, well then comes a mate in two, with bishop to e4 check, king to h6, and now rook to h8 check mate. So, what's tried in the game is queen to b6, given that necessary coverage to the f6 square, but after Magnus takes the pawn on f7, Clemente's c-chef can very clearly read the writing on the wall, and so in this position, he decides it's high time for a timely resignation. The problem is this, white is threatening bishop to g8 check, driving the king to h8, followed by bishop to e6 discovered check, cutting off the black queen's access to f6, where the knight will then infiltrate with check, leading to a line very similar to the one we just looked at. So, the best try is probably bishop to h8, so that after bishop to g8 check, at least the king can go to g7, but now comes bishop to f6 check, defended by the knight, driving the king to h6, followed by rook to d7, threatening mate on h7 now, defended by the bishop, and there's simply no good defense. The engine's recommending queen to g1 check, king to a2, and now g5 to give the king a square, but after bishop takes g5 check, black's only way to prevent mate on the next move is going to be to give up his queen, seeing that after king to g6, white has bishop to h7 with check and mate. So, what did you all think of that beautiful disaster? Is Magnus Carlsen not the most wretchedly sorcerous wood-pushing swindler the world has ever known? I bet no one's ever uttered that sentence before, unless I did in one of my previous videos and just forgot about it, but anyway, thank you so much for watching until the very end of the video. The algorithm loves you, as do I, especially if you stick around for this next video here. I promise you will not regret watching it, even after it melts your face completely off. As always, take care of yourselves, take care of each other, only in the good way of course, enjoy this next game, and I will be seeing you on the