Magnus Is SUPER HUMAN! Crushes Pragg In 11 Moves w/ WORST Opening In Existence!

Today I have for you what very well may be the most ridiculous thing I've ever seen take place upon the 64 squares, whether involving the game of chess or not. And I know I've said this kind of thing before, but when you see the way Magnus Carlsen mercilessly humiliates the prodigious young Pragnananda in the ridiculous game I'm about to show you, using the worst possible opening move as white to gain a crushing advantage in only 11 moves, while using a total of 3 seconds on his clock? Yes, you heard me right. Magnus did average only a quarter of a second per move until it was basically game over. Well, I think you're going to be as flabbergasted as I am. I really don't know how such a thing is even possible, and I hate to keep bringing up the supernatural, so I don't think I will this time, but I will tell you that the game ends exactly how you want it to, with a forced mate on the board by move 25 and a very pretty queenless one at that. So put on your Hans device, and no, that's not what you think it is. All I'm trying to tell you here is that this game's going to be as fast as it is furious. The year is 2019, the place LeeChess.org, the time control one minute bullet, and Magnus Carlsen kicks off this unholy desecration of every opening principle we hold dear with g4, the gruesome grob, and according to the engine, the worst possible move one for white. Now, the hands down best response for black in this position is going to be d5, placing a pawn in the center, as we're all taught to do, with a very nice tempo gaining attack on g4 to boot, but Prague instead opts for the significantly less good g6, which one could argue is one of the worst possible things that black could play here, since it's not really bad enough to have any troll value, or I should say counter troll value, yet it totally squanders the winning advantage he could have had if he had played d5 instead. So why is this move so weak? Well, one reason is that after bishop to g2, bishop to g7, and h4 for Magnus, white now has a little something to do on the king side after e6 with his next move, h5, ready to harass the bishop on g7 with a push to h6 whenever black moves his knight from g8, establishing the dreaded thorn pawn, as it's called, deep in the black position. So just as sort of a general rule, whenever you see your opponent aggressively thrusting pawns on the wing like this, you might want to consider not fianchettoing your bishop on that side of the board if you can help it. Prague decides to go ahead and make the capture on h5 when after g takes h5, the pushing of white's pawn to h6 is now much less of a concern for black, seeing that he can no longer put a pawn on g5 to support it and or harass a black piece on f6. Black's also got this nice open g file now, along which he can attack white's bishop on g2 in just a couple of moves with rook to g8. So knight to e7 would be totally fine here, ready to meet any h6 with bishop to f6, and black is still a bit better, but Prague gets a little over-defensive now with the totally unnecessary h6, when after e3, he is now able to play knight to e7 without having to think about any h6 with tempo on his bishop. So not a bad practical decision, in a game of bullet anyway, since thinking does take time, so the less you can do of it, the better off you're probably going to be, with the apparent exception of Magnus Carlsen, who continues to barrel forth at breakneck speed with d4, when after d5 from Prague, he throws his knight on e2, keeping clear of the deacon's d. We have knight b to c6, c4, taking a bit more space, increasing the pressure on d5. Prague responds, d takes c4, which, despite giving up a central pawn, is fully engine approved, seeing that white's going to have to expend a couple of moves rounding up the pawn on c4, which Magnus gets to work on right away with knight to a3. The engine's now saying the position is more or less equal, with no significant advantage to either side, and it's recommending moves like rook to g8 or b6, preparing bishop to b7, but what's played by Prague is the horrendously blunderous e5. 217 points to anyone who can guess what Magnus plays next, in 4 tenths of a second or less, as that's the amount of time it took Magnus to play it. It's a fairly obvious move, d5, attacking the knight on c6, which really has no choice but to make the sad retreat to b8. Not that it ever really has a choice, but why on earth would Prague allow such a thing? Did he originally plan on putting the knight on b4 instead, tripling up on d5, only to make the last minute realization that queen to a4 check would simply win his knight? Or, after knight takes c4, was he counting on his next move, bishop to g4, to make it all worthwhile, pinning knight to queen? Well, it's really hard to say, but what we do know is that the engine is now giving white a decisive winning advantage worth well over two pawns, and is now recommending rook to g1, getting lined up on black's bishops, both of which are undefended. But only slightly less destructive is the move that Magnus plays next, d6, when if Prague were to make the capture with c takes d6, then he would very quickly go down in a glorious blaze of flaming ruin to knight d6 check, when after king to f8, you got bishop takes b7, picking up the trapped rook on a8, and that's pretty much a wrap. So what's played is knight e to c6, when if Magnus were to play the aforementioned rook to g1, or something exactly like queen to b3, attacking the pawn on b7, then he would continue to enjoy a crushing advantage, as opposed to the less crushing advantage he has after the move that's played, d takes c7, which we won't criticize too enthusiastically, as it is also winning. Prague now has the opportunity to get the queens off the board, with queen takes d1 check, but after the king recaptures, he'll need to try to round up the pawn on c7, while also defending against things like bishop takes c6, followed by rook to g1, threatening his bishops, and or knight to d6 check, threatening promotion, defended by the knight, the fine details of which I'll leave to you to comb through if you'd like, but suffice to say that queen takes c7 is the correct move. We next have queen to d6, which is not the correct move, the engine still liked rook to g1, or knight to d6 with check, depriving black's king the privilege of castling, since if Prague were to now play queen to d7, which he does not, then he would still be totally losing, but not without a modicum of hope, seeing that white wouldn't really have any kind of knockout blow. Apparently bishop to d2 is best, threatening to go to c3, and then just pile up on e5, then he can put a rook on d1 to dominate the open file. Rook to g1 is still a concern as well, eyeing up that loose sniper duo, so that's pretty much all we need to know about this position, or so we confidently tell ourselves, as we get right back to the game, where after this queen capture on d6, Prague Nanda decides to do the same with queen takes d6, when after the knight recaptures with check and king to e7, Magnus is now able to pick up the pawn on b7. So a rather strange thing to allow as black, but after Prague's follow-up rook to c8, it could be that he thought he had some kind of compensation for his lost pawn here. I mean, he is now slightly ahead in development, white's knight is sitting on kind of a weird square, while his pawn on h5 is looking a little suspect as well, with his rook tied down to its defense, but as we're about to see, it's really team black that has the insurmountable problems here, when after bishop to d2 for Magnus, Prague doesn't really have anything much better than the move he plays next, knight to d7. I mean, he does need to complete his development, but after rook to c1, Magnus is now threatening to win his knight on c6, and there's just no good way to defend it. Knight to b8 would of course run into knight to a5, hitting the pony with piece number three, threatening to win the rook on a8 if it moves. I guess you could then play bishop to d7, adding more defense, but that's just way too sad to be survivable, in my expert opinion anyway. Totally independent from that of the engine, or so I'd like you to believe. Now black's best option here is probably e4, sacrificing the pawn to make way for knight d to e5, defending that way, but Prague decides to just go ahead and retreat his knight to its only available square, d8. When if Magnus were to play knight takes d8, uncovering an attack on the a8 rook, Prague could throw in rook takes c1 check before making the recapture, thus avoiding the loss of the exchange. So what Magnus plays, after expending exactly zero seconds on his clock, which indicates this must have been a pre-move, is bishop to b4 check. Not a lot of options for the black king here. Retreating to e8 is of course a no-go, in view of knight to d6 check, winning the rook on c8, with the one on a8 soon to follow, and if you study the position for a moment or two, you'll probably see why. King to e6 would allow the knight on d8 to be taken with check, thus preventing black from playing rook takes c1, after which white will be winning the exchange on a8. So we have king to f6, at which point Magnus goes into his first deep think of the game, relatively speaking that is, as he now expends a total of four seconds on his clock before playing knight to c3. Prague responds rook a to b8, which is a pretty decent try, in a position that's totally hopeless, though perhaps still not obviously so. I mean, just look at these beautifully placed rooks of blacks, one of which is eyeing up a couple of white pieces, while the other one is pinning white's knight to his rook, or I should say would be pinning it, if not for the fact that Magnus is now able to put his knight on d5 with check, when all of a sudden the black king is running chronically short on comfortable squares. If king to f5, well then white has checkmate in 3 with e4 check, when king to g5, then bishop to d2 is mate, and after king to e6, there comes knight takes d8 check, rook takes d8, only move, and now rook to c6 checkmate. How pretty is that? If instead, black tries king to g5, well here we have f4 check, when after a trade of pawns, black has no choice but to put his king on f5, which in this position doesn't give white any immediate checkmate, but it does allow rook takes c8, rook takes c8, and now knight to d6 check with the fork, winning a whole castle. So what's tried by Prague is king to e6, but this doesn't help matters, as it gives white the same forced mate we just looked at, only in a slightly different move order, with knight takes d8 check, when if the rook were to recapture, then you get that mate in 3 with rook to c6 check, king to f5, e4 check, bishop to d2, and if you try to run with your king to f5, well then the mate comes even quicker, with e4 check, king to g5, and now knight takes f7 mate. In the game however, Magnus doesn't spot this, and he instead plays knight to c7 check, giving Prague the chance to prolong his misery for a bit with rook takes c7, as the engine's now recommending, but he's not ready to start shedding material just yet, and he instead opts to move his king. Now if it's put on f6, then best for white is going to be to just repeat the position with knight to d5 check, leading to the variations we just looked at, where black either gets checkmated or loses heavy material. What's tried is king to f5, but this is a familiar story as well. After the move Magnus plays next, e4 check, when if the king goes to g5, we again have bishop to d2 check, king to f6, knight to d5 check, and king to e6, when after knight takes d8 check, if the rook were to recapture, then rook to c6 is once again checkmate, though in this version, with white's bishop no longer on b4, black does have the option of putting his king on d6, thus escaping imminent mate, but after a trade of rooks on c8, and bishop to b4 check, forcing him into a self-pin with knight to c5, you got knight to b7 check, picking up even more material, and it's completely over. But getting back to the game, what's played by Prague is king to f6, but here Magnus does now find his checkmate in three, which can still be initiated with knight to d5, but he goes for the alternative knight to e8 check, which here is enough to convince Prague to tender his resignation, seeing that if king to g5, then bishop to d2 is mate, and after king to e6, well there comes that old chestnut, knight takes d8 check, rook takes d8 only move, and now rook to c6 checkmate. So how did you like that? I don't think I've ever seen Magnus Carlsen more swiftly take down a world-class prodigy like Prague Nanda with an opening as disrespectful as the one he employed here. So give me all your best good thoughts on the game in the comments, and then stick around and check out this game next. You surely won't regret it, or at least you shouldn't, because regret has no place in the mind of a chess warrior, or so they say. But anyway, take care of yourselves and some of those other people too, enjoy this next game, and I'll see you next time.