Pranav Anand analyses his World Blitz Championship game against Carlsen

Facing the best in the world

By Rasika Ratnaparkhi

Playing against Magnus Carlsen is a special moment in any chess player’s career. As one of the greatest players in the history of the game, Magnus sets the highest standard in every format. Facing him over the board is a rare learning experience, especially for young players looking to measure themselves against the very best. Pranav shared his thoughts on the moment in his own words:

I think it was me, Pranesh, Bharath and a few others eagerly waiting for the pairings of the next round. I had seen that Magnus had drawn a game before and being half a point ahead of him, I felt I finally had good chances to play against him.

Upon seeing the pairing, I was very happy and wanted to give my best, aiming for a more tactical fight, as I felt that’s the only place I would have a chance to maybe trick him. It was a truly unforgettable experience and I am confident that in the future I will get more chances to play against him over the board.

Carlsen chose 3.Bc4 against the Sicilian. This may not be the most critical line, but it surely gets the opponent out of preparation very soon!

“This was a surprise. I had faced this line a lot in the World Rapid and Blitz. Notably, Levon and Rapport played this against me”, Pranav explained.

Pranav chose this move based on instinct. He said, “I felt going for the b5 break was the way to play with Rb8 next. Murzin went for the same idea against him in a latter game and also got outplayed. It felt quite difficult to play Black in a very short time control game as White’s idea was very simple to try to break with d4 followed by developing the pieces. While with Black I had to decide whether to try to go …d5 or …b5 or even just keep the pressure against White’s centre with …b6 and …Bb7. This decision, however, had to be taken in a few seconds and was more instinctive in my case”.

After 20…Bg5, it seemed like Pranav was getting real counterplay. Imagine if he could exchange the bishop on c1 and then place his knight on f4. This would have been a huge problem for Magnus.

However, in this position, Magnus found 21.Ng3!, an excellent move, not letting Black get his knight to f4 square without it getting traded. Because if Black plays …Bxc1, White can respond with Nxh5. If Black plays …Nf4 instead of …Bxc1, White can simply capture the knight with his bishop.

Pranav admitted that he had missed the move Ng3 and decided to go for …Nf4. He explained his thought behind the move: “This was a very difficult decision for me to take, whether to play this or …Bxc1 and retreat the bishop. Both the ideas are similar in nature, but …Bxc1 is stronger as White has to spend a tempo to re-route the knight back from h5 to g3.”

“From here on, Magnus really showed his class and why he is the best in the world. The next moves were all very strong and also tough to meet for me over the board. I remember having a few seconds time advantage on him, but that was the only thing I was ahead on, as here the position is already pretty bad for me”, Pranav shared. The best move in this position was 23.Red1, putting pressure on Black’s weakening centre.

What would you play in the position below? You can solve this tactic on Chessranga as well and see if your move matches with Magnus’ idea.

Here, the best move was Nf7+. What was thoroughly amazing was how quickly Magnus calculated 31.Rxa5 Rxa5 32.Nf7+ Kg8 33. Qd8+ Kxf7 and now the super critical Qd7+ leads to a checkmate! This was yet another example of why Carlsen is considered the best in the world.

Summing up the experience, Pranav said.

It was a great fight and a true honour to play him.

The Indian rising star also expressed his gratitude to his sponsors, including 24/7, WACA, Chola Chess and HPCL, for their continued support throughout his chess journey.

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