Carlsen loses to Tari but maintains the sole lead in Norway Chess 2022
The 7th round of Norway Chess 2022 brought interesting matches that finished with two decisive games with classical time control and three Armageddons. Magnus Carlsen maintained the sole lead in the event despite a loss he suffered against his compatriot Aryan Tari. There are only two rounds left to be played and the players will tomorrow have another resting day.
Aryan Tari and the reigning World Chess Champion Magnus Carlsen did not fall into any kind of trouble in the classical game. Could be said that Magnus had a slightly nicer position, but that was not enough to create an advantage. The players agreed on a draw and scheduled an Armageddon after 33 moves. Carlsen chose to answer Tari’s 1.e4 with an unpopular 1…b6, but it didn’t seem that Aryan managed to benefit from that. It was Carlsen’s 24…g6? that provided White an advantage and a definite blunder 34…Nc5?? decided a game in Tari’s favor. Replay both classical and Armageddon games here
Before the start of the game, Magnus called to action for the Baryshpolets/Nielsen FIDE election bid: “Chess federations of the Americas! Can one of you please pledge your support to the Baryshpolets/Nielsen ticket so @PHChess can focus on prep instead?”.
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave scored a 3-point victory against Wesley So. MVL put the pressure on Wesley in the early part of the game and then converted it into the material advantage of a pawn-up. The game ended shortly after since the French grandmaster showed a perfect endgame technique. Replay the game here
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Anish Giri gladdened the spectators with the King’s Indian Defense on the board. The interesting position transposed to a drawish endgame but Giri was under pressure having a pawn-down. Faced with time trouble, he was inaccurate with 52…Kd6?! and Shakh took over the control. The game eventually ended with the Azerbaijani scoring 3 points. Replay the game here
Viswanathan Anand and Teimour Radjabov played a balanced classical game that finished in a peaceful manner. Anand had better space control, but that was not enough for a better score. The game of death was more entertaining with lots of dynamics on the board. Anand performed a beautiful knight sacrifice to open the Black’s King when Radjabov blundered a piece and resigned immediately after. Replay both classical and Armageddon games here
Maybe the most thrilling match of the day happened between Veselin Topalov and Wang Hao. The Sicilian defense promised an active play for both sides, but it was Topalov who managed to use it better. The Chinese grandmaster was badly mistaken with 41…Rg1? and the Bulgarian grandmaster got a totally winning position. The crazy rooks’ endgame ended in a draw as Wang Hao found a beautiful escape with 80…Rg1! Topalov needed a victory in Armageddon to win the match, but it was not to be. Wang found a very nice sacrifice 23…Rxa4! to get the advantage and didn’t let go. The latter scored a victory in Armageddon taking 1.5 points from the match. Replay both classical and Armageddon games here
Round 7 results:
Aryan Tari – Magnus Carlsen 1.5-1.0
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave – Wesley So 3-0
Viswanathan Anand – Teimour Radjabov 1.5-1.0
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov – Anish Giri 3-0
Veselin Topalov – Hao Wang 1.0-1.5
Tomorrow is the free day and the event continues with the 8th round on Thursday, 9th of June, at 17:00 CEST. All the games can be followed live at Chessdom.com.
Round 8 pairings and live games:
Magnus Carlsen – Maxime Vachier-Lagrave
Wesley So – Veselin Topalov
Anish Giri – Aryan Tari
Viswanathan Anand – Shakhriyar Mamedyarov
Teimour Radjabov – Hao Wang
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