Hello everyone and welcome back to the second game of the second match of the legends of chess tournament between Ian Nepomniachtchi and Magnus Carlsen
After Magnus won in Round 1 and Nepo now has the chance with the white pieces to retaliate in game 2
So, let's see if he will be able to do it at the force.
Well, things to go in his favor and maybe even win this match to force a third match
So, let's see what happens. Nepo again, like in day one, opens with e4 and Magnus like in day one replies with c5
So will we see a repetition of the knight or from day one and Nepo's, uh nicely prepare Rook to g1 line
Well, let's see what happened Knight f3. We have d6 and d4
so everything the same like in day one. Captures Captures and the Knight to f6
We have knight c3 and again a6. Magnus does go for the Najdorf sicilian
But we don't see Rook to g1 here instead Nepo goes for the Adams Attack with h3
And okay with e5 by Magnus the most popular reply to the Adams and here not Knight to e2
Which is usually played,  Knight to b3 by Nepo, Also usually played is the Knight to e2 is just much more common
So Bishop b7 and now uh, the immediate the g4 so going for the g5 move
h6 preventing this and Bishop to e3. Nepo just continues development. We have Knight b to d7 and now a4
And here, there is a game where this position has been reached where Magnus had the white pieces
He had it last year in the FIDE grand swiss against Surya Shekar Ganguly where Ganguly played b6
And Magnus was able to win that game
However here by playing the black pieces magnus goes Knight to f8, and it's not a new move
it has been played before the the idea is to shift the Knight over to g6 as
The f4 and h4 square has been weakened by the push of the g4 pawn
Uh, so here, we have Bishop to c4 and the Queen to d2 is a known move in this position
However, Bishop to c4, the move Nepo plays is a new move
So already as of move 11, we have a completely new game
Magnus continues with his development Knight g6 prepares to castle kingside and Queen to e2 now
Nepo with the idea of maybe castling queen side with
Bishop to d7 by magnus and now f3 strengthening the pawns here, but kind of weakening the dark squares
We have Rook to c8 putting pressure on the bishop
The queen does defend it for the moment. But now now instead of castling queen side Nepo goes for the immediate h4.
He says now my king is perfectly safe on e1. There's no no reason to to castle here
And magnus says okay. Let's let's test this hypothesis, by going Knight to h7
And now there's a triple attack on the h4 pawn and Nepo advances at  h5. So this is definitely something Nepo prepared
Because magnus does go for knight
Bishop to h4 check and he says "what do you do now"?
So King to f1 is one possibility but Nepo plays the Rook captures on h4
And this is where the fun really starts because the problem is that
You cannot capture with the queen. If you could capture with the Queen it'd be great because it does come with check.
But once you block it, if you go Queen to h1 check
The King can just move and then you again have to move the queen because it will be under attack by rook and then
You lose another piece
So here you'd have to go back and then just h captures on g6 and what you've done is
basically lost two pieces for the Rook
So this is not possible to be captured by the Queen. So, Magnus goes for the only other move Knight captures h4
Which seemingly wins the exchange but the question is, how is the Knight going to return?
As both the g6 and the f5 square are squares are covered by Nepo's pawns
So, it in fact is a
Knight that will be captured sometime soon
So Nepo castles Queenside now, uh and here while you could try and do something. Anything.
Magnus says, okay. We cannot save this knight so might as well grab this beautiful f3 pawn
Which is the base of the pawn chain here. Do some damage as we're going to lose it anyway
So here Rook captures on d6 first. Point is, if Queen captures then Rook captures on c4
But one thing Nepo could consider is Bishop captures on f7 giving it up this way and after Queen captures
continue playing it like this and now uh, even though it's possible to play this with black maybe
In a rapid game it would be somewhat harder to defend this position than the one Nepo chose here
Nepo went for Rook captures on d6 instead, but now magnus says, okay no problem
Queen e7 and now your rook is under attack
So here Rook b6 by Nepo going after the pawn here. But now Bishop captures on g4
and now well
Instead of uh, doing some damage here or getting rid of this Knight, maybe even capturing on f7
Now you have this position where it's not all that clear what you are doing
So here Bishop goes to d5 now puts pressure on b7 wants to go
After the seventh rank. But now just castles Kingside and now Magnus says
You are welcome to go after the b7 pawn because
If you capture on b7, I don't really mind
My King is nicely castled.  I'm going to go to h4, and everything is perfectly fine here.
My Knight is coming back into the game and so on and so on the Rooks are coming into the game
It's going to be a very very comfortable position.Not right away obviously,
as you do have this f7 pawn to worry about but nothing will come out of this captures on b7
So instead we have Queen to g2 by Nepo unpinning and also threatening the pawn here and now Queen to h4 again
And now that the Queen has come to h4.
It's very uncertain how you will do this.
Because You couldn't move the Bishop because of Bishop captures on h6, or even Rook captures on h6
The g pawn is pinned due to the queen being on g2
but now Nepo continues attacking like a madman or or should we say well
Let's not say it. I know you guys know what i'm talking about. Rook to g6
And now there's a double attack on the bishop
Of course the Rook cannot be captured because the Bishop pins the f pawn
However, we have Knight h to g5 by Magnus. Now there isn't a double attack here
And uh, what what do you do here?
Well Nepo improves the position with King to b1 but now Bishop back to e6 now offers a trade here
And Nepo decides that
Well, it's time to continue the attack and instead of going Bishop captures Nepo goes Rook captures
He gives up the other Rook as well
We have f captures and now Bishop captures on b7 as this is defended so you can capture here
So Bishop captures attacks the Rook, but now Queen to e1 check by magnus
We have Bishop to c1 blocking and now Rook captures on c3. So, uh, this is this is Incredible stuff!
We have b captures and now Knight captures on e4
So what what do you do here? Uh, well your  c3 pawn is under attack
So you have to take care of this Knight
So Bishop captures and now Queen captures on e4. And now, Bishop captures on h6 threatening
Checkmate on g7 and magnus defends. And after all is said and done we reach this endgame where it's
Queen, Bishop and Knight against Queen ,Rook and Knight with four pawns each.Will Nepo  be able to hold this?
Will he be able to win this or will magnus prevail?
So, let's see what happens
We have Bishop back to c1. Nepo now  might even consider pushing the h pawn we have Queen to f5
And now attacking the pawn here, but now Queen e2
So here going after the a6 pawn
We have Rook to c7 now putting pressure on the c3 pawn and here nepo defends it. King b2
And here magnus goes for Queen captures on h5 right away.
However, there was the interesting idea that Karpov suggested in the live stream of e4
Just giving up the a6 pawn and shifting the Queen over here because after this is captured and Queen e5
The only way to defend on c3 is to go Queen to a5 but here
Karpov probably thought that you just
trade and after Rook a7 you're going to win this pawn as well
Knight c6 or whatever Rook captures and  you've traded down into a winning endgame. So it's uh, it's remarkable
how Karpov at such an age still, you know spots instantly such uh positional ideas,
Which which is just incredible. But Carlsen goes for Queen captures on h5
And now Queen captures on a6 and now it's a bit different because the Queens are still on the board
And Nepo also has a passed a-pawn now that he can push. So Queen to e8
controlling the back rank also defending the e6 pawn and now Queen b5 here.
Nepo now offers a trade he would very much like to trade here get this pawn over here
Maybe get some two connected pass pawns and so on. So Queen c6 magnus says, yes
We will trade but i'm not getting this pawn all the way to b5. So here's c4 again with the same idea
if you trade you just fix Nepo's pawn structure.
But now King f7 magnus starts bringing the king into the game
We have c5 even. Of course if you trade then it's just two connected past pawns
You do not want to play against this
so after c5, we have Knight to d4 attacking the Queen and the Knight
But Magnus is avoiding the trade with Queen to f1 with check.
Sorry, Nepo avoids the trade. Magnus welcomes the trade.
we have King to g8 getting out of the way and now Bishop to e3 and here we have  some trades.
Queen captures on a4 & Bishop captures on d4
We have e captures and Queen to f4 now with a double attack on the pawn here and under rook here
So Queen to d7 , not giving up pawn for pawn.
Magnus says "If I can consolidate start pushing these pawns, then it's just uh two very nice pawns in the center"
So Queen e5 by Nepo not allowing it a very nice centralizing move with the Queen but now Rook b7
And ok, we have Queen to e4
Just putting pressure on that Rook there
And also keeping an eye on this d3 push which could be could be very interesting
But now Rook back to b8 so magnus just needs a move that the rook is
Isn't under attack and then he can play Queen to d5 to offer a Queen trade here
So Queen e5 again attacking the Rook, but now Rook to b4. Again defending the pawn and now preparing Queen d5
We have Queen e4 and now finally Queen to d5,.
But Nepo of course has to avoid the Queen trade he goes Queen g4
And now uh, there's a lot of pressure on the Knight on b3
So this pawn push could be a problem unless it's not :). And here it's not because if you push it
you lose the rook.  So Queen g4 : a good square for the Queen but now we have rook to c4 by Magnus.
Probably with the idea of pushing the pawn now.  Queen back to f4 and now uh, what do you do here?
Well, you could play d3
But then you have to calculate a lot of checks with Queen b8 check
If King f7 then Queen c7 check. If the king goes to the h-file,  queen h2 check.
So that's a lot of checks to calculate
So instead Magnus repeats Rook b4. We have Queen g4, another repetition and  Queen to f5 now
But now Nepo goes Queen to h4 and here
Magnus was able to push the Queen away.  You could play Queen captures on c5 as the knight is pinned
But there is also a move that you could play which Judit Polgar spotted in the live stream
during the coverage and this is just a wonderful idea
So feel free to pause the video and try and spot this idea while I give you a couple of seconds
So for those of you who were able to do it. congratulations on spotting the most beautiful move
And for those of you who just want to enjoy the show
It's Queen captures on c2. CRAZY STUFF
But the point is that now after King captures,  d3 Check wins the Queen on h4. So King captures, Rook captures
and now the point is you have
Two pawns and the Rook against the pawn and the Knight
Which is completely winning and only thing you have to realize
Is that after c6,  King f7 &  pawn (c7) here
The rook manages to stop the pawn. And now you have a completely winning endgame
So this is one thing you could have done. Magnus goes for Rook to c4 instead
Now puts pressure on the c2 pawn and now we have Queen to d8 Check by Nepo.
King h7 and Queen back to h4 with Check.
King g6 and now there are no more useful checks
So Nepo goes for Knight captures on d4
but now
There's a similar idea here where you can again go Queen captures on c2 with Check.
Knight captures and Rook captures, you go into
An improved version of the same endgame. Because your king is already on a much more active square
However Magnus keeps everything on the board (Qe5) . He pins the Knight now. There's a double attack here
He doesn't want to probably overcalculate this and both of them are extremely low on time
So he goes for this. But now Queen g4 check
King h7 and now Queen h4 check. Of course Nepo would be very happy with the draw here.
King g8, Queen d8 Check.  King f7 now and Queen to d7 Check.
King f6 and now as there's still a double attack here and the pin, c3. Defending and unpinning. But now Rook captures on c5
So this is what Magnus wanted to achieve.
Queen to d8 with Check and now King g6
We have Queen to e8 with check,  king to h7, and now Queen back to d8
It's Carlsen's move. Rook to d5 attacking the Queen but now again Queen h4 check
We have King to g8. This square is now off limits
So queen to g4 and now with a double attack on the pawn here. Rook d6 defending the pawn and now again Queen h4
Waiting for Magnus to find a move and it's not all that easy because
This Knight does a wonderful job at defending all of the squares in front of the white King
So it's not that easy to check. So, Queen f6 offering a trade.
Queen e4, of course declining the trade
Rook b6 check now. King to c2 and now King to f7 again
Not a lot of useful checks
We have Queen to a8 now
And the queen to g6 check. King to d2 and now Rook to b2 with check.
Magnus finds some progress here. King to e3 and now Queen g1 check
What do you do with the King? Of course not King f3  because Queen h1 check loses the queen on a8
So here King to d3, but now Queen f1 check. King to e3
And now Queen to f2 check. We have King to d3 and here Magnus played Queen to g2, offering a Queen trade
Saying that " what do you do now? "
And probably the best and most complicated for Nepo is
either trade Queens and try and hold this which is very unlikely or continue checking   and then after let's say this (Qa7, Rb7, Qc5)
Just to keep the Queens on the board. However Nepo went for knight to f3
He blocked it instead, but now there are problems. Queen e2 check, king to d4
And now Queen to d1 with check. King back to e3
Now Rook to e2 with Check. King f4 and now comes Queen to d6 with check.
And now the problem is the King has to come up the board . King g4, Rook g2 check
As it's possible the knight blocks the g2 square. King to h5, and here Magnus just played g6.
It was in this position on move 76 that Ian  Nepomniachtchi resigned the game and game two also goes to Magnus
So he is very close to winning the second match and with it the entire match and the legends of chess tournament.
So here you resign because it's Mate (regardless of) whatever you do
If you go here then Queen goes back to g3
Well, I don't know why i'm picking up the pieces of the wrong color in this video
It's like really weird
Queen g3  will be checkmate
And of course after g6 check, if you go up the board then it's the very sneaky Rook h2 check.
You give up the rook and now just Queen f4 check wherever the King goes
Oh, well not wherever. He can only go to one square.
Then just captures or Queen to h4, and this will be checkmate
So very exciting stuff, after g6 Nepo resigned and Magnus one step closer to winning the entire thing
So, uh, that's the game. I do hope you enjoyed it.
