Magnus Carlsen has beaten Sergey Karjakin in the kind of game that will give the Russian nightmares before he takes on the World Champion in their match this November. The opening battle went, if anything, Sergey’s way, but one false step on the queenside was enough for Magnus to launch a slow-moving but unstoppable assault on the other flank. That moved him into clear first place in the 2016 Bilbao Masters, since Hikaru Nakamura was held be Wei Yi, and Anish Giri’s sacrificial exploits only earned him a draw against Wesley So.

Magnus Carlsen has been involved in 100% of the decisive games in Bilbao so far this year, and you can play through them all using the selector below:

Magnus Carlsen 1-0 Sergey Karjakin: Warning shots

“The loss in the first round has forced me to play a bit more sharply,” was Carlsen’s explanation after consecutive wins over Wei Yi and Sergey Karjakin. It takes two to tango, and Karjakin playing the Sicilian was a sign that he was interested in a fight – although you might also take it to mean he’ll meet 1.e4 with 1…e5 during the match!

We're going to see a lot of these handshakes this year! | photo: Bilbao Chess

You might assume that Magnus was also hiding preparation, but his offbeat approach was the one he’s employed so successfully since he shot to prominence as a teenager:

Objectively Karjakin was doing fine, but things fell apart for him in the space of a couple of moves. 20…Rc4? was condemned by both players:

Black threatens 21…Rd4, since 22.Qxd4 would run into 22…Nf3+, winning the queen, but after sidestepping that threat with 21.Kh1! Black is already in trouble. Carlsen:

I think his play from about moves 16-20 could be improved upon. After 21.Kh1 then at the very least my position is easier to play - before that it’s a difficult position to play for both sides. This whole idea with 20…Rc4 is not very successful. As long as he doesn’t get Rd4 it doesn’t really do very much.

It was already too late to defend with 21…Ng6 due to 22.Bd3, and after 21…Rac8 22.f4! Carlsen’s kingside attack had started to roll. His natural play contrasted sharply with Black’s seemingly aimless moves on the queenside. For instance, the hapless c4-rook later moved to d4, b4, b6 and then back to b4 again, without ever finding a purpose in life.

Magnus made it look easy | photo: Bilbao Chess

Jan Gustafsson takes us through the game in depth:

Karjakin tried to put a brave face on the defeat:

I don’t think it’s a catastrophe - I’ll just continue to play in the tournament. There are still a lot of games to go.

You can watch the opening stages of the Round 3 games in this short video from the venue below:

The other games weren’t without interest, but paled in comparison beside the obvious game of the day.

Hikaru Nakamura ½-½ Wei Yi: Wall of China

Wei Yi surprised our commentary team by choosing the Semi-Tarrasch in his first ever game against Hikaru Nakamura, since that solid but somewhat passive opening seems at odds with the Chinese star’s aggressive style. 

Wei Yi was relatively happy with his start in Bilbao | photo: Bilbao Chess

It worked out fine, though, with Wei Yi correctly evaluating giving up his queen to force a draw:

23…Rxd5 24.Nf5 Rxd1 25.Nxd6 Rxd6 26.Rd1 Rxd1 27.Qxd1 Nc5

Unlike the day before against Magnus, Wei Yi’s fortress held comfortably. He commented on his start to the tournament:

After the loss I feel happy with a draw with Black today. After three rounds I have one point. Maybe it’s not a good result, but I think it’s not so bad.

Nakamura was knocked back into 2nd place by Carlsen, but winning their individual game was a huge weight off his shoulders | photo: Bilbao Chess 

Anish Giri ½-½ Wesley So: Sacrificial draw

Giri and So contested a playoff in the 2015 Bilbao Masters, but so far they've both drawn all their games in this year’s edition. 

Wesley So thinks as Anish Giri prowls behind him | photo: Bilbao Chess

It’s not entirely for the want of trying… Anish went for an interesting sacrifice of the g4-pawn which seemed to give White at least full compensation, though he wasn’t thrilled with what followed:

It’s very embarrassing how I played the game, because it makes it look like I’m just a pawn down all the way!

That frustration came to a head after 27…bxc6:

The exchange sacrifice 28.Rxe7!? was given an unlikely explanation by the world no. 7:

It’s obviously a very stupid sacrifice, but I thought it just looks more fun!

The fun might have soured if Wesley had chosen to push f3 at various points in the play that followed, but the US player seems, as in the Grand Chess Tour in June, to be focused on not overpressing. That strategy can be effective in elite supertournaments, but with three points for a win and Carlsen leading the chase it’s likely So will have to put his foot on the gas at some point to defend his title.

Carlsen is out in front again | photo: Bilbao Chess

Despite the first round loss Magnus Carlsen has now taken the sole lead on account of the football scoring system:

In Round 4 Magnus has White against So in perhaps his only pairing in Bilbao where there isn’t an interesting backstory – the World Champion simply leads with one classical win and four draws. Nakamura-Giri and Wei Yi-Karjakin are the other clashes, and you can follow all the action here on chess24 with live commentary by Fiona Steil-Antoni and Niclas Huschenbeth. Jan was broken by commentating on Kramnik’s draw with Caruana is attending a multi-player simul session for his club in Baden-Baden.

You can rewatch yesterday’s commentary below:

You can also watch the games in our free mobile apps:  

         

See also:

• Official website
• All the Bilbao games with computer analysis on chess24
• Super-GM summer:  Danzhou, Dortmund, Bilbao
• Bilbao Masters Round 1: Nakamura's Carlsen nightmare ends
• Bilbao Masters Round 2: Carlsen hits back to beat Wei Yi