Carlsen Wins Game 1 Slugfest In Freestyle Match Vs. Caruana

GM Magnus Carlsen won the first game, of two, in his Freestyle Chess Match against Fabiano Caruana. It was a full-fledged war on the 64 squares after Caruana sacrificed a pawn on move 11, but Carlsen found his groove:

The game just flowed—I barely made a waiting or passive move in the whole game. Everything was just super-tactical. Honestly, this is what we should play freestyle for, for games like this, when it's just free-flowing and fun!

Game two of the main event, with Carlsen behind the black pieces, is on Friday, November 22, starting at 7:00 a.m. ET / 13:00 CET / 8:00 p.m. local time in Singapore. Caruana is in a must-win situation to reach tiebreaks.

It's been a good first two days for Carlsen, who has only been winning since he arrived in Singapore. On the previous day, he and IM Tania Sachdev defeated the team of Caruana and GM Maurice Ashley 2-0 in a friendly "Head and Hand" match. He is one more win away from winning the main event, which promotes the yearlong Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour.

While yesterday's games were played at the luxurious Skai Loft, the main event took place at a new venue, on the SilentWorld yacht. Unsurprisingly, this was a first for the commentators and players alike.

My first time doing commentary from a yacht. With Magnus and Fabi playing #freestylechess, it gets no cooler than this! https://t.co/Pug6OkoX2r

— Maurice Ashley (@MauriceAshley) November 21, 2024

Once given the starting position, the players had 10 minutes to "prepare" for the game. While preparation in regular chess consists of reviewing notes and memorizing opening variations, these 10 minutes were spent acclimatizing to a position they've potentially never seen before, determining the main themes and potential tactics.

This was the starting position, number 87. In games played from this position on Chess.com with at least one titled player, almost all of them were decisive: 157 white wins, 125 black wins, and only 11 draws. We added another decisive game to the record on Thursday.

Carlsen sparred against himself, looking at ways to probe against the queenside...

It's Magnus vs. Magnus right now! #FreestyleChess pic.twitter.com/nt1fQ25YxC

— chess24 (@chess24com) November 21, 2024

...while Caruana stared at the board without moving a single piece, doing all of the work in his head. Super-GM Wesley So supposedly came to the venue to help Caruana, but was distracted by the Siren's call before the game: sushi.

When you are cramming for your #freestylechess game vs Magnus but your teammate decides to eat sushi pic.twitter.com/ABn7pUwVmu

— Mike Klein (@ChessMike) November 21, 2024

As he did in his "trial run," Carlsen went straight for the queenside, lining up his bishop and queen on the g1-a7 diagonal and sometimes threatening Nb5. Caruana ultimately sacrificed a pawn with the flamboyant 5...g5!?, which Carlsen praised, and had compensation based on the white king's somewhat precarious position.

Just 11 moves in, the board looked like the following, and Ashley exclaimed, "This position is just a war!" Caruana played the natural 11...Qh4+ 12.Kd2, but Carlsen "generally felt that the king was better there," as he could "castle" by putting his king on c1. Instead, breaking open the center with 11...d5!, as Ashley suggested during the game, was more powerful.   

Another critical moment came when Carlsen grabbed the pawn on b7 in the position below, potentially opening up lines against his own king. His original idea was to play 16.c4, but he saw problems with the resulting endgame, and was thus pressed to find something new. Necessity is the mother of invention.

He explained the joy he felt in playing the provocative pawn grab, and the move's underlying logic: 

I loved the sheer stupidity of just grabbing the pawn on b7, as I did in the game. It kind of feels absurd just to take this pawn, open the lines and everything, but what I'd seen was that we get this potential scenario of good knight vs. bad bishop [the e4-knight vs. h8-bishop]. Once the pawn on d7 falls, the game is over.

I loved the sheer stupidity of just grabbing the pawn on b7, as I did in the game.

—Magnus Carlsen

"Everything falls into place," Carlsen said after navigating tactical complications that may look scary for mere mortals but were simply pebbles on the road to victory for the former world champion. For example, he'd already foreseen the response after Black captured the pawn on b2...

...and later calculated a long line and saw that his king ends up perched safely on the h4-square, without a worry on earth.

GM Rafael Leitao analyzes the Game of the Day below.

Carlsen will have the black pieces in the next game, but making a draw in Chess960 is especially challenging, he explained. "Making a draw on demand is much easier, but far from easy, and certainly tomorrow I've just got to try and play a normal game, try and have fun like today, and you know hopefully it's going to go well. But it's a new day, it's a fresh position, and new chances." 

The 2024 Freestyle Chess Match: Carlsen vs. Caruana is a two-game Chess960 match between the world number-one and number-two. After a Head and Hand event on November 20, the main event takes place from November 21-22. The time control for the two games is 60 minutes plus a 30-second increment. 

Previous coverage:

• Carlsen, Tania Dream Team Scores 2-0 Vs. Caruana, Ashley