When Magnus Almost Got In A Fight
Channel: Blitz
Date: 01/04/2023

When Magnus Carlsen Almost Got In A Fight

The thrilling match between Ali Reza Firouzja and Magnus Carlsen, often referred to as the Mozart of chess, is one for the history books. The Ali Reza Firouzja vs Magnus Carlsen rivalry is well known, and this particular match – Magnus vs Firouzja controversy – was no exception. This game of chess between these two titans took place at the Carlsen vs Firouzja 2019 tournament. Alireza Firouzja, also known as Firouzja, faced off against his fierce rival Magnus Carlsen.

Firouzja sits impatiently waiting for the match to begin. Magnus rolls up, both players swiftly shake hands, and the match begins. Firouzja launches his pawn forward to E4. Magnus quickly responds with E5. Both players blitz out their moves until we are left with the Ruy López Opening. After a brief pause, Ali Reza castles his king, taking it away from the dangerous center of the board. Magnus quickly develops the bishop to D7, a move that un-pins the knight. Both players want to get their pieces off their starting squares as soon as possible. Carlsen fianchettos the bishop by placing it on a powerful diagonal.

They both blitz out the following moves, most of it is theory being a familiar position they’ve seen before. Carlsen stops to think, before pushing his rook to E8, supporting his army in the center of the board. Firouzja, looks stumped momentarily, but promptly develops his knight to D2. Both players are vicious rivals, any mistake now could prove fatal later on in the match. After multiple boring developing moves, Ali Reza is slightly better, but things are about to get spicy. Firouzja thinks for a good 15 seconds before making a costly mistake. He shoots his pawn forward to H5, hoping to break the structure around Magnus's king and weaken it. However, he over looks Carlsen’s move Bishop to H6, This wins a tempo by threatening the powerful knight and forcing it to move away. He looks visibly frustrated. Firouzja has no option but to trade the incredible piece and now it’s Magnus who is leading the match. Is this simple mistake why Ali Reza is so angry at the end? Let’s just say this doesn’t even come close.

Firouzja holds his face in deep thought before striking with his pawn on H6. This further damages the structure around Carlsen's king. Luckily for Magnus, Ali Reza's pieces have limited mobility and are not able to hunt down his king. Both players launch their pieces forward until we are left with this position, with both sides rooks blasting down the center of the board like cannons. It looks like Magnus is cruising to victory; he now has double the time of Firouzja, but you won’t believe what happens next. A few pieces are traded off, then Ali Reza plays the genius move queen to C4, this threatens checkmate in one move with queen to G8. Without hesitation, Carlsen plonks his queen on F6, this is a huge blunder as after the following sequence of moves Firouzja checks the king, winning the pawn on B7. You’d think he'd look disgusted, but Magnus doesn't even look fazed. You might be asking how this all goes horribly wrong for Firouzja. Well, that's right around the corner.

The intensity of the game picks up, both players have under ten seconds on the clock. Firouzja checks the king again, winning a second pawn. Magnus shakes in anger, blocking the resulting check with his queen and they trade off the pieces. A bishop and knight are also traded, and we are left with a bishop for each side. They both violently launch their pieces forward, to control the center of the board and gobble up as many pawns as possible. In the scramble, Ali Reza knocks over a pawn, a hint at what’s to come. His clock is getting dangerously low with Magnus having a ten-second time advantage. Firouzja gobbles up the last of Carlsen’s pawns, he now has a 3-point material advantage. They both keep blitzing out moves, Ali Reza hitting 2 seconds on the clock at one point. Magnus replies quickly, keeping his clock at 19 seconds. Firouzja moves his hand as quickly as possible trying to keep in the game. But then it happens the fatal blunder, he smacks the king with his hand, knocking it over. By the time he’s picked it up his clock hits 0. Magnus wins. Firouzja slams the table. He jumps up in anger and throws his hands in the air in disgust. Magnus gets up to throw hands. Even though Firouzja was completely winning, Carlsen wins as a checkmate is still possible on the board. Ali Reza storms off, hurling his water bottle at the ground in frustration.

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