No garlands

At St Louis, world champion Magnus Carlsen met with unexpected setbacks in both the rapid and blitz sections. In both cases his play was unusually lacklustre and his self-assurance seemed to crumble. I can’t imagine Capablanca, Alekhine, Botvinnik or Kasparov ever uttered such words about their own play as Carlsen did when he said: ‘Everything’s going wrong. My confidence is long gone and now I just don’t really care anymore. My number one wish now is for the tournament to be over, it cannot come soon enough.’ Lev Aronian was the overall winner.
 
Yu Yangyi-Carlsen: St Louis Blitz 2019 (see diagram 1)
 
19 Nxf6+ Bxf6 20 gxh5 c3 21 Qg2 Kh7 This defensive measure proves too slow. The best chance was counterattack with 21 … Bxd4 22 Bxd4 Qa5 23 hxg6 cxb2 24 Rg1 (24 gxf7+ Kf7 and the king can escape via e8) 24 … f6 with unclear play. 22 hxg6+ fxg6 23 b3 Qa5 24 f4 Rc4 25 e5 This central breakthrough is decisive.