Doing your job, and not a jot more – ‘quiet quitting’ – became one of the buzzphrases of 2022. In The Spectator, Stephen Daisley lauded this as the philosophy of the clear-eyed pragmatist, not the layabout, and wondered when more young employees would cotton on.
Was Magnus Carlsen thinking along the same lines? For the time being, he remains the world champion in classical chess, and many believe that his job, his grand duty, is to defend the title at all costs. So there was much consternation when he announced in July his intention to abdicate, leaving the title to be contested between Ian Nepomniachtchi and Ding Liren later in 2023.
It seems to me that Carlsen sees his job differently. The title is a bauble, but his real job is to prove, repeatedly, that he remains the best player in the world. If he can do that by playing online in his pyjamas, that’s a lot more appealing than enduring a six-month treadmill of training camps to prepare for a world championship match.
The World Rapid and Blitz Championship is the next best thing, where two world titles are up for grabs in a five-day stretch. The world’s best players (with very few exceptions) all convened in Almaty, Kazakhstan, between Christmas and New Year. Even for the elite, speed chess is a bumpy ride, but over 13 rounds of rapid and 21 rounds of blitz, the usual suspects tend to rise to the top. Still, even by Carlsen’s standards, taking the gold medal in both disciplines was an exceptional triumph. (Last year, in Warsaw, he got a bronze in the rapid and finished 12th in the blitz.)
Carlsen needed a little luck in this topsy-turvy game from round 14 of the blitz event, which featured four pawn promotions. In the diagram position, he missed an extremely subtle win, beginning with 39 f3! The idea is to block the h1-d5 diagonal, to prepare 40 f8=Q Rxf8 41 Qxd5+ Kb8 42 Qb7 mate. A better try for Black is 39…g6 40 hxg6 h5+ 41 Kg5 Qxf3 42 g7 Qg4+ 43 Kf6, but bizarrely, the heavy pieces are powerless and Black is lost.
Instead, Carlsen jettisoned the f7 pawn to set up a mate threat, which Rapport rebuffed, only to lose his way in the ensuing mayhem.
Magnus Carlsen-Richard Rapport
World Blitz Championship, Almaty 2022
(See diagram)
39 f8=Q Rxf8 40 Qd7 Rxf4+ The only defence, but a good one. 41 gxf4 Qg2+ 42 Kh4 Qxf2+ 43 Kg4 Qg2+ 44 Kh4 g5+ A clever trick to chase White’s king in a different direction. 45 hxg6 Qh2+ 46 Kg4 h5+ 47 Kf3 Qh1+ 48 Kf2 Qh4+ 49 Kf3 Allowing the exchange of queens, but there was nothing better. Qg4+ 50 Qxg4 hxg4+ 51 Kxg4 With an extra rook, it is a miracle that Black must still be accurate to win the game. b5 52 f5 b4 53 f6 bxc3 54 f7 c2 55 g7 c1=Q 56 f8=Q Two new queens, and a new set of problems. How to finish White off? Qg1+ 57 Kh5 Qh2+ 58 Kg6 Qg3+ 59 Kh6 Qh4+ 60 Kg6 Qg4+ 61 Kh6 c3 62 Qf7 Qh4+ 63 Kg6 Qe4+ This was the moment to seal the deal with 63…Rc6+! 64 Kf5 Qf2+ and 65…Qxf7 64 Kg5 Qe3+ This throws away the win, but by now only the precise 64…Rb8! suffices to win, with the idea 65 g8=Q Qg2+ 65 Kh5! Qe8? A tragedy, all the more so for looking like it wins on the spot by forcing a queen exchange. 66 g8=Q! The final twist. 66…Qxg8 67 Qb7 is mate. Black is lost. Qe2+ 67 Qg4 Rh8+ 68 Kg5 Qe3+ 69 Kf6 Qh6+ 70 Ke7 Qc6 71 Qgg8+ Black resigns
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