Will Fabiano and Hikaru Make The $1M Chess.com Global Championship Live Finals? | Presented By Brave

Featuring the world’s greatest players, former world champions and online chess legends, the $1,000,000 Chess.com Global Championship is our biggest EVER tournament! After months of qualifiers, the top 32 players have advanced and are joined by 32 invited chess stars to compete for their share of the prize fund and the Chess.com Global Champion title.

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Foreign [Music] [Music] Thank you [Music] [Music] Foreign [Music] [Music] Foreign [Music] Have we mentioned there’s also a million Dollars at stake the total pot is a Million dollars no that it’s not a typo The prizes are unbelievably generous we Began with thousands of players now only Dozens remain what a move by Timur it’s Over he’s gonna lift to tell the tale And that is enough to take victory in This Armageddon game Dan yet The cgc Knockout phase has arrived There are those who played their way in And some are here thanks to their Well-earned reputations No matter who you are things are about To get very very real oh my God massive Congratulations to Sam Savion a trip to The cgc finals and a clean shot at the Largest first place prize of the year My friends it’s the cgc round of 16. who Will take the next step to Toronto Welcome to the 2022 chess.com Global Championship presented by Brave I’m Grand Master Robert Hess and it’s the

King of Gotham International Master Levy Rosman Levy another great day here at The cgc yes it is and I just learned That I have a new nickname Robert I Guess you were saving that up for the Hour call that we have before we go live For these shows I’m very excited it’s Been a tremendous amount of fun watching 64 players now down to not quite 16 Because we already had a couple of Eliminations what is it something like 12 now but today we have a super Exciting lineup of games and matchups For you as it’s going to be the one seed In the two seed in both of the Head-to-heads and I think we’re about to Go to a full screen bracket to show you What’s been going on thus far Robert Yeah it’s super excited where we are and As we get into the brackets dive into The details we do want to give a quick Shout out to our friends at Brave who Will take us through Bruce presenting Sponsor for the rest of the cgc Including all the way into Toronto so We’re excited to have Brave with us and As they join us here in the bracket we See that as Levy mentioned we do not Have all 16 players remaining in this Knockout portion levonne Ronin Wesley SOB made their way through yesterday but Today we’re at the top of the bracket Hikaru Nakamura Leonardo Dominguez as Well as they’re the bottom left five

Minute karwana Dimitri on draken Exactly and it’s sort of a dream come True in the sense that when you get Eight players into a group you see them One two three four five six seven eight And sometimes you have upsets on the Right side of your screen in fact you Have a few upsets in some of those Groups you do have some number one seeds Moving on but that is really what you Are looking for is the person who is Touted to win a group of eight actually Going to emerge in the final and today The answer to that question is yes and Number one will be taking on number two Yeah the top heavy tournament that we Have here will continue but we do want To remind everybody of yesterday’s Results because two players are have Already punched their tickets through Toronto two more will join them that was Wesley so he escaped Jeffrey Zhang Barely in the Armageddon they you know Jeffrey Zhang was almost had him could Not quite win the game and Wesley held On and then levonne aronian Levy he’s Looking as good as anyone in this field He absolutely is you see yesterday we Had two completely different story lines We saw Sam Savion taking some of the Momentum that he brought in with the win Against mvl and when you beat a guy Who’s in the top ten and really touted As a beast in Rapid and Blitz

Everybody starts looking like all right When is the Cinderella story gonna end Or are you going to ride this wave to The live final obviously in in Toronto And unfortunately he couldn’t quite Continue the run and Levon Dominic and He just said all right well I’m the one Seed for a reason but on the flip side You had an absolute barn burner Heavyweight matchup where Jeffrey Zhang Fought back from uh a significant Deficit and won enforcing Armageddon and Was so close Robert he was just so close Inches away from making it Toronto but Unfortunately came up short if we can Have the same level of drama today that We had yesterday I’m all for it for sure And for some the clock strikes midnight As you bring up our remaining Contestants in this knockout Tournament Of course we know Pavel pankratov Alexi Serrana those are higher Seas or players That might not have been expected to Make their way through to the round of 16. but as we look here and we will see Who else punches their way to Toronto in Addition to Wesley and Lavon it’s all About Nakamura Dominguez and car one on Draken today Yes it is Wesley like we just saw had a Nail-biting experience but he awaits the Winner uh of caruana versus andraken uh Which will obviously lead into the next Round he sits there happily take it well

I don’t be happily took care of business Yesterday I think it was a more of a Relief and yes Hikaru obviously the top Seed the dominant man uh today Definitely the best rapid player of the Four that we will have for you for the Audience but um we’ll see that’s the Amazing thing we can’t just predict Things based on seating they actually Have to play it out and I think we have A preview right we’re going to a preview Of the of the specific matchups for sure Look at these four players on screen in Front of you with the All-American Derby One seed Hikaru Nakamura taking on Leonard Dominguez the two seed in that Side of things and then Fabiano caruana Against Dimitri on draken I mean calling On Drake in a two seed feels like it’s a Really not giving him the benefit of his Skill set but these two matchups Levy I Think that everybody has been waiting For them in the round of 16. Absolutely and they’re very different They’re different in the sense that Hikaru and Lanier play all the time They’ve played in classical rapid They’ve played at St Louis just a few Weeks ago but karawana and and Drake and Except for their online games have maybe Played each other just the limited Amount of times I’m I’m not sure where They could even possibly meet they are At the upper echelon of the game but

Generally unless you’re invited to a Tournament you’re not really going to See these two going at it so this is the Beauty of the CJC is that if you put two Of them in a group that is what happens They emerge out of uh the darkness that Is a a group of eight as the one and two Seed and they’re very interesting Stylistically right Robert because I Feel like Dimitri is much more inclined To mix it up I feel like Fabiano is a Cutting Edge theoretician he will maybe Be looking to put away Dimitri just Straight out of some sort of preparation That he that he finds could be a Weakness I don’t know you you probably Know a little bit more about the piano Than me and you’ve seen a bit more of Dimitri’s games what do you expect for Today yeah Dimitri is the ultimate Grinder and we see the head-to-head Comparison this does not surprise me They are tied in classical they are tied In Rapid but Levy I feel like that last Bullet point there on Drake and beating Car on two nothing in the RCC a bit Misleading because five minute lost the Second game because his internet Disconnected in a completely winning Position that is indeed tragic yes that Should be one one that is the struggle Of playing games online and I kinda Look back to that classical score I I Mentioned that I don’t think they’ve

Played many games against each other These guys are probably both about 30 And they’ve played five games of Classical chess against each other over The course of their careers they just Don’t find themselves in similar events And to be honest you go back in their History I don’t know where those games Are it’s not a steal maybe somewhere Maybe a grand Swiss and a lot of draws Right so the truth is Robert I feel like We don’t know anything about this Matchup this is like a total toss-up and I I have no idea what to expect really That’s the what makes this super Exciting and in many ways Dimitri on Drake is the unsung hero of online chess The guy is winning title Tuesdays left And right he meets at the final the Grand final of the rapid Chess Championship but before ultimately being Eliminated by janapamishi but today’s Big matchup the one that is starting First is between Hikaru Nakamura and Lenier Dominguez and as we look at this Head to head look at how many draws they Have in classical and how few draws they Have in Rapid Linear is a very solid player and In Classical chess that is really an Important asset to have as a skill he’s Been consistently 27 50 27 60 2770 and It kind of is not super surprising Because I feel like if they played a lot

More games when Hikaru was a bit younger In his career throwing out Kings Indians At everybody then maybe there would be More wins and losses but it kind of Makes sense because I think Hikaru Toward well I don’t want to say the end Of his classical career but he obviously More recently has played a lot more Online and more rapid and Blitz he’s Been a bit more of a of a solid player Kind of having what they call maybe a Professional repertoire with some of These Queens Gambit declines but we saw That in their rapid hit the head the Eight wins four four losses one draw There are almost no draws and that’s What makes this intriguing because every Time Hikaru plays Lanier I pay attention Hikaru might have a bit more of a Provocative style and here is Rock Solid But when you get them into faster and Faster time controls Hikaru definitely Has an advantage and we’ll see what Happens today For sure but I know Leonard Dominguez is Taking online play more seriously and Well we want to remind everybody of Their votes our community got involved Before the event began made their Predictions and I just have to say Outright Levy these predictions here Ridiculous yeah ridiculous I think if Lanier had a twitch Channel this would Be like 75-25 at least I think he would

Get five times as many votes I just Think that people expect Hikaru to win And back when we did the bracket Analysis bracket preview with Danny and With nariditski I kind of said the same Thing and you put Hikaru in a group You’re like all right it’ll take care of Business I’m just gonna go over here you Really don’t have to monitor him but Lanier is a perfect adversary for being A second seed he’s been amazing in this Event he took care of Eric Hansen quite Convincingly and if he shows up today And plays that style it neutralizes Hikaru and doesn’t get too low on time And I don’t see a reason why he can’t be The one going to Toronto but obviously 95.5 is a bit insane yes and same 78 for Carwana that felt like a lot but here we See uh to remind everybody of what the Format is because you said when a car Plays he’s the favorite but this is an Event with a 15 minute plus two second Increment so it’s not just bullet chess Blitz chess it takes a while to get down To time travel and Leonard Dominguez is Extremely well prepared he is not going To go down in any game without a Tremendous fight yeah five percent is Crazy like I I five percent you can Maybe bring in the qualifying round or Something along those lines this Wouldn’t be the first time that we saw An upset but yeah just an overview of

The format once again they play a best Of four first to two and a half out of Those four games does advance and Otherwise they have a bidding system for The Armageddon as we look at Hikaru and Lanier you would not think that they are Both about to start a very intense rapid Game linear certainly looks like it but Uh oh there there we go game face and D4 Move one from Hikaru will we get a quick Yeah there it is Queen’s Gambit accepted This is a linear specialty it’s funny Because I knew you’re gonna ask the Question and I knew that linear would Answer it before we even had a chance to Show things linear takes on C4 in the Early stages of the opening very often When his opponent plays D4 it’s a solid Approach he’s quickly striking center With C5 so as we just get this match Underway Levy do we think that linear is Going to have any opening surprises or As you predicted qga is what is expected Qga is what it is no when you play Queen’s Gambit accepted with black Especially in this line you are very Much a Sitting Duck I mean that’s a bit Of a stretch Sitting Duck has a negative Connotation but here we go we see D5 Right away from Hikaru and this is this Is one of these moments where and look At this B5 Wow not even taking this Knight on D5 Back the sign of what is happening here

Well have you ever seen this what is Going on I’m about to click the game Explorer because I have no idea and this Position apparently at high level games Has only happened a couple of times There is a knight that has been able to Capture it for many moves the point Everybody is you don’t want to take it You open up the e-file for this Rook on E1 so that is why lanyard said no and he Was Bishop B4 and Bishop G5 Oh my God F6 okay this is crazy they’re Just throwing out Theory left and right And what I was going to say is that when You play the Queen’s gamut accept it With black you’re a Sitting Duck you’re Basically waiting for white to instigate With you and try to pull you either into 25 move deep water or What’s Happening Here Hikaru is trying to take Lanier Completely out of known Theory and the Problem is for him right now Lanier is Obviously very well prepared he’s Playing a bunch of absurd looking moves Instantly that’s a bad sign Yeah this has been already a fascinating Battle of opening Theory let’s bring up The analysis board because a lot has Happened we don’t want to deprive you of Those little educational tidbits so it All started around here where after A6 Playing on the flank trying to get B5 in It car decides to strike in the center And Levy at this point B5 is already a

Clear indication that linear has no Interest in taking this Knight on D5 Yeah absolutely not first of all Knight C6 is already a secondary move I believe Uh several moves ago black generally Plays A6 E6 C5 but really Waits a lot of The time to play the Knight to C6 uh but Uh Lanier did it instantly which I know He does and I can’t say I’ve ever seen D5 in that position I’ve ucd5 frequently And E4 as well but this is a completely Unique thing I’ve never seen this in my Life and it makes sense that he wouldn’t Take on D5 at any point here because After you take all of a sudden White’s Pieces Venture into the center attack The Knight The Rook is over there the F7 Pawn is weak and that’s why I played C4 Cutting the bishop off in the night but Here come tactics and after e takes D5 e Takes D5 this would have been a big Problem with Rook E1 check about to Happen the king strand in the center Foreign So now probably what’s coming next as we See Hikaru taking a bit of a think is uh An end game frankly they already have Traded a lot of the pieces and the Question here is is black C4 Pawn an Asset or is it a liability because I’m Going to tell you right now Hikaru Better hope it’s a it’s a it’s a Liability if black is able to trade it He’s gonna get very quick play with the

King going to safety and The Rook coming In and maybe black is already playing For some sort of Advantage potentially And a big issue is that Rook C1 is not Available At some point so it looks like a very Interesting start to this game uh by These players Fabiano and andrakin they Will have their game get underway in Just a bit so uh we will try to catch The start of that game as Hikaru he’s Deep in the think tank so here we go we Have these two starting out as well Yeah one funny thing about that uh that Line this move B5 You said it was only really played in One high level game And I know we have I know we have this Game up on the screen so I’ll I’ll save That but it’s chess is so fascinating How nowadays you can just see data Instantly oh this was played in you know Budapest 2022 and this day of this month And this is what the players were Wearing and this is what they had for Breakfast back in the day used to have To wait for Publications to come out uh Wow we now are this is such a CR Robert You and I once uh oversaw in our in uh Yeah Vichy versus pan creative in that First game and that game was as wild as They get and playing the French against Fabiano caruana has proven in the past To be a very bad idea for Grand Masters

I mean Fabiano has won a number of nice Games from the white side of these Positions and in general Levy the double Pawns here on the C file that white is Saddled with for uh pretty much the rest Of the game it’s offset with the fact That white has the pair of Bishops so What are your thoughts your caracon Flare not a French player but you’re Used to these types of structures I do not understand the win hour for Either color if I have to choose which Side I understand it better for it’s Probably for the white side because me Push Pawn me advanced pieces Me Maybe Win I’m really not capable of Understanding what black has to offer Here and I think I have played a few Times in my life that when I were over The board and I’ve lost every single Time so basically when I get out of Theory uh you leave me on my own it’s a It’s a disaster but andrakin is one of The other I think Russian players who Plays the French he’s a lot of them do I Mean I’ve even seen yanny pomishi play It and we see pankrado in this event Playing the French so it’s not dead yet Okay maybe in classical We’re not gonna See it as much but in these fast formats It’s super super tricky but Robert just Like officially how do you how do you do This man you you play the French at Times you know when you’re feeling

Naughty how do you deal with these Positions I played the French one time In classical chess and now I Unfortunately have been saddled with a Reputation that includes that in my Repertoire but I think in the French Right we have this very strong Pawn Structure from F7 D5 a pawn chain is Only as strong as its base Pawn White’s Base Pawn C3 defended but already D4 is Pressured a bunch of times so oftentimes This Rook lands on H4 gets into the Attack you start putting pressure on These pawns on G7 F7 while Black’s Position is a bit more clogged so Ideally black plays Bishop D7 castles And goes for F6 tries to open up the Position more and more but it’s easier Said than done And this is also important because we Haven’t analyzed and we don’t have that Position on the screen at all which is The poison pawns really variation when In the when our black uh allows white to Capture a bunch of Pawns and then Castle’s Queen side this is a much more Positional style winner it’s not super Super and now it’s going to be Extremely positional game as andraken Completely shuts down the center of the Board it’s deadlocked black is going to Try to win on The Queen side and white Is going to try to not lose on the queen Side while also trying to win on the

King side with that big space advantage And those potentially weak pawns will And Drake and Castle long will he put His King in the corner I don’t know but Visually speaking I of course slightly Prefer the white side of things That doesn’t mean anything because They’ve just traded one piece each and You can just castle and black will Probably castle at some point and we Have many many moves ahead this is going To be a much longer game than the Hikaru Versus Lanier Dominguez game well Speaking of that came in Knight H2 Played by karwana you know what he wants He wants F4 and so on he has to push Those pawns so we’ll see if he’s able to Get everything here because if this Pawn Can get up the board that would be Really nice for him so Um let’s go back to the game between Hikaru and Lanier just because that’s Deeper along here And yep but let me grab that one Uh I like this I like this overlay Because if you don’t realize uh the Names are at the bottom it looks like You and I are playing you and I can Pretend to sit in the shoes of these Great players Okay so Hikaru is a pawn up But he is down more than five minutes Which makes me think that Lanier did not Lose this Pawn by mistake and he will

Probably be winning it back very soon Rook D3 doesn’t quite win it back but it Activates the rook and forces white to Maybe play Knight D1 which is just the Just a very uh Not a pleasant move to make because now You can’t move anything But There’s still some accuracy to be had Here so far though if Lanier gets out of This completely unscathed Robert it Seems a tremendous preparation from him Right no I mean this is activity for the Cost of a pawn so Right now we see that the Knight on D1 Is passive The Rook on D3 very active And there are no more weaknesses in Black’s Camp the only weakness was Sacrifice jettisoned and so black has All its activity Exactly right Maybe white is going to try to put the Rook behind the c pawn and C3 C4 C5 in The future bring the king over a little Bit that’s sort of the plan uh Hikaru is Not a guy who Loses time for no reason let’s put it This way he’s not a guy who’s wasting Five six minutes of clock time and in The size of no he he really just doesn’t Exactly know how to untangle here he’s Doing his best these guys have Processors in their brains that are Unbelievably fast so to see him down

Five and a half minutes trying to find a Way to untangle here and make some Degree of progress is very interesting And it just shows you that Queen’s gamut Accepted voluntarily giving up the Center so early in the game but trying To even win back a sacrifice Pawn a Little bit later is an opening that Requires extreme precision and very very Good memorization and linear has shown That so far in game number one Yeah no this is great played by linear Is King in the center over here looking Quite nice and we’ll see if that King Can Dash as well and Um yeah no it looks like a very nice Setup for him as Hikaru continues to Think have you ever seen Hikaru down six Minutes on the clock no this is what I Was saying I’ve I I’m shocked I’m sure You can find games he he’s unpleasant uh In some sort of opening but he’s nearly Down 50 of the time Hang out for one but I mean I think White’s moves are relatively Straightforward as well so it’s not like Hikaru has to worry about losing this Game in a few it’s not that kind of Activity for black it just feels like Well I mean I prefer most of Black’s Pieces especially the Rook on D3 Compared to the Rook on A1 but you can’t Attack another Pawn or anything like That

Yeah this will be a while either Hikaru Will find a way to bring his King a Little bit F1 E2 And get out of all this or black just Has a wonderful blockade what sometimes Happens here with black is you lose a Pawn And you just get all this activity You say I did my job a guy’s low on time I did my job but with opponents like Hikaru you you can never really relax uh Some in the audience might remember the Game that he won against David Navarra It was just a completely equal end game And if you don’t remember that game Because you don’t even remember what you Had for breakfast that’s completely fine Don’t worry about it but Hikaru can win The most equal of positions although Generally he’s doing it from the Stronger side of the clock so five Minutes down winning in endgame It’s not simple but seven minutes is Still just so much time and it’s an Eternity and if suddenly linear is Uncomfortable defending then he will not Succeed he will make a mistake and Suddenly the extra Pawn will be felt For sure so I mean for a Hikaru game one With the white pieces you’d really Prefer to get a more unbalanced position Something sharper something that gives That gives a little more fight but now Linear is thinking so I do believe that

Psychologically a car can start feeling A little bit better because if you see The evaluation bar Levy goes up a little Bit there and that might make your guard Doesn’t know what the evaluation is but Every single move for a car bringing the King towards the center trying to Activate those Knights it just feels Like if there’s not 100 accuracy from Lanier then he’s not going to get this Done I’m sort of confused what the idea here Is what is it King E2 Bishop B5 is that What is the pla like if of course white Wants to bring the king to touch the Rook and then wanted to play F3 F4 which Is why Lanier just played the move G5 And G5 will prevent White from playing F4 himself And removing the Knight and then trying To win The Rook And the only reason Hikaru hasn’t moved Any closer with the King and is kind of Staring out the window looking at the Weather and calculating is because the Bishop for black is going to probably go To B5 on the same diagonal and suddenly White has walked directly into the line Of attack Not to mention that linear doesn’t even Have to use the G Pawn as a Defender he Could use it as an aggressor with a move Like G5 G4

And the extra Pawn for white is not felt It’s not it’s not quite there it’s much More sort of hoping to survive than Confidently standing and playing a Pivotal role in the position Right No it’s uh Yeah that’s one I don’t envy either Player because uh for Hikaru you know You need to really find everything you Know a deep sort of idea a plan to get You some play and for linear it’s like Well I’m down a pawn and hopefully I can Keep this up that’s the goal so um yeah I don’t know I think that both players Shouldn’t be too unhappy but it’s just One of those games where you’re going to Just dig deep Oh you got to dig super deep for all the Hype and for all of the number one Versus number two seed here this is Gonna be a it’s gonna be a dirty Scrappy End game grind that’s what’s gonna That’s what’s going on here it’s not Gonna be like our other game where we Had almost no trades but it’s going to Be whether or not Hikaru can demonstrate That okay maybe his preparation Was not having him in a situation up six Minutes on the clock but he won a pawn And he created enough practical chances And linear was unable to to deal with Them but The problem in chess is that you have to

Make moves It’s not just the rules you cannot just Sit there and go ah my position looks Good you know I did my job every move You actually have to do something you Have to change something on the board And that is where the variance pops in I wonder if how I wonder if we are able To see You can You can go over there and see what’s Going on um those are the worst Rooks I’ve ever seen Those are the worst Rooks Ever and yet the evaluation says zeros What Is it it just feels like some uh Modern Art Museum you know like we’re supposed Oh this is the tragedy of the Rooks or Something we have to analyze this image I I think we understand why they’re There he wants some kind of G5 move and Then once upassan happens H6 to be Defended but that’s why Fabiano Queen C1 Just saying no G Pawn push for you at The end of those variations with Opposant H6 will be attacked three times And we just saw andrekin smile and take A sip because I think he’s smiling at Jesus Christ why do I have Rooks on H7 But the truth is he might still get a Lot of value out of playing the move G5 Maybe maybe even right now at the end of The whole sequence his Queen side could

Be a little bit weak and if we follow That sequence all the way down like G5 You know HG FG rookies at the end of it There’s going to be and that’s why we See A6 there we go so now the King on A8 Is going to uh let’s see you cannot Can’t do it just yet but as Black plays Asics the king now no longer Has any liabilities wow Queen B2 Switching gears it looks like just going For the B file maybe Queen will plant Itself on the B6 Square as well Uh so not afraid of g-pawn pushes is Fabiano caruana no he’s not No he’s not he’s like do your worst Deal was G5 I guess Well you must it’s forced As We Know This by the way do you have to take or Can you play Rook hh1 and rotate over to The other side actually I’m serious I I Guess taking is better well we’re about To find out because G5 was just played And I I think your instinct is correct To take on Passat you can also bring This Rook over to H1 which would induce The move H5 so I’m going to show that Quickly to show you why white would want Something like this because now for H5 We have a dark Square Bishop black does Not give me all of these dark squares Over here this bishop can actually just Venture right into Black’s position yep Exactly right white is asking questions Of black on all three sides of the board

At this point in fact it almost seems Like black cannot do anything if I’m Looking at this plane at this position The only plan that I see is Knight A7 Knight B5 That’s it I don’t see anything else Because pushing the g-pawn forward you Cannot white will put the bishop there And or play f2f4 I’m Robert I don’t see anything else No but I guess Dimitri’s hoping that he Can continue to lock up this position a Bishop on E6 is not always the best Block hating piece of a past Pawn we are Seeing a variation uh this is happening But Bishop on E6 can be kicked if There’s a knight coming to squarely F4 White doesn’t have any Knights so this Actually is a full-on blockade here and Levy I’m not really seeing how white can Crash through maybe later F3 and G4 but It’s going to be a very long story in This game Robert correct me if I’m wrong so I’m Actually trying to learn a bit more Myself about this position and I also Think the audience would benefit from This in any in any position you have to Always evaluate what’s TR what trades Would benefit aside the most and I think In this position just looking at it if Black did not have a queen if it was Just queenless metal end game this is Completely like hopeless for black

Because I think the queen prevents a lot Of expansion for white on the queen side And covers the C2 square right so so White struggles to move but with a queen Trade it would be game over and draken Would sit there waiting for Fabiano to Arrive and take all the cookies away From him so it’s very important that Queen on A4 survives like a move like Queen B5 and I think white is just Completely winning immediately right I Think it’s a great point and I was just Drawing this era for fun but in all Seriousness if the Queens are traded This white king might just go to G5 and Help and put pressure here but look what Fabiano’s doing he’s gonna Rook back to H1 Rook over to B1 and start trying to Put pressure on the black queen side This bishop on G5 and the pawn on G3 Stopped all of Black’s play you need Pawns on dark squares to combat a dark Square Bishop all of Black’s pawns every Single one all seven are on might Squares this position is miserable for Dimitri maybe he can hold but he will Never have an active plan unless his Knight can sort of get into the game Maybe Knight d8 to F7 or as Levy was Mentioning bringing the Knight to B5 at Some point but This doesn’t look very appetizing no it Doesn’t when you play E6 on the first Move you are immediately bestowing upon

Yourself the burden of proof to make Your light squared Bishop useful it’s Called the bad French bishop and in this Game there are seven out of eight pawns Still remaining on the board for black And every single Pawn is on the same Color as the bishop Literally and the craziest thing is only Really one of them should move forward Ever and it’s the b-pawn because if you Play a6a5 Then white will very quickly Go trade Queens some sort of rugby one Queen B5 and you cannot trade Queens With black you just literally will lose The game that King is going to walk up In fact Robert there is a world where White can play Bishop F6 and walk the King to G5 right now And if the king is safe like Knight d8 You could just take it but of course you Should trade Queens but it’s just so Funny uh I think this is just a matter Of time I don’t know how you feel but This is a very nice display so far from Fabiano I feel like looking at the eval Bar just it’s like wrong you know it’s Like this position is so miserable for Black that even though objectively it’s Fine it feels losing for all the reasons That Levy was highlighting Queen trade Is terrible for black this King can walk Up on the dark squares into G5 litter Black has no active play of his own so Let’s leave Dimitri to this task here

Because it’s not going to be fun and It’s going to be difficult so he’ll Probably start thinking he just played B6 now let’s go back to Hikaru versus Dominguez because things are changing Over there Um Hikaru has pushed his Pawn I just saw This move played Pawn to F4 finally Kicking this Knight out of the center And while the evaluation still hovering Around even Levy it’s becoming a Different type of game It really is becoming a different type Of game I this is a very very spicy game Now and the time Advantage is 15 seconds As of finishing that sentence so Complete turnaround it was six minutes For Lanier he’s finally starting to feel Some of that pressure that I was Describing earlier of okay I did my job Why why is this so difficult now I did Everything I was supposed to do But I’m still down upon and my opponent Is threatening my knight and he’s also Threatening straight up a fork Knight B2 Is just straight up a fork it’s equal Here because there’s probably some Tactics I just don’t know where they are Robert Where are the tactics why is it zeros so Knight C4 stops the fork on B2 but it Does allow this Knight to F2 with a Different Fork hitting the rook and Hitting the pawn so maybe the move G3 I

Don’t really want to play that move but I can throw it in I believe uh at the Moment it’s a little risky but the whole Point is that you can’t really allow my Pawn to land on H2 so taking the Knight Feels off the table and then maybe I Won’t lose this Pawn here but I love it this is getting a little bit Sharp although I guess the Knight on D1 Another point Sorry to kind of go on and On here but the Knight on D1 is doing an Important job of stopping Rook E3 check So maybe Knight C4 directly is Acceptable It’s a very sharp position I really Don’t like that linear is getting solo On time Uh it really feels like the game is is Turning here all you need to do is give Hikaru one opportunity to find a Resource And the right situation to do it in Especially when you start Spending so much time thinking And he will find it He will absolutely find it I just Realized this Knight can also go for a Fork Maxi five Yeah Knight C5 Knight B2 Knight F2 it’s Unbelievable yeah so exactly I was gonna Say 95 but I guess there’s Who doesn’t play any of those motions Please can you too [Laughter]

Very honestly honestly good move because He’s keeping the status quo he remains Up a pawn and you highlighted the Biggest Plus in his position is on the clock Hikaru Nakamura now up a minute and a Half he was down six minutes before he Was but Rook d8 is a classy move just Retreating completely retreating all the Way back no Knight C5 forks no Rook D6 E5 stuff none of that all the way back And he’s just asking Hikaru make a move Do something and and it’s actually Shockingly hard to do something It’s one of these big decisions that you Have to ask is Knight E3 available for White right now because you would love To trade pieces if you trade these Knights on E3 all of a sudden Black’s in Big trouble so Knight E3 is black and Play Bishop B5 I’m hoping for a check Against this King and then the activity That follows uh can you at some point Take on B3 by Rook D2 check needs to be Considered but Hikaru asked the question And now it’s up to Lanier Okay it’s the best move here like Knight B2 or Bishop B5 of course taking the Knight on E3 is Hopeless for black white plays C3 C4 and Is just straight up winning at that Point uh so that that doesn’t work What does black do Oh this is such a tough spot look at

Linear linear is just a linear is acting Like a tikara’s movie he’s like cleaning His glasses he has two minutes just two Minutes he’s got a he’s gotta come up With something now and this is not easy Because the next move for white could Just be pushing the pawn right if that Knight moves up goes the pawn to C4 and Then it might not stop going forward From there so Knight B2 is interesting You take away Rook D1 which might be White’s next idea and you can also go Into D3 Square which attacks the F4 Pawn So Knight B2 is fascinating a bishop B5 Feels like a very natural idea as well Although after Bishop B5 there might Just be Knight D4 and all of a sudden it Car is threatening to trade pieces or Why is that a threat you’re up a pawn You want to get into an end game where Black lacks counter play I mean from my eyes Bishop B5 Knight D4 Looks terrible for black because it Expedites the trading process whoa and Okay what oh Simple Fork Wow Could this really be the solution I Think this is the biggest difference Levy between talking about Chess and Thinking about the game because yeah This did not even come close to entering My mind Yeah wow I was the last thing I I

Thought Knight B2 for sure but I’m sure Knight B2 had some sort of refutation And Knight B2 is one of those moves that You kind of gamble in low time you play It and you just go ah it looks cool I Got an ID3 or something and your Opponent actually thinks they don’t Gamble at all they call your bluff and You have nothing but Robert which Pawn Do you okay just takes on G4 Robert can I be honest I forgot it was hanging I Just straight I forgot G4 was able to be Captured I appreciate your honesty I Would take the B3 Pawn now for a linear Because I want to have this outside pass Pawn a huge strength in an end game like This the Knight can go back to C5 where Blockade’s whites passer and tax E4 so I Think winner should take on B3 here but I’m guessing their problems with opening Files and allowing this Rook on C1 to Get into the game Yeah I can also argue for E4 because it Sort of prevents The Rook moving on C1 And you have maybe a rook D2 in the Future but I agree it just feels correct To take on B3 oh well you have a linear Has 80 seconds it’s a 50 50. and this is Exactly how you end up losing to Hikaru In the long run he just plays all the Best moves and makes the position Complicated for you and you lose your Seven minute time Advantage okay Knight Takes B3 is played he has 111 on the

Clock he’s now down two minutes this is So scary I think the issue for linear is Not his current clock but you know that These decisions will take six seconds Seven seconds there’s a two second Increment linear is a very good Blitz Player but bullet is a whole different Animal and you’re playing it’s Hikaru Nakamura the bullet chess champion you Don’t want any part of eventually E5 and Maybe a knight sink its teeth into F6 so Of course The Rook needs to move right Now but it just feels like hit car will Keep the tension to the right moment and Then start creating threats Hikaru might just play Rook C2 here to Cover anything on on the D2 square and Ask linear what’s next but then linear Has time to play a5a4 and there’s no Rook A2 because of Knight C1 well There’s no Rook A2 at this level for They have the average player Rook A2 Looks fantastic I’m just gonna win the Pawn in the future but yeah there’s Forks all over the board so He plays Rook D1 Wow just going into this night end game Huh a non-zero chance that taken D1 is Acceptable you typically don’t want to Trade when you’re down to Pieces you’re Down a pawn here as black but with this Outside pawn it will distract at the Very least White’s King and then there May not be enough material remaining to

Start picking up uh remaining pawns or Creating a passer so Rook takes D1 not The question but Levy 45 seconds now for Linear he’s got to start making moves More quickly he’s gotta start making Moves he no longer has any time to relax I really feel like he’s played this game Way too relaxed and that can happen when You have such a success in the opening And he trades Wow the evaluation goes up to plus 1.7 And it’s gonna fluctuate a little bit Here that was an incorrect decision and One that took him a lot of time That is a shot are you shocked I’m Shocked at that decision because you Just like there is a very high chance You were just straight up lost here end Games are theoretical they’re kind of Scientific they’re solved so you might Just straight up be lost here I’m Shocked he’s basically saying Nokia Cara I don’t think you have a way to win this And he could be right because they’re Not that many pawns remaining and so if You can trade some more pawns and uh Just keep this white king at Bay he has Chances you see a trade that helps the Defensive task now what does white need A passer to start moving a pastor over Here to start moving the C Pawn is Blockaded the a pawn is free to go up to A4 at some moment just to keep White’s Pieces Frozen and that’s the big thing

So if linear has calculated this Correctly and I trust linear and Honestly love it the Olympiad everyone Was marveling at Lanier’s end game Prowess uh then he knows that he can Hold this with right play but not with 24 seconds That’s the biggest difference right now Is the time yeah for sure and it’s Fascinating that he goes into an end Game down a pawn with three completely Isolated Pawn Islands but the only Reason he’s not completely lost is his Pawn on A6 and he’s not even in a rush To push it it’s just there the second he Pushes it and actually gets a little Closer to White’s pieces and white can Spend some time walking over and winning It so he’s just gonna leave it there Maybe he’ll push it once it’s just gonna Make it difficult for you Karo but now C4 and Hikaru keeps F4 G2 and H2 because He wants a cluster of Pawns all right There’s A5 Lanier has indicated he’s Pushing now is there King F5 he probably Could have protect his Knight that way He brings his Knight back hitting the Pawn and if C5 where’s this Knight going I don’t know Oh gosh seven seconds for Lanier to make That decision by the way not looking Good and by the way you don’t even have To push you can play King D4 King C5 oh I like to look at that it’s a knight F5

Check you play that you gained 0.2 Seconds so at least he’s got some mouse Speed he’s Gotta Move Oh he goes right at the punching that’s A bad decision it’s a losing decision in Fact Why is it losing It’s just here Oh my gosh you cut the king off He can’t stop the pawn wow what a finish And Robert we called it what a clutch Performance from Hikaru from start to Finish in this game Oh my goodness that extra Pawn he had Compensation for it but he didn’t have The time to play all the accurate moves That’s what happens in sort of gambits That is a big start for card knock more Linear will have to strike back but we Do have another game in progress Fabiano Caruano with the white pieces I can’t Even count the material is he up Something there’s so many F pawns and What is this now he’s not he was up now With six six I believe it’s the weirdest Structure I’ve ever seen also black has Two pass pawns the g h pawns are Literally past Pawns They’re just seemingly more easily Blockaded than these F and E pawns and I Believe that Fabiano will try to trade Off the Bishops because if the Bishops Go away then these pawns really start Rumbling yes Robert I have a question

For you does why have two past F pawns Right now or is that one past F1 I’m gonna go with I’m gonna go two just for this position Two two right kind of I don’t the Philosophical question I don’t know Because at some point we want to put Upon F6 and then bring the next one to F5 so it just feels like they’re both Runners that we need Yeah how did we even get here by the way Okay B5 apparently computer doesn’t like And here’s this one simple plan Bishop To H3 F5 push these parts great bands by The way Simple Plan Unintentional reference yes uh How do you stop this by black This whole game has just felt like all Fobby That’s why you don’t play the French Defense against five into car one I said It as soon as we saw it don’t do it Yeah it felt like a game four opening When you need to win with black it does Not feel like a game one opening you Play e45 game one that’s what you do Right I That’s so surprising I wonder if Dimitri He plays Sicilian he plays the Petrov You don’t really want to play the Sicilian against Fargo either we saw What happened to mvo and the candidates All that preparation just bashed him on The head and then playing the Petrov

Against the world’s greatest Petrov Expert maybe you’re on the palm she can Take his claim that title but either way Look at these pawns Larry this is just Straightforward stuff this is crazy this Is a race of Epic Proportions you have E And F going together you have a b about To break through on the queen side the Problem there is that the only Pawn that Will survive the rubble is the C pawn And it’s just not far enough It’s just white will play CB white will Not play a B although a b is probably Also okay but I think just F4 A5 E6 F7 I Don’t Where’s the plant here for for black Yeah E6 I guess the idea is Rook C6 and Try to get the Rook over here that might Also be too slow by the way Um I can show A variation just very Quickly and we’ll go back to the Position is after E7 if you start you Know trying to take these pawns well Then I believe this King comes up and Somehow this is winning oh because you Take here yeah yeah Oh okay well I thought that this would Be a mistake but no just eat everything And win the game but that’s why Fabiano Will take his time he plays King F4 I’ll Play King F5 and then push the Pawns and He does ultimately do it this way and Yes black gets the black gets the C Pawn But

It’s not good enough and ultimately White can even sack The Rook on C1 maybe In some position in the future and Promote so what’s gonna happen is white Will play E6 and maybe E7 And that will be that And five and also had in the clock so Wisely using his time here no need to Just push the past pawns without Calculating here he goes E6 as mentioned C2 white pawns are mobilizing first Although if this kind of situation Happens with a trade on C1 here the Blackwork lands G2 next that could be Devastating so he does plant his Rook on C1 in front of the package patience is It a mistake plus still plus two There’s a way to maybe blunder Rook C6 King E5 Rook H5 oops oh And G2 played wow the problem with Trying to push two pawns laterally is The Rook covers all the squares right so The rook and C1 defends everything and The white king is going to E5 you still Need extreme Precision here I think King F5 is just a good move Because the point for black is some it’s Something like a G1 and C1 but you lose Both of your past pawns and then white Pushes so E7 first and still good An error somehow It’s beyond my pay grade understanding Why that was a mistake and he had some Other way

To go forward To bring this King up right Yeah King E5 King D6 has seemed very Natural to me Yeah King F5 King E6 just bring the king Into the game the king is a weapon in The end game and there’s king of five Rook G does not allow F7 G1 one oh goodness This is this is you could screw this up Man this is anything but over I’m confused Yeah Robert I actually don’t like this Anymore I don’t even know what you play Here I how about Rook H2 and if you Promote I sack this Rook for one Pawn I Said wrote this rope for the other pawn And then I get a queen okay but Rook H2h3 I didn’t get any further than that I’m Just gonna give it one move idea oh my Gosh this is crazy five is down to 25 Seconds I’m nervous man He’s nervous look at him he plays F7 G1 Takes take oh the Evo goes to you even Oh my gosh he was winning some other way And he could lose this there’s a check On G5 Yeah oh he’s gonna make a draw Is it oh my gosh if the F Pawn was on F4 There oh no there wouldn’t be Rook A3 Well actually there would be oh it’s Covered So can you take on D5 is

What’s happening after that Yeah Fabi is unhappy with himself Because that was definitely winning but Robert can we see how Um sure and it’s a draw It looks like at this moment here this Is a critical moment already in this day And All right I guess F4 is just a winning Move Yeah of course the yeah if you promote And do this whole thing Now when we have Rook A3 check first Levy that’s the key oh my gosh that’s so Deep the point is that now the king Moves somewhere let’s say to B7 and when You get the queen black queen second and There’s Checkmate about to happen Because White Checks yeah first Robert F4 was an unbelievable move that That you literally have to use your last Bit of Artillery and rotate The Rook over that I I don’t think that’s findable I I Really just don’t What an incredible game and kudos to on Draken because he could have went down Multiple times what an absolutely Unbelievable finish That’s just a ridiculous play so uh Drawing this one so it is half half here And we do want to give another shout out To our presenting sponsor brave because Brave means private browsing and so much

More by default Brave blocks ads and Trackers on every page and video you Visit even on YouTube no ads means up to Three times faster page loads faster Streaming and faster playback it means 35 longer battery life while saving on Mobile data and internet bandwidth for Android iOS and desktop get the best Browser for gamers streamers and Creators switch in 60 seconds at Brave.com Chess and we are going to head on out Here the second games here in this these Route of 16 matches between Hikaru Nakamura and Leonard Dominguez 500 Carwana Dimitri on Drake and we’ll Resume here at the 2022 chess.com Global Championships presented by Brave Foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] Foreign [Music] Foreign [Music] Foreign [Music] [Music] Foreign [Music] Foreign

[Music] Welcome back everybody to the 2022 Chess.com Global Championship presented By Brave we see Hikaru Nakamura on Stream pineapple shirt pineapple in the Back and Levy you know a thing or two About those play buttons that he has in His background Yes I do I was not expecting to have to Discuss YouTube milestones in the middle Of uh the last online round of such a Prestigious and wonderful event that Leads up to a live final but yes on top Of also being a dominant chess player You know He said you could you you just combined YouTube and Accolade all in one Um unfortunately on these cards they Don’t put the amount of subscribers you Have on YouTube but uh yes he has quite A lot and his path thus far has been Winning against Vazquez and Navara very Convincingly I must say the matchup Against Navara in particular was just Dominant from start to finish and I Would say in that first game he did Exactly what he did to David Navara in The second end game that he won he is a Nightmare to play against in any Position where the balance is 0.2 or Something along those lines yeah and it Was a shaky start against his first Round opponent because when he played Against Vasquez he wasn’t just winning

Games like people expect him to and also He probably expected of himself he also Was worse in some positions from the White side of things so he’s found his Footing here in the cgc the rapid time Patrol 15 min plus two second increment Different than his classical chess Successes at the Grand Prix and the Candidates and then here online he of Course has been an absolute monster but Leonard fingers no slouch his opponent Here it’s one nothing in hikaru’s favor That was a nice end game grind Lanier Needs to be consistent on the clock Levy That’s my biggest takeaway from their First game Yep that’s exactly right But Lanier is Not The guy who maybe if if Humanity needs To win one game with white you Necessarily call I might call report a Report is a guy who’s going to make Things super weird in the first 10 moves And he might win he might lose it might Be spectacular Lanier is going to start The game The way I would expect with E4 there it Is and we are probably going to have a Berlin And wow An open invitation to accept the Berlin So linear yeah Lanier plays this line he Doesn’t play the end game he plays the

Symmetrical structure and tries to Squeeze well maybe he’ll try to squeeze The juice out of the pineapple Now that is a stellar reference and People have known Hikaru Nakamura as a Tactical whiz kid growing up and uh Playing along the circuit but you know I Think Peter doesn’t get enough credit For his endgame technique he is Extremely strong in an end game and We’re not fully in an end game yet but You look at the position symmetrical Pawn structure uh the game is quite Balanced but Bishop F4 tries to take the Game into slightly different territory If in fact black wants to start trading Pieces dragging the queen away from the Defense of the D4 Pawn black does get to Steal that pawn in the center but white Has such a lead in development that Oftentimes the player with the black Pieces regrets stealing the pawn so Levy A car spending time right now he must be Somewhat familiar with the position do You think he’s trying to determine where To take this game or is it a specific Line he’s looking at He’s remembering games he’s probably Remembering some of his analysis and It’s sort of what we’re seeing in the Last game too just because he’s spending Time and potentially even getting a few Minutes down on the clock doesn’t Necessarily mean anything bad of course

He is very slowly fading further and Further out of frame as he floats off Into the land of pineapples but that First game just basically showed that it Makes absolutely no difference if he’s Down seven minutes on the clock I guess has anyone given hikar the Nickname Pineapple Express can we give Him that nickname Wow what what so he’s he’s pineapple was That what was I was that king of Gotham Is that what you called me yeah Robert’s Just dishing out nicknames do you have a Nickname no You have a catchphrase as a nickname Right there’s no ain’t no chess without Has something like that Yeah that uh is what the people say I Don’t know if it’s true uh but I do Appreciate nonetheless and how about This I mean Lanier has 15 minutes nine Seconds the guy has more time than he Started with he’s attacking the queen Trying to drag it away from this Knight In E8 you do not want to get back right Checkmate of course that car is not Going to fall for that is F6 the move Yes it is but that opens up the light Squares against the black king Yeah um my dog is very intrigued by this Game as you can see He just got really riled up and just Started standing on me and uh and and Smelling my face going oh Berlin let me

Get let me get some of that I want to Learn some of these Berlin positions This is really interesting because you Generally don’t see such crazy tactics In Berlin territory Robert I wouldn’t be Surprised if the best move here is Something like King f8 because I feel Like King h8 just seems a bit I don’t know feeble King but King f8 is Their Queen E4 oh goodness what are we Looking at here yeah that’s a double Attack going after that Black Canyon hey Card doesn’t know the position right he He may have studied it and he may have This in some file on his computer but Right here right now it doesn’t feel Like he knows every last movement Lanier Is still moving instantly the eval bar Just it went a little bit in Black’s Favor after that move but that’s not What dictates if this is a good choice Or not right Levy I mean it’s still Hovering around even but linear knows This probably like six more moves In multiple directions too he will very Quickly know if Hikaru messes something Up but the benefit of playing an opening Like the Berlin is that even if you do Make a slight inaccuracy it’s very Little In terms of an evaluation swing whereas In Sicilians if you play a move that’s Not good you might very quickly get a Lost position but doesn’t it feel like a

Sicilian more than a Berlin right There’s a open King it’s a pawn Sacrifice it feels like white has a lot To play for it feels like a Karo Khan But black did not know that they were Supposed to put their pawns on light Squares because generally you have these Two like pawns right next to each other On C6 and E6 but in this case you have Them on the dark squares instead and it Does it does feel a bit problematic and Let’s not also forget that white is a Pawn down like if Lanier does not pull Out something in this game he will Probably just lose in the similar Fashion he did in the last game where if Hikaru gets the pawn and goes back to His base and says okay come get me and Linear fails it’s gonna be 2-0 That’s true so far he’s defending well And lenier taking his first huge thing Of the game already spent 10 seconds on This move how could he but the move F4 Is very tempting to get this bishop out Here but as F4 is played and then you’re Just trying to recall his prep uh we are Gonna get the car one on Drake and game Underway so when that one begins we’re Gonna take you right there for the Opening stage let’s do that on draken With the white pieces he’s lucky to be Tied in this match he’s very fortunate That he probably going to put him away Yeah

You could also argue toward the end Fabiano if he didn’t have Perpetual it Could have been really really dangerous Fabiana was very very upset as you could See on camera And does that mean that momentum is now On Dimitri’s side when you escape like That and you get a free pass for the Next game or does it mean that you’re Now a bit relaxed you’re like oh I I Survived I can sort of do what I want I Don’t know one of two things can happen Either Fabiano Overextends a little bit now with black And just plays a little bit too Aggressively or Dimitri Is a little bit too confident and well One of those two is happening right now Because we are getting a pawn sacrifice Line Early in this opening what is this I Think they’re like Knight takes E5 and Queen A4 check type of moves here so That’s the Point of the variation but look at Dimitri’s face he wasn’t expecting Bishop takes before there he’s like what Is fabino doing and Fabiano is Sacrificing first upon back on E5 that Was recaptured now he’s giving up Material on C6 so Fabiano in a sharp Variation seems to know what he’s doing Levy and I was going to say even before The sequence I don’t like playing to

Direct variations against Fabiano I Think you should keep it a little bit More uh tame and then pounce later Absolutely if the choices against Fabiano are on move 10 I’m going to Sacrifice upon And then I’m going to play a super Forcing line maybe he doesn’t know it Versus I’m gonna play 18 moves of theory And then I came up with this interesting Idea that’s quite nuanced and it’s still Equal but that’s my chance I’m gonna Choose the second one because choosing Fabiano probably doesn’t remember it It’s just kind of disrespectful to Fabiano I feel like uh of course that Was not on draken’s strategy but the Strategy was more like this line is Quite crazy and there was a chance that I can catch him but it doesn’t seem to Be happening right now This White Castle here or take on C6 I Don’t think you can take on C6 even Though Bishop H3 to my eyes not allowing White to Castle and five in a planks so Quickly like he he entered this for a Reason so if I’m Dimitri I just castle And then try to figure things out from There but I think we have to go back to The other game I understand we just got Here the opening uh you know it’s just Finishing in this one but the other game Between linear and Hikaru look at this Like the less bunch of moves happen

Where F4 chased the bishop it had to Take Rook B1 the bishop had to go to A3 Queen A5 the bishop had to go to C5 so a Series of only moves and Levy Lanier has Spent so much time he’s giving up seven Seconds off his initial clock and Hikaru Once again down a lot of time and there Are a bunch of threats in the position And the car goes Knight D6 giving up C7 Hey well listen when the options are Lose upon or get checkmated in one move Maybe some of the audience would Disagree of the of the verdict but I Would probably lose my Pawn on C7 Instead of getting mated this still Looks absolutely horrifying though like The three of your pieces have literally Not moved what move is it uh 22. how is That possible Never develop that’s how you play chess These days his he hasn’t moved three Pieces literally he has I right I don’t Think that single one of them has moved A single time You are correct How is that acceptable I’m not saying he Did anything wrong I’m saying uh linear Has played such a practical line very Very difficult but Hikaru is finding Only moves And I would put them with Bishop B3 Thinking that I can continue the attack But maybe there’s some bailout like Queen takes C7 and if we trade Queens

Here I’ll just show this line very Quickly it’s kind of a funny repetition Of sorts Rook B8 Knight A6 you can’t Take the Knight over here why is this Winning oh cause Rook D1 at the end or Something I thought this would just be like a a Repetition Bishop D5 or something Ridiculous one I guess yeah black can’t Really move so funny you get to a Position like this and it’s just Completely winning when I was even Rook D1 looks uh pretty good Yeah totally winning for white wow Look at you trying to find a draw Amongst the wind and it was still Winning We can’t all be a new scary can’t we oh No Robert I was so hoping you were above That I knew what I was getting myself Into oh well you know sometimes you have To give a niche a little bit of flack Obviously in each Geary one of the Remaining contestants in this field he Plays Pavel pancreatov on Wednesday so That will be a fun one to watch and Actually Anish played maybe the best Match of the entire event when he beat Raonic sedwani the guy was on fire he Played brilliant chess in every single Game and he just blanked the guy Dominant performance and of all the Players in the round of 16 you can argue He has

Well I don’t want to say necessarily the Easiest but he has the the technically The easiest on paper he has he’s playing The lowest seat of a group and that’s Five when crowd of took down vishyanand And nausea so does he get an elevated Status with two absolutely incredible Upsets does he suddenly just jump to two Seed on Merit of beating two incredible Players before him or do we just look at The stats and the stats say that this is Not a number one versus number two and Initial has to take it seriously for Sure so we’re gonna see how he does but I feel like we shouldn’t be talking About a matchup that’s not even on the Screen we have Hikaru here trying to Solve this 20 by 20 Rubik’s cube of a of a Berlin Defense and if he does it will be Incredibly frustrating I think for Linear because How do you get to this position and just Cannot Win it cannot convert it it’s all about This King I mean this King does not have Luft right now so there are all sorts of Background Checkmate ideas uh if you can For example C6 is the easiest one to Illustrate you immediately drop your Knight on D6 because Rook E8 will be Checkmate if the black queen leaves the Last rank over there so linear 13 Minutes 24 seconds Hikaru 640. we never

See Hikaru down this kind of time but Lanier is just playing preparation deep Lines and now he needs to keep his foot On the gas pedal and not let hikar out Of it yeah Hikaru finally develops his Bishop because if he hadn’t Knight C7 And Rook E8 would have just won the game For white it would have been this crazy Line where White can infiltrate on f8 but this is An important move now because if Knight C7 there is Rook C8 yes but we have to Show why because rookie a check I love Your variation loving Knight takes E8 Check minute one Down yes okay Why is uh oh Knight C7 also no no hold On I’m very perplexed uh why is Knight C7 Rook C8 not just winning on the spot It is right Well or at least this variation would be No no this variation yeah was it winning I thought Or was I relying too much on the lag of Our no it’s no better but it’s not Winning maybe there’s Rook D1 or Something like that just to ah yeah yeah Yeah okay counter pin and the background Problems persist but obviously Hikaru Would love this position it’s the best Position he said all game and it makes His life as easy as possible So what should white play if not taking On C7

Hmm Bishop can you just play Bishop B3 And continue to be down a pawn but have Better pieces But maybe C6 then Yeah there might be like 97 I mean I That that’s what I’m hoping for But the fact that linear is thinking Obviously at some point he leaves Preparation he needs to use his brain Instead of his computer prep it just Doesn’t feel like a good trajectory I Really feel like hikara should be happy About this so why don’t we leave linear To continue thinking should we head back On over the other game you think Yeah we should it’s crazy it’s the same Exact situation in back-to-back games It’s literally identical down upon Potentially asking his opponent a bunch Of questions and Hikari just answering All of them no problems And you know Hikaru can give that kind Of uh Time advance to his opponent Because we know how quick he makes Decisions and great decisions at that so We’ll leave a car and Lanier and we’ll Come back here and the pawn in C6 is Still a Target but there’s now a pawn H3 So the bishop is not leaving G2 anytime Soon and his blacks turn this position Levy I really like fabiana’s position With his activity Me too I like the bishop on B4 I like How it’s well protected on A5

I don’t exactly know what White can even do here maybe slow Expansion on the queen side with Queen C2 but he already played Queen C1 so He’s obviously not interested in playing Queen C2 otherwise he would have played Queen C2 uh Knight B5 yeah and I don’t Know can you take it and Just like yes you’re improving black Structure but maybe it doesn’t matter Maybe there’s a way to get at those Pawns but I wouldn’t be so sure Be 94 but then black is going Knight D4 I don’t know I don’t know what to play here I don’t Think you want to see the Nightline on D4 as you’re indicating so Knight b5cb That feels wrong because Black’s pawns Are faster you have a rook Behind the B Pawn then you can push to A4 and it just Seems like you’re handing black a very Fun position although the long term with These Pawns in the center could be nice For white so It is really a difficult moment for Andrekin and I’m not surprised to see He’s down two minutes on the clock Yeah I had an idea to go Knight B5 CB And then D4 D5 I don’t know if we can Put that on the board let me just see How bad that is but Knight B5 uh CB and Then D4 but is the best move there Bishop C4 I really wanted to play to to Try like this but I’m sure yeah I’m sure

Yeah it’s Bishop C4 and black just Doesn’t get blockaded which is very Important because if black actually Allows D5 I think white has a completely Reasonable position I don’t know like H6 D5 just something like that yeah I I Feel like white can actually push Forward uh quite a bit here with some Space but Bishop C4 and you just shut White down instructive moment that you Shouldn’t improve your opponent’s Pawn Structure but uh Yeah I don’t know I don’t think Dimitri Knows because Knight D4 is such a huge Threat trying to jump into B3 but also Take this Knight and remove the guard With a fork on E2 so Dimitri is not enjoying this position I Mean look at him he’s calculating uh He’s clearly focused and I feel like two Games in Fabiano has shown uh just good Play right after the opening and I just Think he hasn’t had a bad position thus Far Yeah but I just realized that I’ve been Very hesitant about this entire position Because I forgot that Dimitri didn’t Lose game one this whole time I’m like Oh what’s Dimitri gonna do here and the Tradition actually doesn’t matter Because he didn’t lose the first game so If he kind of does nothing and this game Just liquidates well he tried something It didn’t work but it’s an equal match

And I’m just still in complete shock That he managed to make a comeback in The last game he actually is under no Pressure to win this game so Yeah maybe it’s not as bad as as I Thought I was actually very down on his Position but maybe he can find a way out Yeah that is a nice thing not a must win Scenario by any means for on draken uh The same might not be able to be said For Leno Dominguez who lost game one and if He doesn’t get game two he could be Eliminated after just three games here In the round of 16 but let me I Mentioned the clock two minutes ago now I’m drinking down to 7 25. it’s ticking Ticking his position’s not really clear How to proceed here I think if I were on Draken I would try to find a way to Liquidate and force pieces off and try To ensure I can make that half point It’s an intro oh interesting wow so You’re already saying it’s time to Consider some sort of bailout rather Than Trying to find a way to play for Advantage you think black has basically Proven That the position is completely stable And in the long run only he wow King H2 After two and a half minutes of thought Is not a good sign Because if you if this was bullet you

Play King H2 instantly right So wow Knight D4 anybody it’s Threatening night I mean look how Quickly Fabiana played that Knight E4 Look at him take a sip I like that Confident sip of water like yeah you Would have thought but is he just worse Here What is he confident about exactly So I think if Knight B3 he’s gonna play Something like Queen F4 Queen E5 right He’s gonna go for that that actually Looks great so it might be three queen Of fortnite a one Queen E5 doesn’t that Just look we’ll show this on the Analysis board so Knight B3 hits the Queen of Rook with a fork the queen Jumps out if you take this Rook on A1 There’s Queen E5 and Levy called it Threatening Checkmate the only way to Stop it is F6 but you drop first the Bishop with check then the knight in the Corner two pieces for The Rook a winning Position for on draken so Knight B3 Queen F4 and I wonder if you Could throw in I know F5 doesn’t Well Maybe It’s a risky Choice that’s for sure What if you play Nope I thought I had an idea I don’t have an idea maybe it’s simple Chess just F6

Just blunt the bishop The Rook is still An attack if the Rook leaves the a file A4 A3 happens before you know it and We’re not seeing this because Fabiano Started with the move After night for age six Queen F4 played Anyway and it’s back to an even game Fascinating so okay Dimitri only did This entire sequence because of that Line with Queen E5 it’s the only reason That he played that at all was because Queen F4 Queen E5 existed and it’s Interesting that Fabiano didn’t even go For the fork and decided I’m gonna stop H6 altogether But now I guess Knight takes E2 is even Not working because Queen E5 and there’s Some sort of lateral hit On the night and there’s mate and E6 is Hanging which more than anything else is The problem so Rook P5 Sure should that be it like you’re Scaring me with Queen E5 but then Knight F6 no or is that end game not a problem Oh that looks gross that looks how is This anything Like but terrible for black just give Away the nice yeah so like we get this Position Does this really just say even like Point point two point one are you Serious this is I guess the a pawn is a Huge asset for black really that’s That’s all it is because if the a pawn

Was a I don’t know a B7 this would be Miserable for black I think in the long run a computer would Would maybe hold for black but I think As a human it’s very very uh all your Pawns are so weak this is okay you have Four Pawn Islands it’s extremely Impressive to have four Pond Islands When you have more pawns on the board Than you don’t meaning you have five out Of eight remaining but you have four Pawn Islands that’s super impressive Well we’ll uh leave Fabiano in this Difficult moment we’ll see how he Handles the threat of Queen E5 it’s a Really big choice now and he looks like He’s a bit nervous let’s go back to Nakamura and Dominguez that one has Changed quite a bit there is a pawn no Longer on B7 so in the last few moves After the bishop developed Retreat 93 Just Threatening both the bishop on F5 and Rook to D1 that’s where the Knight came Out to E4 but then that allowed linear To grab a Pawn on B7 and here we are Maybe I was wrong I’m perfectly happy if I am incorrect that Hikaru knew this Variation more deeply than I gave him Credit for I was actually about to offer you a Conspiracy theory I’m very glad you Started with that so we’re sort of on The same page I have a theory

What if Hikaru has a read on linear and He knows that if he goes into Ultra deep Water with linear but pretends like he Doesn’t exactly know what he’s doing and Gets down about five or six minutes on The clock Lanier will relax and in that Second phase of the game hikara will Immediately turn up the speed and linear Reacts poorly to that what if that is Hikaru’s read it could be a complete Coincidence two games in a row we have The exact same situation Robert what if This is a strategy Could that actually be what we’re Looking at here It is viable some people do slow down in That opening stage just to present an Image that they are not aware of the Best continuation so that is certainly Possible and I think that Hikaru has Done a tremendous job out you know with The opening with the difficult moments That arise and then after the opening Especially that’s been his best part Because in this game we’re getting a Repetition if the White Queen were to Leave this queen lands on D2 threading The Rook threading the Knight threading Queen F2 check and then white might just Lose so the only reason Queen D2 is not Available is because the queen needs to Protect the rook in the corner and we May see a kind of draw by repetition Between ikaru and Lanier

And Hikaru was never in trouble in this Game the only thing that made us think He was in trouble was the time usage Time usage aside he played basically a Perfect game of Defense he just absorbed What could have been a dangerous line of Preparation but when you give him 15 Minutes on the clock then he will just Neutralize you know it’s not going to be Three minutes not gonna be one minutes 15 minutes and well he’s barely even Down on time anymore so that is my Conspiracy theory of the day but we’ll See what happens in the next two games Yeah it looks like this one might just Become a draw instantly with a queen A7 Queen B7 shuffling and Lanier he’s Calculating he might try to figure out If his queen go anywhere else I just Don’t see it Queen takes C6 there’s Already Queen D2 rook’s under attack Your knight is going to be loose as Mentioned all these threats so what can Linear do besides Queen A7 I wouldn’t Want to venture into Queen A6 just feels Like you’re risking more than any Potential reward I absolutely agree as we have for the Second game in a row finally about 15 to 20 minutes after the game began Hikaru is finally up on time again and I Think this happened in the last game as Well around five four five minutes on The clock so

Yeah it’s There we are Well I’m looking at the other game as Well they’re just going down the Variations we were discussing so let’s Uh stay here for a moment just because Not too much has happened the queens Were trading the other game but linear Has a big Choice he either makes the Draw on the spot with Queen A7 align the Repetition and all right Hikaru I think Is just going to be happy let’s put in The point and there it is the draw is in The books A car leads one half half and Dominguez He better Figure out what to do if he if not when If he gets white in game four because he Needs to survived game three with black Before we get there absolutely Absolutely he’s that’s extremely Frustrating you cannot beat a player When he plays like that Hikaru has been So far Untouchable in two rounds Just completely Untouchable and we’ve Seen this before and each Geary showed Up against Ronald saidwani It was never close Lavon aronian Sam Savion was not close you did not have a Matchup like Wesley versus Jeffrey which Is a main event that we all would pay uh For paper you know pay-per-view out of Pocket to see you sometimes just have a Situation where a guy is in great form

And there’s nothing the other guy can do So Lanier has to turn it around in the Next game and most certainly by game Number four What’s going on in this one though Well there’s a point hanging of six but The party two is loose so E3 White’s Pawn structure is obviously better but Is there going to be an A4 C5 A3 and Even if black loses a pawn you have some Serious potential with your passer Running down the flank Yeah I kind of am shocked by the Willingness to enter into all of this Territory from Fabi we looked at the Same game and you called it gross to use Your word but I guess he just thinks That the activity is sufficient and King G7 and it’s one it’s one of the ugliest Pawn structures of all time in any end Game but there are enough Dynamics I Think to make it not completely lost Like what if Bishop C5 here I just don’t Ship C5 D3 to D4 Uh you probably have to do that Because what else is White gonna do all Of Black’s pawns are defended and C5 Followed by A4 that starts to look like It’s more fun for black despite the Structure all right the aesthetic is off But the pawns can push so Bishop C5 Maybe Rook B5 please trade me on B4 that Gives me a pass Pawn but that also gives White some chances to get active

Yeah it’s exactly right I’m exactly right now black cannot take On C5 here Just in case anyone is confused no way Just to show how bad that is what is it Oh it’s only Plus 0.5 it looks so bad yeah playing chess With an eval bar is just it just kills The the instructive value because the Beginner will be like no coach you’re Stupid it’s 0.5 but no no GM will play Bishop takes C5 in that position long Term you have nothing look they’re Calling the cops outside I don’t know if You can hear that literally you can hear Cops being called because somebody Considered the move Bishop takes C5 A rook P5 just feels so much more Logical if white ever takes there goes This pawn and now black is better and it Seems very clear because you have an Advanced pass Pawn so Rook B5 is in fact Fabiano’s move and only after this Pawn Goes to D4 would I calculate Bishop Takes C5 I do not want to give all Activity to white but now if we okay I Thought I was doing that I was like I Actually didn’t pick up the piece level You know what that happens when you like Go to show something and then just take Take it out of your hand that’s a fob You’re gonna do with Bishop fake C5 yep Now it’s a different story because white Does not land a rook there that

Will actually just dominate the entire Board right probably got the Rook there On B5 his King could also slowly walk Over to D6 who is happier here by the Way who’s happier in this position Fabiano because the clock I see Yeah okay you can trade but rookie and Now he’s got an outside pass Pawn with a Rook behind it so if Dimitri is not Careful and this King can enter Then Black has some chances but then you look And can’t enter here can’t answer here If you get into C7 you can’t enter there There’s nowhere to go for it and one of My favorite things to do in a position Like this when I used to teach you know Young young kids it would be how do you Get the white king to F4 and three moves Blows their mind they just don’t Understand right the king doesn’t have To move to get to a square sometimes you Can play G4 get the king to F4 and white Can certainly be better but black is Totally still in the race to potentially Get the Rook out from eighth A4 and B3 And A5 A4 and And there’s Still possibilities here for sure Yeah I think it would require some Maneuvering three Bishop D1 Rook D4 Blockade the pawn with the bishop It’s a long story and it’s not like Black is just gonna allow all that to

Happen without gaining some play of his Own so F5 was fabi’s Choice he clearly Wants to bring his King close to the Center although There might be a moment where you regret Bringing your king too far Okay this is this feels Levy like not a Draw offer but an acknowledgment that The position is just even Whoa is it Is it what are the next few moves so FG Right HG and then I I still I still want to play a little Bit I want to move their pieces I don’t want to move my own pieces but What happens even if the black king gets To E5 so what Not I play F4 And nothing happens I guess there is Just you’re saying the white Rook really Shouldn’t move and the BlackRock Shouldn’t move and nobody should move That’s what’s happening right And maybe you play Rook A6 try to free Up the bishop but after Rook A6 is Bishop F1 to kick the oh oh I actually like that he’s Not even taking That was clever Let me see Bishop Now The Rook is active And I think then we start slightly Preferring uh Black’s position even Though we know it’s still an equal one

Yeah if black has an option to just do This actively then This game will end much faster but so I Guess now with Bishop B3 I don’t know I don’t know I guess black Is not going to play Bishop B3 I’m just gonna Well Fabi can draw if these pawns come Off the board and we take the Bishops Off as well but even without that would Be a draw right rook and three pawns These three versus rook and two pawns Those two that is a theoretical draw and Quite an easy one for carwana Yeah Fabi has four pawns none of which Work together at all but the benefit and This just shows the inherent asset of Having an outside pass Pawn in this Whole world of end games cannot be Understated the pawn on A5 is the only Reason Fabi is not just clearly worse It’s because once it starts running it’s Almost impossible to stop And that’s what’s making this kind of a Mutually Frozen position I’m very Curious to see what happens in the rest Of this match because it really does Feel like thus far it’s been fobby And Yeah that first game he was so close but Good defensive effort from Dimitri I think we could potentially see a sort Of liquidation here like if you go Rookie sorry Bishop C6 Rook C8 take take

Here this is the kind of draw I was Mentioning right theoretically this is Quite simple for black especially for Someone of Fabiano’s caliber and Expertise so he does in fact Play Bishop To B3 and we’ll see if all this happens And then they’ll Shuffle around a bunch But Levy I know we’re jumping ahead a little bit What opening should on Drake and play or What even first move in response to Karwana’s E4 Well that’s a good question I think you should play E5 But if he doesn’t trust some of the prep That he plays then I don’t know I don’t know he certainly should not Play the French again So I don’t know Robert maybe a sicilian but That’s the thing is he doesn’t need to Win with black just needs to stabilize So I think I think E5 is I think E5 is quite solid it’s Definitely the way to go Yeah I don’t think he should repeat the French Although speaking of repeating oh what No Fabiana didn’t want to repeat he Could have played Bishop B3 there yeah Look at fobby Alpha male and she’s like yeah who you Who you think is repeating moves here Bobby’s actually trying to play for when

Bobby gives a smile stretches look at That Okay does he want to play King D7 to Defend this pawn and then play Bishop B3 In A4 that way C6 defended Perhaps that’s what he has in mind There’s F6 Never play that move Yeah unless it’s for it unless it’s to Kick an active King out of your Territory then you probably should Consider it is there Rook G8 here that’s What I was wondering Probably not just Bishop takes C6 I feel Like yeah I feel like that’s but maybe And if white has to play F3 or something It could be annoying but I was going for a cheapo but that’s Exactly what I was going for like Rook G8 F3 I take And then check you and even all of this Doesn’t work somehow somehow like the Whole point everybody’s F5 and that’s The pain and that would be enough but You can just move uh your Pawn up and Then after it takes take on A5 and it’s A draw because Black’s pawns are so bad So even if you win a pawn you’re not Winning the game Yeah that’s the thing about Rook end Games and Bishop end games you’re like I Want a pawn it doesn’t matter because White sea Pawn is so strong if it gets Through

Wow this is like is are we just getting A bunch of teasing here but actually No One’s Gonna Play for a win because I’m Getting really excited that somebody’s Gonna lose this game I think five Minutes playing for a loss now his weak Pawns are a serious issue Rook F4 can Happen uh this Pawn A5 is not going Anywhere with the King So close to the a file and Rook D4 to D6 Looks very scary with a double attack And on Drake and suddenly has more time Levy He does oh but it’s it’s super close Only thing I was gonna say is fabi’s Playing like a guy who has a three Minute time Advantage if Bobby’s playing Like a guy who if you look at White’s Clocks like oh 115 black has four Minutes no fabies it’s a minute on the Clock this is absolutely a gamble but I Guess he’s doing it in a calculated Fashion understanding that okay I can Play on but there’s not a substantial Amount of risk problem is you do this Until you’re down to 20 seconds And suddenly it feels completely Different to play the way they’re Playing so we’re about to see right now Well apparently white is much better Right but why why is it much better is That because at some moment You just Target these Pawns Good Start I think there could be an F4

And like a rook Over to H2 maneuver That’s kind of what you need Yeah wow another F4 remember last game F4 was this it was it was a game changer Now you have F4 again and then rotating The Rook around all right there’s Rook F4 Robert I think someone’s gonna lose I think it’s me Fabiano although he is Up 20 plus seconds on the clock that’s Huge for his chance to survive because Bishop A4 apparently Incorrect and Imprecise choice don’t play F5 here huge Blunder because the E4 do not try to Trade pawns you know right here there’s A pin in a position This is now showing why it’s so hard to Play with four Pawn Islands in an end Game Especially the further apart they are Because the Rook behind the pond here For black is just it’s just misery every White piece is doing something having Said that white doesn’t actually have a Way to attack anything just yet The time is ticking I just mentioned This is going to get really dangerous With 20 30 seconds on the clock Rook B8 Wow Wow do you have to go back to C3 here Well there is the threat of rugby whoa Oh G4 is hanging I’m like what’s he Doing oh are you just trying to trade Everything off with G4 so well timed he

There might have been one or two moves There for Andrea and he missed it look At that he played King C3 preventing Rook before what happens Rook B4 And that’s a good night And maybe a shot D1 but how you can’t Win this dude two pawns for black take Care of business over here and then You’re still listen but King B he wants To get his King over here Feel like it’s never quite over Admittedly four Pawn islands are going To be much easier to defend when there’s Nothing to attack them So there’s a lack of offense is there Any defense or is defense just uh just a Reflection of offense I don’t know when I get into too philosophical here it Doesn’t look like there’s much the Bishop on D1 has to guard the a pawn Wow 85 If G5 you probably lose his weight so he Goes can you bet with another two Separate Pawns You be careful Before whoa He didn’t trade he goes to push this Pawn so how does kick Bishop C4 to B5 is He in time Yeah wow I don’t know 18 seconds ships D7 you want Josh D5 maybe Daniel in the Chat saying he’s happy he’s not either Player he just gets to observe F5 is a

Nice move that cage there built for the King unable to get in Bishop D5 might Just get to a mutual stalemate oh but oh Wow F4 nice move but if King G1 is Bishop F3 always available to go after This G4 plus he goes Bishop E4 to stop Any g-pawn moves Bishop F3 now Yeah Force pump is not Bishop E4 back And Oh he’s just gonna lose a pawn Wait takes C6 oh cc6 okay So why would you do that but now that No more pieces remain Yeah there’s not enough here and let’s Not forget the a pawn existing with the Bishop on the board is still a draw if The white king gets to the corner wait Why is he like his Pawn go oh my gosh Bishop five check he’s Bishop B5 check It’s huge yep Oh oh Fabiano completely blundered in a Drinking spots it instantly This is over Oh and C8 he doesn’t even have to check Him he does it this way oh my goodness This is game over yeah forces of Queen Trade I am in shock Robert Robert I literally Said that was what was that was what was Bound to happen you play with fire five Seconds on the clock there is a chance You get burned and Dimitri and draken Just stuck doesn’t just save this game

He wins this game against Fabiano Caruana fabina caruana has been worse For precisely five game five moves Excuse me of this match and it was the Final five moves of this game he Blunders he loses this one I can’t Believe it let’s go to that moment very Quickly here and it was right here after C7 King G6 was a howler the point Everybody is after Bishop E4 now this Bishop is pinned if you take white gets To Queen first so that was a Ridiculously bad oversight from one of The best players in chess history Walking right into the only idea Available you can just trade pieces Start bringing your king over I mean There’s so many ways to hold this game He found the one way not to that’s Actually shocking yeah he just doesn’t Have to put his King and Bishop on the Same line he could just do anything Because he just moves Bishop back yeah Because if white ever Queens then King G6 later you sacrifice your bishop and King G6 white cannot get to you in time That’s unbelievable in fact you’re Actually just winning obviously in some Cases wow That is an absolute shocker Levy the Players I think they need a little bit Of a break we are going to take one as Well because we need to head on out of Here for a few we’ll set things right

Back up but just want to give another Shout out to Brave for being the Presenting sponsor so we’ll be right Back for more from the chess.com Global Championship presented by Brave [Music] Foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] Foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] Foreign [Music] Foreign [Music] [Music] Foreign [Music] Welcome back everybody to the 2022 Chess.com Global Championship presented By Brave Grand Master Robert Hess Alongside International Master Levy Rosman Levy we just saw Fabiano caruana Hand that game over to Dimitri on draken So will the American be able to bounce Back in this match and secure his place In the round of eight in Toronto I have absolutely no idea those were two Of the most shocking

Defensive efforts and then ultimately I Don’t know if you can really call them Swindles it’s not the Swindle is Generally when you go from completely Lost to completely winning with some Tricks and dragon just plays the game And he manages his time well and so far He’s managed his nerves well also and He’s up one and a half to have when you Know maybe he would be wouldn’t be Otherwise so I guess we’re gonna take a Look at our our bracket here overall to Preview what we’re really Looking at in the in our matchups today Robert Yeah well the winner of the car one on Drinking match plays Wesley so Wesley Waits for a really tough opponent in the Next one and Nakamura and Dominguez they Whoever wins this one will face the Winner of Judah and Serana so no easy Customers in the global championship Levy it’s uh two games remain here one Half half is the lead for Nakamura and On draken we have two matchups that are Uh one and a half to half and this is it This is the last matchup that is going To be Basically online right I mean we’re We’re sending folks to this amazing kind Of live Esports final style matchup in Toronto and okay Cara’s looking around Very confused I don’t know what he’s because the car

Just had black Oh we need to fix the colors here linear Just had the white pieces so we this Game will be ended there it goes game is Aborted so oh linear has to get the Black pieces this time around ah yes That is that that is important Robert And I just for the record we we are not The one star Robert why’d you start the Game with the wrong color man Oh come on you had one job Geez Well linear has one job here and it’s to Not lose this game because if he loses He is eliminated from the cgc instead of The Queen’s game accepted we got the Queen’s Gambit declined and you’ll Notice a big difference in the qga black Takes this pawn and hands over the Center now it’s a position where the Bishops are free to roam this Pawn on D5 Takes control over Central squares and Levy I think ultimately a pretty decent Choice from Lanier who is well versed in So many different opening lines Absolutely but also kind of strange Nowadays you are not seeing the top Players play a Queen’s Gambit decline Move order it’s very much popular at Intermediate Advanced Master Level of The game but folks are going to play D4 Knight F6 C4 E6 rather than putting the Pawns in the center first there’s just Certain nuances like the nimso Indian

But I actually think that Lanier did not Want to do that he did not want to play Into an IM so and we have a exchange Ragozan right is what we have we it’s Technically what this is and Hikaru Playing Knight F3 which is also kind of A rare move order and do you think Linear is going to play G5 and Knight E4 Like my midiar of wood if you gave him This position no he doesn’t Castle you Could still do this even after castling And mamajarov is certainly one of the Players who choose the five minute Caruana has played the black side of a Position just like this against Mamajarov so these positions can get Very very sharp and once again Hikaru Nakamura down on time in the opening and He’s played perfectly in the first two Games he has been stellar and as soon as I say perfectly he makes an imperfect Move Yeah wow he plays Knight D2 right away Why is that imperfect C5 I think just Something just strike right the Knight And F3 and the Queen on D1 we’re Protecting the D4 Square C5 is an idea you want to play Regardless so play Knight D2 feels like You are welcoming that pawn push Knight D2 breaks every opening principle in Existence it it he’s moving backwards in The opening he’s moved that night Already he’s not developing toward the

Center he’s removing the defense of the Center Pawn did Hikaru mix up his lines Here is that what happened like did he Maybe he was supposed to play Knight D2 In a slightly different move order or is His engine prep just better than Whatever we’re offering like is has he Analyzed this in the cloud and to a much Higher depth because why didn’t he just Play like A3 or E3 I’m so confused I clicked the open Explorer and there’s Only one game that I can see where black In this position played C6 rather than C5 so I don’t think this was some kind Of a known prep maybe he’s coming up With Novelties and things like that but It’s just based on time consumption I Think he just was kind of making a move To stop 94 these g594 ideas but C5 is Just asking begging to be played here as You’re pointing out the night moved a Second time no control over D4 so C5 and If you decide to take something like This already looks very unpleasant for The white king Yeah I’m I’m so perplexed I I I’m also Gonna try Knight D2 has literally never Been played Like the movie three has been played in About 99 of the games there and if you Don’t play E3 in that position with the Knight on F3 You’re Gonna Play Queen C2 Oh man Yeah he car was looking around like

Wait what happened maybe his idea was C5a3 could that have been his idea Because that actually doesn’t look Ridiculous right because you you want to After Knight D2 play c583 somehow and But maybe that position is just bad for White I don’t know how But somehow Black could consider taking on D4 and C3 Black can take out C3 right away and Hand white a questionable Pawn structure Over there uh but we are about to get The third game between five and a Corona And Dimitri on Drake and underway A3 was In fact hikara’s Choice we’ll see what Linear chooses as a reply but Fabiano Needs to take this game Levy he lost Game two there and another French Foreign wow Wow in a knight C6 French Oh my God this is This is shocking this is uh This is not this is not okay Robert what There’s kids watching what are we Looking at for all the chess Learners And students out there listen to your Coaches to meet you on Drake and I’m Sure is a brilliant coach in his own Right but he is playing something Against five minute carwana that he Looked at that he’s come prepared with In this individual game no he didn’t Play this line in game one it is very Cramped for black white has these great

Central control this bishop on C6 is Hardly a bishop at all right it is kind Of locked in hemmed in by its own pawns So white has the initial Edge but what A dragon hopes to rely on is the fact That the position will remain closed for A while he can complete his development And only then counter in the center and Try to get creative and get some counter Play of his own You gotta respect the way Andrea can Plays chess though He just doesn’t care like you really he Just he absolutely doesn’t care I was Not expecting that he would show up with Theoretical lines today but I also was Not expecting that he would show up with Complete nonsense lines like and the Thing is the top level players have Played this but it’s so rare when you Play something like .05 of the time that In terms of popularity just asking for Trouble but he almost feels like he has A free pass right because he’s up just Straight up up but Robert I don’t know If you agree with me he could keep Playing like this for a bit and it might Work in the last like few moments of the Game but uh I feel like this is just giving Fabi a Chance to tie the match Well I love the feature chat we have Here imagine how well Dimitri would be Doing if he got a good position of the

Opening I mean it’s like it’s like Literally plus two in the first time Moves Yeah it’s not good I mean that much is Clear right there is a space is white For the taking this Knight on E2 is Going to go to F4 he plays B3 so he can Play A4 and expand on the uh Queen side As well and if black is left with his Light score bishop and white has a Knight I mean that’s just the worst Possible scenario so right E7 this Wasn’t a gameard right this was Knight C3 Knight C6 Knight C3 Knight C6 it Doesn’t even have a name I think this Opening literally doesn’t have a name It’s just it On my screen it says French defense Normal variation though there’s nothing Normal about this to my eyes no no so Chess.com just defaults to calling Something normal out of respect this is Absolutely abnormal And it only says normal for the super Jams who play it but when you know Everyone at chat plays it it’s like the Questionable variation don’t do this Variation yeah exactly I I think Theories just straight up goes out the Window here there’s no there’s nothing There’s absolutely nothing wow well Someone in chat could Make history play this a lot have Success late in the candidates we’ll

Name it after you It’s a great piece in C6 love that one Yep so good The position You’re near losing I know we’re being Harsh but when Levy and I dissect this We’re looking at the quality of the Pieces the potential of the pieces and By playing Knight F4 what Fabiano has Just done is he’s almost permanently Prevented the move Pawn takes E5 because What you can’t afford to do is give a Piece the E5 Square in a particular Knight because if white ever took on F6 The pawn takes back covering E5 if you Take on E5 first goes Knight G6 then Goes 95 and this Knight is just a Brilliant piece here where you have Problems all across your dark squares And the pawn structure is ridiculously Bad Yeah and if you take on C6 here by the Way for the record you will probably be Arrested so please do not take the Bishop on C6 here uh You’re not going after this bishop That’s for sure Advantage it’s so comment in the chat That said Hikaru was better So I don’t know how that happened we should Go take a look Okay we will leave Dimitri with this Really nice looking position and well

What happened was after A3 the bishop Dropped back to A5 which apparently was Not the best choice from Lanier he Should have taken on D4 Taking on C3 and then entered a position Like this which is odd you don’t get This very often but maybe once again you Take advantage of the knight in Queens Place in Levy and strike in the center Yeah it looks like D4 was the critical Move there sort of calling calling the Uh the bluff and yeah after D4 or what Is even White’s move I mean the computer says Knight B1 like It doesn’t it doesn’t strike me as good Preparation I mean it’s I don’t know I Have maybe maybe I just don’t know Anything about Chess well 94 would be a Better version but G5 is the counter Punch stopping the pan attacking the Bishop and if this is your best option Next thing is gonna happen is Black’s Gonna take this pawn and bye bye Was this a bluff or did he not actually I don’t know like did he plant the Something that he had prepared and he Had a feeling Lanier would not play the Most critical line or did he just mix up His lines and got a little lucky I don’t Know we will never know We’ll never know I feel like lucky is The answer here because the line doesn’t Look very good knight D2 there are Positions where you do that but usually

The queen is on C2 first so I think he Mixed up a variation and this just so Happens that it’s paying off for him Yeah I mean there’s still plenty of life Here there’s still a lot to play for it Is anything but equal the last couple of Games it sort of felt like Here if yukaro have this pawn and if you Survive maybe you draw a win and this Game is anything but that this game is In Balance Bishop pair isolated Pawn for Black broken structure for white lots to Play for and as you said if Hikaru wins This game that’s it Lanier does not get Another chance Well Leonard going after the C5 Pawn Stopping Bishop D6 because the Knight Can now capture it here so that was a Pretty big moment and I think white just Develops E3 Your palm structure is great and this Pawn doesn’t go As hard as I try the Pawn’s not going Back to G7 what’s wrong with Queen D4 Just for now making it annoying to take Back Also looks very good And then E3 maybe and also if if I get To play E3 with white I would not Hesitate to take your knight on A6 And then all of a sudden the C Pawn is Moving it looks like the world’s dumbest Move and you almost never play a move Like that but in this case it’s actually

A great move I think No I’m with it Queen D4 looks Energetic protecting your Pawn that’s Under attack twice and only defend it Once so Queen D4 looks Very very reasonable maybe just a queen E7 and Give up D5 to win C5 because white has No development on the king side uh so And he hey Lovey Yeah but the evil hates it but you’ve Been you’ve been talking to Hikaru I Mean prepping oh no no I would not Poison his mind before a game a very Important match like this and now what I Like to I like to play the game of why Do stockfish hate my move I don’t know H5 F5 something aggressive Or is it something more solid I was like Queen E7 but they’re all Oftentimes you also play B6 just to give Away a pawn but get the activity so for Instance B6 takes takes E3 then this Knight comes into C5 and all of a sudden Black is creating threats you might fix Your Pawn structure with Pawn take C5 That would kick the queen away it feels Like black is the one gaining Tempe here And white is just reacting to Black’s Threats he didn’t play B6 he played my First instant Queen E7 uh which okay I Guess not quite as strong as B6 but

Still looks reasonable there’s also Something that white would love to play Here which is F3 if possible and Force Black to take the bishop after which the H file just looks super super appealing But black is going to take on C5 black Is not going to take the bishop For sure C5 now is under attack enough Times so yeah I think this is still Looking nice for Hikaru F3 looks like a Reasonable Choice even if Knight C5 you Start trading pieces you do have the Pair of Bishops uh and Black’s King will Remain open so I think we should maybe Leave Hikaru for the moment and look at What’s happening The Other Board because There have been some pretty significant Changes Levy Black’s pawns are storming Down the king side or at least they’re Trying to but white has maximum control Over the F4 square and many of the other Dark squares Dimitri just loves playing positions Where his all his pawns are on light Squares when he plays Black in this game He has all his pawns still on the board And seven out of eight of them once Again Are on light squares man that Bishop on C6 just doesn’t enjoy life and yet the Evaluation is equal Apparently somehow Only the chess Gods know how but somehow I think somehow is doing nothing it’s

One of these positions where black just Shuffles because some people would play H4 H3 very quickly and I I don’t think That’s actually the right way to go Because white simply responds with G3 And then we’ll later have this F3 move To pry open the position so you don’t Want to send your Pawn down to H3 where Later in the game it will be a Target Overextended and thus I think it makes More sense to just simply Shuffle what Is White’s plan here you might want to Play B4 that drops the A4 Pawn so how do You do that you play Rook A2 Rook A1 Like Dimitri did in game one remember That Levy those ugly Rooks in the H file And then try to push but it takes Forever Yeah it does and listen if Dimitri can Get away with this against Fabiano What can you really say right It’s just Like Bobby’s biggest strength He’s even getting a head start And he’s still unable to to punish Dimitri to the full extent of the chess Law if you will Dimitri just kind of plays around and Until Fabiano actually dominates from Start to finish and puts the game away Without any doubt toward the end Dimitri Will continue to play like this and this Is Fabiano’s last game with white Obviously we might have an Armageddon

But so it’s a it’s a very tense spot in This match Yeah and the main thing here is the side That controls the pawn brakes is often The side with the advantage now having a Knight in a closed position is good but The Knight has nowhere to jump to the Bishop covers C5 if you play C4 that’s a Pawn break but you also break open the Diagonal for the bishop you that’ll Likely backfire and cause white a ton of Problems so it’s not actually clear how White proceeds it might need to be Slower a methodical approach maybe like I was mentioning Rook here Rook here C3 Slow maneuvering and black doesn’t have Anything to do of his own so on Jake Will be forced there’s no other choice But to shuffle Yeah and it’s up to Fabi well it will There be a way is there a way to play Something like Queen A5 B4 B5 that looks Winning by the way those three moves Together they just look like they win uh So what do you what do you play What do you have wait is there Wait can you put this on the word Queen A5 uh okay please queen queen C3 uh Robert I was gonna say queen A5 Uh H4 B4 B6 and it’s a draw Like well you have I thought black can Like repeat moves Bishop B7 and Bishop C6 oh there’s Queen A7 oh there’s Queen

A7 and I guess somehow you’re you don’t Get trapped like Queen C6 King D7 wow Well that’s this I exactly know exactly Mean King B8 B4 and then B6 that’s what You’re looking for yeah yeah there you Go yeah just both sides have to go back And forth and that’s just to draw so the King taking away A7 is important yeah no That’s something to keep an eye on and Um Yeah Dimitri’s Bishop on the white Square is going to be an additional Pawn That’s true it is a big Pawn over there And first 500 plays Queen C3 Levy I Ultimately think that Fabio needs to Pressure Dimitri on the clock make moves Like Rook F to B1 and just Pretend to threaten things there’s no Attack for black G3 is not a threat White has all of his pieces carved in The Square H3 is met by G3 so it’s time To Pretend to threaten things does white Want Bishop C1 Bishop A3 who wants a Trait of dark scored Bishops here I just don’t I don’t like it allows G3 But I see the Merit that you try to gain Squares for your knight if the dark Squid Bishops vanish right now and white Played Knight F4 and G3 white would Probably just be positionally winning It’s like as long as you don’t get mated Uh I think when people are saying hey Carlos game is crazy let’s go see what’s

Going on Let’s go back to Hikaru Nakamura versus Leno Dominguez Hikaru trying to punch His ticket to Toronto we know how much He loves Canada in particular Vancouver And what in the world there is a king on F2 What is this Pawn structure let’s just Go back yeah where we left off it was Right here and he went H4 so we got Ultra aggressive the engine does not Like the move because of exactly what Linear did he said you are going to have Some really bad pawns on the C file on The G file and is this worth being up a Pawn for Levy I starting like Black’s Position yeah I wonder is the is one of The best moves here for black to play G4 Like what is the top engine move here to Just shut down the white position Completely or is it just to play Bishop F5 and get as much development as fast As possible so Bishop F5 is the second Best the best move of course B6 Knight B8 [Laughter] All right I mean shut up not you all Right there you go Bishop of five is like the most Reasonable move ever uh Knight B8 trying To go to C6 yeah I see why that’s a good Idea but come on Yeah yeah Night night B8 is uh

No and I was I was gonna make a joke in Line with recent events you know current Events in the world of shows but we’re Going to stay away from inappropriate Humor Bishop of five is much more Natural move and after that Knight C7 96 Knight B8 Knight C6 looks much more Natural when the bishop has at least Moved or The Rook has moved Yeah the other night maneuver makes Perfect sense as well and now we’re even On the clock so E3 played going after This Knight I feel like now Knight B8 is Even more logical because the knight’s Under attack Yes And uh that that ensuing endgame with Black potentially having all the pawns Broken apart is not very appealing or Maybe it is maybe Lanier just Understands just at a far higher level Level than I possibly could but I don’t know how much I like Bishop Takes A6 for for black the more that I’m Thinking about it Robert I actually Don’t think he has to play Knight B8 but I don’t know You know what he should do is play this One of these moves pretty quickly Because he knows Knight C7 is a Reasonable move he’s just and he played It after 40 something seconds that’s a Move he could have played in 15 seconds And that is what has been his biggest

Weakness in the match is his time Consumption even when he’s been well Ahead in the clock he allows hikara to Get right back into it by burning clock At inopportune moments and 96 is a Threat this king is out in the open on F2 I feel like linear has good chances if He can maintain the speed Yeah but it’s such a tense position White is going to play Exactly Queen F4 I don’t know 96. I’m bringing that Knight right into the game You are yeah It’s linear though he has to go 96. Yeah nothing else right it doesn’t Really also white is threatening Rook Takes H6 by the way For sure that’s a hanging Pawn Yeah 96 Makes a lot of sense you could even take Back on G5 with the pawn and go after The C5 Pawn right that’s a Sitting Duck That’s going to be captured once this Rook gets to C8 so I feel like linear is In good shape for the moment if he plays Knight D6 there it is and maybe he can Play for more meanwhile Um if we can we will just show you What’s happening on the other board There have been some trades and now it’s Opposite colored Bishops here and What if black does nothing what if like

Just moves back and forth maybe he Brings this King to H5 just for funsies What is White’s plan Fabi is doing his Kind of patented headshake he Doesn’t like what’s transpired he needs To find something And if the queen side locks up there There ain’t nothing he can do And draken has one of the strangest top Level playing Styles I have ever seen He’s like he’s kind of like report but He’s almost even even more absurd Because he’s so clutch As Time ticks Lower And so sharp and so defensively gifted Is a nightmare matchup you can never put Him away it feels like He is really a solid player I mean Unspectacular opening play a very Limited access to squares but he doesn’t Mind he is happy to keep shuffling and Rook D2 played made Rook D3 Rook C3 I Just don’t know where white ultimately Is going but I see that Black’s Kings on G6 likely going over to H5 Yeah I’m going to you could put anything you Want on H5 Rook King Oh King F1 right we both we all right You want to walk your king I’m gonna Mock my king too King’s going to B2 the Petrosian King March and it’s a good time to do it Because black has no active play uh the

Bishop 104 just happens to look a little Bit better than the bishop once he’s Sick oh I I don’t think I like that move Yeah me neither Yeah I was gonna say black and play B7 To B6 right and defend but Why no need for that can you feel like Queen C3 I know Queen B4 is available But I’m not even sold at the queen trade Is that easy for black because now you Have a pawn sticking out on B4 ah maybe You have C3 after all that Um just open the C file yes And then you can even maybe consider Sacking on C6 and just play like rook And Bishop with the past Pawn on the Queen side long long long term thinking Long into the future but I feel like Robert every time we try to Predict something Andre can just comes Up with some odd or refutation of our Idea just some super creative wow Fabi Doesn’t play Queen C3 I think Fabi is Not having a fun time dealing with these With these openings and it’s it’s making Him almost hesitate look at this King D1 Wow and I can’t I’m drinking suddenly Decide to go for activity like with the C5 break of his own oh yeah yeah you Gotta feel for five because he’s like Running his King over there and the Action’s about to happen It’s actually gonna commit C5 you’ve Committed just go and then play F3 like

Yes C5 is gonna open up whites King but F3 will open up Black’s King and if You’re fobby look at the clock you’re Now down a minute and 20 seconds and It’s Gonna Keep ticking if you don’t Start making these decisions almost Impulsively like you got to use your Intuition and run your king and push Your pawns and open up the black king so Let’s leave Fabiano to His King marched because the other game Has uh changed a little bit we just Check in to see how Hikaru and linear Are doing so look at that eval bar Advantage Dominguez yeah Advantage Dominguez we’ll see if he’s able to Consolidate but it’s a very tactical Position right he’s got to be super Sharp with this calculation Um remember how we saw that position Where Fabiano had pawns that look like This Yes And Knight takes D4 apparently not the Most precise but how can you blame Dominguez for that capture Gotta take it back yeah what was what Was The move there Was probably something absurd as usual Yeah maybe just like a knight C5 just Like go for the squares yeah I was gonna Say it’s probably something like that Just keeping the tension but he he he

Forced the issue and He takes improving the structure there Very nice from Hikaru What about Rook C8 here Because if takes Rook takes B7 you just Get your Rooks Super quickly into the game Yeah that actually does look super Annoying I think hikara will make him Take with the pawn to keep things closed But the bishop on G6 is also a Savage You’re never getting rid of that oh look There it is Like He’s got a yeah he’s got a trade now I Think I think it’s rookie one Dominguez like You know you’re saying a car needs a Trade lender says no trades for you I’m Gonna Keep as many pieces on the board Because I’m going to try to pick off Your targets your weaknesses and the King on F2 might find something danger Especially if this bishop can plant Itself on e4 then I’m gonna go Rook E3 And Bishop D3 the second you take on C6 Ah okay I’m gonna show that just quickly Because Levy’s making the point that I’m Just gonna try to close the position up He says and maybe black is symbolically Better better Pawn structure but there Is good defense everywhere for white not Enough pawns remain so I don’t know but I’m sure computer has some more active

Way to deal with all this like rookie Five I don’t know or something rookie One sure Sure but I think your point is well Taken I mean seriously this trading off The Bishops will ease the uh drawing Path because if you’ve got Bishop E4 and Like F5 in that long-term danger for the White king Okay it does it this way I I like the Idea of Rook ad1 after so Rook H to E1 And Rook a to D1 and trading on D3 and That that regard so that at least both Rooks are in the middle I’m actually Kind of confused he did it this way but I’m sure he has some sort of plan I don’t know actually of course out of One minute by the way yeah he looks Unhappy so I don’t know what he Overlooked but I guess the other way was Better rookie q1 and then Rook 81. But but Lanier finally he’s the one Putting pressure on the clock I mean He’s been had he said the lead on time For most of the match he just then Burns Clock at the wrong moment look at this 40 seconds remaining for a carpets Rookie five that was an inaccuracy B Takes C6 is automatic hitting the bishop Is it what about F6 was there F6 There’s F6 now yeah there’s F6 now but I Thought maybe there was some sort of Tactic yeah this is really strange he’s Not trading the bishop he’s going to

Lose a lot of time here And linear might also play like Rook B8 Rugby three okay see that Levy it may Not have been the 100 best move although He’s keeping the advantage he’s doing it Quickly and he understands that the way To beat Hikaru is both on the board and Not giving him the time to be Resourceful Yeah I almost feel like with Hikaru the Time that takes lower his adrenaline Kicks in and when you have to make one Move in one second when you’re nervous He you gotta pick Hikaru right it’s Either Hikaru or Magnus like their Nerves are or I mean today it’s on Draken but those two guys and the Problem is he’s not gonna go down Without a fight you got to beat him like 10 times in one game Like this looks miserable for white but It’s not lost No and hikar might do this at some point Just to try to get a mating net of sorts G4 G5 Rook E8 Rook h8 And what can black do to stop it because If Rook takes A3 just G5 Oh there’s always Bishop H7 the end to Save the day so maybe lender can go Pawn Grabbing just take this one go after C3 Have an outside pass Bond Big moment here for doing this It’s a good point start with King G7 the A3 Pawn is not going anywhere so King G7

Feels like a completely reasonable uh First step at this point he takes an A3 We spend a lot of time doing it King G7 G5 here her car goes I I think after Rook h8 it’s always Bishop H7 right oh for this bishop D3 Yeah yeah sorry I mean for sure this Rook is immediately under attack and he Plays F6 he listens to Levy I don’t have that answer they’re all About you know 0.3 minus 0.3 we’re Hovering in territory where most moves Should be uh decent but I like Lanier’s Clock he’s putting pressure on him A5 just just send it Your King’s not getting mated on F6 You’ve done everything right send the Pawn Why is he thinking for so long Lanier you gotta go man You gotta go And thank you for the raid from both tez Live Here that that’s coming in so appreciate That one and well we appreciate these This end game we have in front of us as Well Rook E7 was Leonard dominguez’s Choice trying to get the Rooks off and Then use the outside pass pawn and Attack the C3 Pawn as well so If Rook H6 good defense by Hikaru Robert I’m back I am back hey some people would Have celebrated that my microphone cut Out but unfortunately for those people

Uh we are back and better than ever and Hikaru is down to 10 seconds Oh 10 seconds Bishop h a great move just Trading off pieces if you swap as a rook See through this Rook H7 check and then Rook takes ASAP but the king Levy this King goes to D6 and D4 is a bit of a Problem D6 or E4 King F5 King E4 also Possible over the rookie seven just cut You off Wow ah the pro the problem is if Rook Dita is Rook A4 You just gotta defend passively E6 And then Ah that’s smart we’re okay four After you forced the king to defend the Pawn Yeah the king doesn’t get to venture out Into the center like you were advocating For Amazing and that’s it this this was Linear’s chance It came and it went and he will have to Rely on game number four he’s gonna have To bring something to the table Foreign And come up with Some better way of playing against the Berlin Because that other way was probably the Best that he was going to provide and Hikaru still defended in excellent Manner and there you go we see this Typical simplification down to a Position of

One pawn and balanced end games uh Beginners intermediates watching you Gotta know how to defend this hey you Fill it or position down And you’ll be good to go And what black wants is to get this King Into C4 very quickly but a car will not Allow that because this King got up the Board that would be an issue but white Can always give it a check Hikaru really does not look excited for A guy that is going into the knockout Game of his head-to-head matchup but he Kind of like never looks excited until The job is done he uh he’s frustrated a Bit and he’s up on time by the way again Yeah if we’re in deep in this end game Here King A3 was also possible King C3 To stay close to your Pawn Yeah This one’s a straw Yeah there’s ways to lose with white if You get to C5 and mate yourself but I don’t think so Nah all of the Rook F3 to D3 to be very Careful now Rook F3 don’t go to King B4 Although it might still work because You’re Rook G4 but yeah go here because If the Rook attacks the pawn your king Goes up yeah Rook Cannot get to this D4 Pawn That’s Gonna get some more moves I don’t think Lanier is going to play Rook and pawn

Versus Rook but he will play this position for Sure he might play both Yeah this is it Hikaru has the ideal setup he knows what He’s doing and he’s not gonna allow Lanier even an ounce of hope so good Game from Dominguez ultimately with the Black pieces he was pressing but for Hikaru Nakamura 2-1 lead is exactly what You want at this point let’s go back to Carwana against andrekin we have a Minute and a half per side and oh my Goodness this matchup might end right Here revenue of Rook H1 was the last Move played here and it appears that Even material but White’s King might be In worse shape Is it just Rook H1 and queen C4 or what Is it what what exactly is the you can Do that you can also bring the Rook to C8 your King on B7 is so safe over here At Queen C4 next this is unbelievable Wow It’s a huge collapse from carwana And it it was a recipe for disaster from The beginning he was getting really nice Positions but from that first game It all went downhill It just all went downhill and Israel Community Ford just came over now It’s gotta be right Queen D7 What

I think this is Dimitri on draken saying If I draw this game I get white in game Four how are you gonna beat me but that I mean why not Queen C4 you can never Lose that position Yeah I what I’m so perplexed I’m also a Little bit perplexed why this is such a Bad move but Just Queen D1 yeah Queen D1 or queen A1 Right that’s the question also do you Have to guard A4 do you have some Perpetual maybe I don’t know Probably what fabi’s you know looking at But how do you not play Queen C4 that is Extremely surprising is there Queen H6 Maybe like Queen A4 Queen E6 or do I get Mated can I put my king on C1 or is There a checkmate at the end with Bishop D3 it’s probably a checkmate at the end Yeah and the black Levy’s point is the Black king can always hide on A6 and not Enough checks the queen D1 ultimately Played and now we get a Time Scrabble so Fabiano gets a new lease on his Tournament by not losing this game at That moment but Queen H7 still causes Problems probably Queen G1 now Wow keep that Queen out of there Queen is just desperately different than Queen H5 Oh my gosh this is so scary And we can see one then It’s King C2 instead Robert this looks miserable for white

Completely agree No this how do you defend this King B2 Good start all right the bishop on C4 is Like the kid who was bullied in grade School and turned out to be an MMA Fighter That Bishop was just we made fun of it The whole game and now it’s the best Piece on the board Yeah it’s amazing how that happened I Mean to meet you on Drake and just held Steady and now he’s impressed he is 30 Oh blunder Queen T1 he’s dropping oh check Everything is hanging That’s it I can’t believe it he’s just he’s gone Down Queen A1 King D2 and push the pawn just Maybe start getting that one going Wow that is unreal and it was always Bound to happen time got low position Got unpleasant and draken was the Aggressor and I don’t think Fabiano’s Getting another chance from this point Forward because it’s the bishop on F4 is Just a non-factor Queen E4 check almost works but I think White is in time to stop the punt Because Bishop B5 he wants A4 A3 why Don’t you just play B5 I don’t get it he Doesn’t want to push his pawns weak in His King but yeah he’s gonna go A4 A3 And then trade Queens yep yep eight

Seconds for carwana he doesn’t even see A move here You should see three played How was Queen H1 not just winning on the Spot but yeah that’s all it is what is Winning was winning Have a Cash push Probably okay Queen not the best move Apparently He wants his King in Wow wow There’s no Bishop B2 just Queen moves to B1 right And queen Although king of six like suddenly what Is Bishop D3 what is he what is going on In this game oh he allowed to check But B5 shift D3 back to Oh gosh you want some kind of queen Check No way seven seconds for andraken How does he get out of this because Queen a queen B8 looks like a repetition So he takes the pawn and now his King Can walk to A5 into B4 it was gonna lose The A2 Pawn And then E6 is a target Oh my goodness the b-pawn goes up Yeah Queen B8 and just just yeah the King is going to zigzag right Mm-hmm A queen E7 Oh my gosh Queen E7 the king would have

Gone to C4 into D3 I think this is it we are about to See the final move Of the matchup between Fabiano caruana And Dimitri and draken as he punches his Ticket to the round of eight in Toronto In unreal fashion uh there are matches And then there are matches and Dimitri On draken was lights out today he was Not ever going to go down in any of These three games Robert Unbelievable he was on the edge of Defeat on the precipice and he won uh Game two after drawing game one somehow And game three he ices the match Dimitri On draken is an absolute Force I know People are not as familiar with the name On draken as they should be but I hope After the rapid Chess Championship we Got second place and now here in the Chess.com Global Championship presented By Brave he is in to the final eight he Will be in Toronto Dimitri on drinking Everybody you will want to write down That name and not forget it Just a Sublime Sublime match by him What did anybody have ondraken beating Karawana in three because that is Exactly what happened in tennis you can Win in straight sets and today we saw Andrekin winning in basically the chess Equivalent with a Magical save in the first game followed

By an even more magical come from behind Victory in game two and this one was a Mildly dubious opening that yes we were Making fun of but we really Robert I Think we both deep down knew that if Bobby didn’t put him away early Dimitri Was going to survive that game because It seemed like it was going Throughout the entire match and it once Again happened Yeah when you can’t land a knockout when Someone is wobbling that’s uh gonna let Them back in there you guys just gotta Stay alive Dimitri on Drake and doesn’t Just stay alive in the match he advances To Toronto so if we look at today’s Scores uh we see that Dominguez still Has a chance against Nakamura Levy two And a half for Dimitri on Drake and incredible Absolutely incredible you can Legitimately make a case that either of Them are deserving to be a one seed Given both of their prowess in all types Of Chess classical rapid and Blitz but It definitely seems like Dimitri has had A stellar run in a lot of the chess.com Online events and he’s a beast it very Well could be he’s the second best rapid Player in Russia right I mean obviously They have Yandy machine it’s a little Bit tough but that’s the number one guy But he’s been incredible and he’s it That’s it he’s not he’s enough there’s

Nothing else besides making it to the Final eight in Toronto and he’s Certainly just done that in the most Emphatic of fashions Yeah and it takes a lot of courage to Play that passively against Fabiano Caruana and speaking of Brave well Brave Is our presenting sponsor so we want to Give them a shout out as always because Brave means private browsing and so much More by default Brave blocks ads and Trackers on every page and video you Visit even on YouTube no ads means up to Three times faster page loads faster Streaming and faster playback it means 35 longer battery life while saving on Mobile data and internet bandwidth for Android iOS and desktop get the best Browser for gamers streamers and Creators switch in 60 seconds at Brave.com chess and with the on Drake And carwana matchup in the books Demetriundricken heading towards Canada We do have one game remaining at the Very least between a car Nakamura and Leno Dominguez here at the 2022 Chess.com Global Championship presented By Brave Foreign [Music] [Music] Foreign [Music] Foreign

[Music] Foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] Thank you [Music] [Music] Foreign [Music] To anyone All around the world oh my gosh the Chess.com Global Championship offers the Dream of playing against the best we are In for a wild ride and hey have we Mentioned there’s also a million dollars At stake the total pot is a million Dollars no that it’s not a typo the Prizes our unbelievably generous we Began with thousands of players now only Dozens remain what a move by Tim Moore It’s over he’s gonna lift to tell the Tale and that is enough to take victory In this Armageddon game Dan yet The cgc Knockout phase has arrived There are those who played their way in And some are here thanks to their Well-earned reputations No matter who you are things are about To get very very real oh my God massive Congratulations to Sam Savion a trip to The cgc finals and a clean shot at the Largest first place prize of the year My friends it’s the cgc round of 16. who

Will take the next step to Toronto And return here at the cgc linear Dominguez looking off in the distance Maybe he’s trying to look all the way Towards Canada because if he wants to Make it there he needs to win this game Against Hikaru Nakamura Levy the matchup Between Hikaru and Dominguez lifetime Has been pretty knotted up but right now Hikara with the one game lead And we basically see in this matchup Exactly why they win and lose more games In Rapid they have each one a piece in Classical but there is 12 draws as well And when you go to the rapid at 12 Becomes eight wins four losses with one Draw now obviously in their last 10 Games has been a little bit closer and They are quite familiar with one another But thus far we’ve seen the differences In the playing style we’ve seen the Differences in the approach and it’s Been close but Hikaru definitely got the Edge in that first game good opening Preparation shown by both sides good Time management shown by One of the sides let’s put it this way And we have liftoff I think we’re about To have the game Yeah we are about to have game four Dominguez gets the white pieces that’s The good news for him uh Hikaru looking Like he doesn’t have a worry in the World he is just focused on this final

Game he needs to draw and that puts the Onus squarely on Domingo’s shoulder and We get an Italian so no more Berlin yeah We get an Italian but the risk of of Changing up your own openings as well is You you don’t know what Hikaru is going To play Hikaru could have come prepared With a totally different Italian line he Plays this D6 A6 so he’s not he’s not Castling yet he’s not playing H6 he Moves the bishop to A7 And now he castles so many different Nuances of the move order here and it’s Going to be a long battle Anikara has been playing a lot of A5 Lines at A6 so I believe he anticipated That Dominguez would be aiming for that Kind of position and we are 13 moves in This is still theoretical one of the big Ideas for white is to continue expanding B5 C4 just get a clamp going Black’s Main push is D5 that’s not such an easy Move to make work because then the E5 Pawn becomes loose so now Hikaru is the First player to take a bit of a think he Is trying to figure out what is the Theory here is it D5 I believe that’s Too early so a slower move maybe it’s Knight E7 to G6 that way the Knight is Stabilized rather than being able to be Kicked from its current Square I like The Rook on E6 for black in a lot Of these positions because I I just have A dream of getting that Knight to F4

After a couple of Moves In The Rook to G6 but it’s never that easy a guy Playing with White’s just not gonna let That happen there’s B5 D4 all these Different breaks yeah it seems like Bishop B2 is the First new move here and Robert this setup by black is one where Black doesn’t ask a whole lot of Questions black just sort of kind of Plays responsive moves whereas in that A5 line you’re much more aggressive but Wow C4 and now the moves are picking up The pace once again Just give me all of the space says Linear Dominguez and this is a Dominguez Type of position you see him win Beautiful positional masterpieces by Squeezing the pineapple juice out of his Opponent and in this position what is Black’s plan Levy mentioned a night Coming to F4 And then what right this there’s just One night there it’s not exactly a Devastating attack so what instead hikar Opts towards C6 and maybe D5 but I mean Linear just doesn’t pause Oh Bishop C3 Yeah what is this I’m trying to like Follow along And try to put this game into some sort Of some sort of database and see can you Check the Explorer where where are we There’s been a deform in fact this looks Like the matchup

Who was this matchup it was Wesley so in The previous round not against Um Uh not against Jeffrey Zhang but in his Second round match the round of 32 I Believe he’s getting positions like that Or maybe I’m mixing up the players but There were a bunch of games in a similar Position it was actually the first match Against Dennis lastovich excuse me Yeah there’s so much different Theory And overlapping move orders Um I’m saying somebody there’s a course Apparently on this line and uh this is a Fascinating position this is a very Strange e45 game since Black has played A6 and then A5 And lost the pawn you straight up lost The pawn but he’s basically saying I’ll Win it back don’t worry about it and Look at linear giving up the H Pawn like You can steal that pawn if you’re a hit Card Nakamura but then this Knight comes To F5 a rook goes to B1 the B7 Pawn is Loose so what a fascinating opening We’ve seen thus far and I have to say That in a must win position Levy this is Linear playing quickly but Black’s Position isn’t that solid it’s actually A very kind of risky Structure Yeah it is a really risky structure the B file is super weak you’re not going to Get that attack that I was mentioning

Earlier with Rook G6 there’s no attack If anybody has an attack here it’s white In the future Very slow Improvement G3 F4 King G2 and So on maybe Queen G4 somehow I really Like this for white do I like it to the Extent of being able to beat Hikaru Maybe not Maybe not hikaru’s been up to the test Defensively today What we’re being told that this is Following David Dominguez beat Nakamura At in the St Louis rapid and Blitz I’m Not sure it went all the way to this Point because 22 moves deep but from This variation so linear with happy Memories Nakamura likely with Improvements but Rook B1 Queen F3 Pawn G3 King G2 Rook H1 Levy your idea it Kind of plays itself in a way and I Don’t see where Black’s active play is Going to come from Yeah I don’t see it either That and I don’t have five is amazing And I don’t have five and e45 games Especially with same side castling is Super scary for black For sure and that’s actually I think Part of the reason why at linear was Okay jettising this Pawn is it Establishes the Knight on F5 and it Can’t be kicked because anytime you play G6 you drop the H6 Pawn but linear after Queen d8 he goes in the think tank he is

The one who played H4 right here he Didn’t have to play H4 he made the move Quickly and these moves are pretty Forced and now he’s the one spending Time so his prep I think is finally done And that’s good news for a car and Nakamura and his fans That’s super scary all of this has been Super scary uh yeah I’m I’m gonna go I was going and exploring a little bit What’s funny is that this line if you Check the database is all Hikaru Recently For a super super long period of time uh Bishop B2 is relatively rare I think They’re actually isn’t a Hikaru game in That line just yet except for that game Between Dominguez and Nakamura and Robert that game Followed this game until move 19. Wow When in that previous game Lanier played B5 But in this game he decided to take the Pawn That is absurd that Hikaru played the Exact same way as he did in the St Louis Rapid tournament recently and played the Exact same way again and is like Lanier I am willing to bet you my prep is Better than your prep Um I’m gonna have to Disagree with that because I’m looking At this position

And it just looks good for white right Like linear changed one thing he took The pawn rather than pushing forward and Now the Evo Bar says plus 1.5 I don’t Need the Evo bar to explain to me that This position is nice for white Um this queen he’s just gonna venture Out over to the king side uh it feels Like black is quite Frozen in many ways Over here I just I can’t get behind it I agree I agree B7 looks weak the A7 Bishop is Not doing a whole lot What just like in any sport sometimes The team is losing sometimes the player Is losing and you got to play defense And he’s been doing that he’s done that You know he’s done that in every game Actually he’s demonstrated defense first It feels like and then defense turns Into offense and he goes on the attack I guess the big question is how does White proceed because you’re saying Hikaru at first has to take a defensive Posture and then he’s the one who can Move his piece for maybe Knight C5 maybe Rook G6 things like that so what Actually Is Lanier’s plan here he can Bring his Queen out he could also just Play G4 King G2 Rook H1 but that’s not a Move you make lightly you need to be Positive that it’s the time to do it and It looks interesting I mean interesting Is a cop-out word I know but it does

Look pretty fun it’s okay if you say it With a Russian accent it’s like all all Players like that oh no it’s very Interesting but yeah so G4 H1 G5 looks Actually very good and if HG Queen H5 is Just game over just straight up win so Uh Do you think the books behind linear are Chess books or regular books Because they match in color I I feel like it’s a collection of some Sort and I I mean my vision’s not that great so I Don’t think it’s my great predecessors Or anything like that but It’s chess books I think Is it what does that say I’m trying to look we have a we have a Big big uh capture here of Lanier as He’s thinking I keep wanting them to put it up on the Big screen you know how many sleuths There are in the chat I’m not reading Them but I’m sure that they’re there Trying to Figure out the titles of the books on The shelves but I feel like they have to Be at least in part chess books I would love to ask Lanier strikes me as A guy who reads It’s just strikes music loves to read Yeah you like to read I love to read Yeah oh I don’t know so I’m jealous oh well I’m

A big reader I was actually looking for My book but I don’t see it somewhere Over there not that I’m giving any Plugs to authors that I’m reading at the Moment anyway but why not I mean when You’re still thinking we could talk About it Well he’s out of book that’s clear and He’s trying to oh G3 so slow approach by Lanier and Now I’m just curious where the books Behind him and now I’m distracted Yeah G3 is such a respectful way of Playing this position just feel like in A must-win situation you I don’t know You gotta go G4 what was the top engine Move in that position out of curiosity It was G4 uh yeah G4 and queen G4 are like Splitting votes essentially uh Queen G4 And then try to move the Move the queen and then play g2g4 well It’s pretty complete G4 though it’s Pretty interesting it wants this like Queen H3 yeah to defend D3 so through Knight C5 you probably said Bishop B4 And then you can’t move the Knight Because there’s 97 check kind of stuff So all sorts of different stuff up here Or apparently not the computer was Trying to change his mind somehow yeah It’s it said that at first and now it Wants like Rook F1 and F4 so I just Wants to go for the attack

Ah yeah man G3 is okay he’s still going For this plan but look at Hikaru Rerouting the bishop that’s so expertly Done Bishop C5 Bishop f8’s passive but It’s the right thing to do the bishop is At least more valuable on f8 than it is On A7 Still looks awful for black but it’s Already an improvement Is white going to try to play F4 I guess Now You can’t take it back with the g-pawn Which what you’d really want but F4 is The type of move that’s begging to be Played in such a position absolutely Not to mention that if the Dark squared Bishop of white was traded For the Knight Let’s say on C5 White would still have a very nice Position with the Knight on F5 but the Bishop on f8 does a great job defending And A5 falling could spell trouble for White Yeah A really big Target that black is trying To go after he plays F4 right away Because he takes Bishop takes and that Rook on beat has to move which drops the B7 Pawn Yeah this is now Hikaru perks up you see Him a little bit there he’s like all Right yeah this is what you want to do You sure about this and Hikaru excels

And stuff like this Counter Play Just understanding the Dynamics between attack and defense And linear in a must-win spot is a is a Stressful moment for me because he’s Playing an excellent counter-attacker It’s not playing a guy who’s just gonna Get a little intimidated by the moment And Maybe do something wrong but Leonard did Get the exact type of position that he Needs right you’re in a must win game You can’t just dilly dally you can say Oh I’m slightly better I’m gonna try to Nurse this little Advantage no he is Going full steam ahead no fear Whatsoever and he has a very good Position with chances to win Yeah but G3 right like he had to go G4 He had to be a bit more disrespectful About the position It wasn’t I love how you frame it though he had to Be more disrespectful linear and Disrespect do not belong in the same Sentence ever the guy is simply put the Nicest human being ever I know and he had to throw that caution To the wind and play G4 damn it they had To play G4 G5 Rook H1 all this stuff but He kind of did a little bit more Respectfully he’s trying to do it the Right way but sometimes in chess you Have to not do things the right way

And G4 was an absurd move but Uh I guess not it’s not it’s not a Stylistic choice for linear And hikar you know he’s Perking up now he’s defending quite Where’d he go Stretching He was touching his toes What’s going on what Is he tying looks like he’s tying Something grabbing cables This is not streaming right now oh that Would be bad Oh man this is mouse dead what is going On Well hikar back in the day I remember When we uh playing the Olympiad together He would type moves on you know all the Way back in the ICC days he’d be typing Moves playing bullet So oh wow He’s good even without a hardwired mouse You could just telepathically move Things by looking at them Speaking of what is it is about to Suggest features during Live Events why Don’t we get type to move can we do that Somehow Good question I mean guys type to move Please maybe just for Diamond members I’m a diamond member can we just get it Just for Levy honestly nobody else needs It yeah you don’t like type to move It just doesn’t seem very practical it

Doesn’t but it you know it’s fun Yeah it’s exactly oh they’re also good For blindfold chess Very true my blindfold chest you could Just type the moves I don’t know just Food For Thought yeah I don’t know he Looked really disheveled there for a Second but now okay time is back to Equal And Gives a B7 for A5 looks Quite reasonable Knight C5 okay doesn’t want A5 yet Levy I have to say I think this is Starting to go in hakara’s Direction yes Yes yes it sometimes these matchups are A nightmare stylistically for one of the Sides And today it really has felt like Sometimes when Hikaru plays Lanier I almost get the opposite effect like That day linear is a bit more sharp and Then stylistically it’s a disaster of a Matchup for Hikaru like if it ever you Know if your car tries to be a little Bit too aggressive or linear just gets The kind of position he wants but today And you’re got the positions that he Probably wanted and Hikaru was just Unbeatable he just couldn’t be beaten at All Excellent defense great counter play and He’s doing it for a third game Yeah it looked very promising for linear

And right now uh hikar up a minute on The clock defending accurately and Rook B6 I think Knight D7 this Retreat should Be sufficient although there is an Opportunity for linear to sacrifice in Exchange because the Rook is under Attack but you do not want to allow a White Pawn to land on B6 protected so Queen B3 is an option here for Lanier And he’s just trying to keep things Spicy But then Rook A5 I guess you would play I don’t know the night the night covers B8 very importantly it’s a rook B7 Knight C5 walking into but then Rook B8 Right what I’m talking about is Something like this Knight survive Rook B8 and white wins Yeah brutal Yeah oh I I got a fork going on but Rugby it’s too powerful uh with the back Rank issues for black That’s so ridiculous Queen B3 is one of The best moves Rook A5 is the best move Rook B7 is the best move Knight C5 seems To be losing The best move after Rook B7 Well if it’s not clear then linear Should obviously go for it like you just Gotta trust himself And yeah two minutes to the car is not The way to go it top level chess is so Fascinating where you can put a couple Of guys in a certain spot and you know

For a fact that they would play a Certain move like for example Levon Think for a fact we’ll play Queen B3 in That position chakra would play Queen B3 In that position and then other guys Would play Rook B7 I don’t know it and then Rook C7 made no Rook c796 just wins on the spot for Black so What do you play here what was what was His plan after rugby seven He doesn’t really have one he could Throw an A6 because you can’t take with The Rook because his Rook b a check uh Check check to the queen or FBA would be A thread so A6 Knight takes A6 at the Very least you kind of gain a move I Don’t know what you’re gonna do with That move but Maybe there’s something maybe that maybe He wanted A6 I don’t know something Crazy you know like right but then but Then Knight A6 and then I don’t really know what you’re doing After that he could always go back go Rook B6 but why would you spend this Much time to just to go backward basics Right yeah and you’re in danger of a Repetition I guess there’s not quite There 97 then Queen B3 and you’re out of It he does play A6 Do not take this Rook everybody I know a Rook is more valuable than a knight but Not when you give it I wasn’t even

Trying to make the right move and I did Anyway but you allow this Pawn here it’s Attacking The Rook about to promote the Bishop covers the square do not take on B7 Hikaru does not it takes on A6 so This is where Lanier needs to just he Needs to go and he plays Queen H5 Oh wait a second is Rook takes F7 a Threat Ouch Maybe what’s the idea so Knight C5 Rook F7 will just Oh my the eval’s going up here Rook to B1 switch flanks Oh rugby one is oh and he doesn’t Wait a second the car’s completely tied Down now yeah I think he kind of Underestimated that and Five and a half minutes is more than Enough time to put this all together Let’s let’s bring up an analysis for it Because A6 was a clever Try by linear we Liked that move and apparently Knight Takes A6 which is like the most obvious Move is incorrect Um wow the right move I just cheated is Queen C8 so just kind of keeping Tensional that is an impossible human Move Uh it’s possible for a human to play I Should say Queen C8 All right it’s just like you’re now Attacking The Rook the A6 spawns the

Hanging Um It allows Rook C7 and stuff but oh That’s that’s not happening Yeah Yeah Queen E8 Rook B1 Wow What is is it it’s called material Even material it is even material It doesn’t feel like it hasn’t felt like Equal material the entire game Well D4 is also hanging for good measure So it may only be equal material for a Move or two longer I I don’t care I’m Not taking that pawn I don’t even notice that pawn is hanging My knight is only going forward I like To tell I like to tell uh like low rated Players uh nine times out of ten the Best move was going forward It’s never going back one time out of Ten okay Karo seems to think the pawn is Important he defends it Okay so how does Linear keep going A5 to try to push this Pawn I like the look of that Rook A7 if You get the second Rook on B7 you’d be Winning but the Knight will come back to C5 so you don’t get that This is the moment this is the big Moment of the game linear is better Can he Get it done that’s that’s it

It’s really that’s really it can you get It done or not He has dropped under five minutes he Card is 646 himself so about a two Minute lead now for Hikaru Queen F3 the Best move like the engine stayed the Same the bar Queen F3 this is just like Profit Lexus right just I’m going to Defend the pawn on D3 in the event of Knight C5 and then I can go over movies Like Rook to B8 so D3 is a very Important Pawn to keep control of and Tikara is trying to secure control over B4 so he’s maybe trying to put his Knight there Now Rook B6 is another possibility in The future to maybe trade the black rook And but also A4 is hanging now so play Rook beef Rook one to B5 that way when Knight B4 happens and oh my gosh linear Is on fire right before the Rook is Inside right The Rook is inside the Where the Knight would be otherwise it Would be blocked out of the action so Now A5 is available Levy this looks so Horrible for black it does it does look Horrible you you missed my punt I know Nara Dixie likes to hit you with puns R1 B5 ribs I was wondering why you said ribs I’m Hungry I’m hungry yeah yeah I I I didn’t Just blurt out a random word yeah it Rips uh the night before Hikaru is Trying to yes hold it down on the dark

Squares but this looks miserable I Completely agree A5 looks very pleasant Bishop C7 at any moment to secure that Pawn And linear he just continues to spend a Little bit more time than I’m Comfortable with I mean I’m looking at The position it’s great but it just Doesn’t feel like he’s found his true Comfort zone No he hasn’t and four minutes goes by Very fast it’s like the opposite of Maybe certain other events you can look At the clock and go oh wow I feel like It’s been five minutes only one ten Seconds right but uh in this case you Look at the clock wait a minute I got 30 Seconds left And somehow time moves faster when you Play Hikaru and okay Rook beat Apparently is wrong Looks great Do you really want to take on ba I don’t Think so and Knight C6 back and maybe That’s why look that knight from A6 to C6 Covering A5 now and covering B8 Yeah and supposedly he’s already Slightly messed it up How I mean at some point white has to play E5 too right you’ve got to play E4 E5 maybe A4 A5 That’s so crazy that A5 is just not like

Winning for white this just doesn’t make Any sense I think it was the right move a few Turns ago when he went Rook to B8 but A5 with Rook B8 to follow looks very Promising A5 Knight A5 rugby isn’t winning for White Uh let’s easy way to find out No All right I don’t understand anything About Chess but Queen D7 there’s just Nothing yeah just nothing at all okay oh Allegedly just equal But well if it’s just equal that means That it’s just that it’s quite it’s a Quagmire nobody can get through Well linear is doing the worst of all Options he’s spending a lot of time He’s just too deliberate like you need To trust yourself and you need to use The clock as a weapon and right now the Clock is in a huge Advantage for a car It’s why he’s staying in this game and If the time situation were reversed and The clocks suggested that um Dominguez Could continue to increase the his Chances then we’d be talking about a Different story here but right now Levy Lanier is just being Too slow Yeah just too slow that’s the best way To describe it Rook B7 I even saw a Stockfish try to flash for a moment

There that black was better which is Completely absurd that’s so frustrating And It’s looking like Queen A8 is on the way And Just a fork is that that it Sometimes it’s that simple Although moving the queen away from the King side you might walk into some kind Of Rook takes F7 if you’re not careful There is a queen on F3 after all Yeah there’s still scary tactics all Over the board but somehow it’s just It’s just nothing there and if black Takes on A4 black gets to the white king Too Amazing defense maybe Rook C7 and after Queen takes here there’s that E5 move You’ve been suggesting I think that’s The way to go you need to start going After this King I agree Rook c75 he has to do something How is it possible that hikaru’s pieces Have just not gotten air the whole game And he’s still defending he’s just Defending everything the Pawn’s gone now Black is up a pawn now like I still have Four minutes Wow he’s such a tenacious Defender Hezekara Nakamura the guy always puts up Stubborn resistance and he’s gonna need A continued defend you see the Evaluations as zeros now black is up a Pawn so if zeros it means that white has

A great uh set of ideas and chances Against the black king E5 looks like a Step in the right direction and linear Is just spending too much time he’s Being a perfectionist perfect is the Enemy of the good he needs to go Perfect is the enemy of the good wow I Have to read more Robert What a line I hope that wasn’t said by Like some You know boxer or something I hope that Was said like in some book Yeah it’s not it’s not a boxer don’t Worry uh okay although that was gonna be A that’d be a sweet thing though if uh a Boxer said it Well sometimes athletes quote Some philosophical spots and then if I’ve never heard it I’m like I don’t Think he said that I don’t think Not sure he came up with that Knight D6 Though it’s some still some chances Maybe But Queen C2 Queen A2 And this sucks worrisome because Quincy 2 the King goes up to H3 oh I never Answered your question by the way it’s Voltaire but um or at least that’s who It’s attributed to probably stole it From somebody who doesn’t get credit but Um Fall Voltaire just had a friend like a Drinking some alcohol in the 17th Century and I don’t know when Hotel was

Alive I’m very sorry 18 well I think 18th century is probably one of I don’t Know someone can Google this I’m not Gonna do it all right 96. Can’t take anything Rook F7 Bishop D6 Good luck Whoa Right this looks like a hanging Pond but Rook F7 Bishop D6 as pointed out and This Rook is under attack so you can’t Take with the Knight Can you move the bishop because Queen Takes up seven is there oh And where are you moving where do you Move the bishop Bishop takes H6 No because then Queen seeds oh He makes a move that’s just losing Knight F4 Queen C6 Knight F4 Bishop D6 Queen C6 Knight F4 Queen C6 and then I Don’t know Yeah it feels like it feels like there’s Something like that as you’re saying I don’t know exactly where it is but it Or maybe just Queen C2 Queen C2 also looks great Queen C2 King H3 Where is the game Ender there That’s the question I’m perplexed myself Well No that also doesn’t work it’s very easy To look at the eval bar oh apparently You didn’t even find it yeah but this I

Think is sufficient you were yeah and She just trade everything and play Queen C6 This is happening take F4 Queen C6 check The Queens immediately come off D6 Falls And hikar just needs to draw he doesn’t Need to win this game nope It doesn’t need to win And you know who’s not going to win this Game is linear Dominguez because Rook F6 Rook F5 might even hold the Pawns There’s King E4 oh that is a that’s a Good move that’s it I think Hikaru just Played like All the best moves in this game went his Position got unpleasant it’s just unreal Just incredible stuff what more can you Even when even when it seems like he’s In trouble right he just finds every Single accurate defensive move and Hikaru Nakamura Unless something really tragic happens He is going to make his way to Toronto Canada in the first week of November and He will play for a shot at 200 000 dollars This is everything that Hikaru has to Offer as a chess player super sharp Calculation skills solid time management Defensive Brilliance and it was all on Display today Lanier really felt like he Brought his A-game for about 90 of the Action today and Hikaru brought it for 100 maybe 99 if you want to argue you

Cannot be fully perfect in chess but he Was incredible and of course I’m sure Hikaru would make some adjustments but Robert I think really what this will Come down to is the question of was Lanier too passive at critical moments Or was Hikaru just unbeatable Hey Carl when he plays like this there Are maybe two people in the world who Are going to beat him in a match and Right now Hikaru Nakamura he’s rising to The occasion he struggled in The Opening Match against Grand Master Vasquez Against Navara he looked very good but He has looked phenomenal here winning Game one after extensive preparation From Dominguez looked like it should be A level game but he pressed and pressed In an extra Pawn led to a victory and Then after that it’s been a steady Nakamura through and through here in Game four he doesn’t even need to win He’s about to win and he is going to Make his way through to the final eight And Hikaru Nakamura is just an absolute Beast yeah apparently that wasn’t given The blessing somehow apparently it’s Some sort of draw now Rookie seven and then the King has to oh He’s mad he’s Maddie messed it up he Wanted to win but he blundered into a Check check situation now if he goes in Front of his Rook there’s C7 uh so yeah He kind of smiled but luckily it was

Already in the bag and yeah Lanier is Intent on not making the drawk he still Wants to win so This is very common in musculine Situations right and for a moment it was Oh no his online rapid rating but Hikaru Is going to uh take this one home he has Three different past pawns Rooks can’t Really handle them because he just start Pushing but hikara just wants to make a Draw he doesn’t care about winning this Game he just draw locks up the match His plane ticket is booked well not yet But it will be and he will head on over To Toronto Canada after going to Reykjavik Iceland for the official Random Championship I know that’s so Wild he’s gonna have to fly from from Reykjavik to Toronto it’s gonna be and Okay so this is where’s the repetition They’re repeated 10 times Congratulations to Hikaru Nakamura on a Very convincing round of 16 matchup Versus linear Dominguez and he is our Final qualifier of the day to the round Of eight in Toronto Foreign Wow Hikaru Nakamura insanely impressive Performance of him and you know slow Clap golf clap for Leno Dominguez who is Eliminated from the 2022 cgc but he Earns 15 000 in a two impressive matchups so we See the scores on the screen in front of

Us here we have a win for Hikaru is Actually three to one uh sorry two and a Half one and a half it doesn’t matter What the final score is he won the match Uh but he is the winner as is Dimitri on Draken Yeah if you asked me before today’s Matchups whether I thought that Uh Hikaru would win or Lanier would win I would I would say hikara was the Favorite the biggest shock of the day Was not the fact that Dimitri and Drake And won but it was in the way that he Did it and it was honestly also a Colossal defensive effort from him and I Think what we’re realizing as players Are saying goodbye to the rest of the Field and staying you know staying home I want to say going home but staying Home really for a lot of these matchups It’s not just about how you start these Games and how you find yourself in the Middle it’s really that you have to be Unbeatable at multiple critical moments And on dragon and Hikaru today showed That they are and playing like that I Don’t exactly know what the seating is In Toronto I don’t know exactly who Plays who on the first day or the second Day but it’s going to be amazing to see All of these best players emerge and Ultimately Clash against each other And we can see how Dimitri on Drake and Made his way through to the round of

Eight he first took down Aram hakobian He then beat gotta komski and then Finally last but certainly not least in This group he beats Fabiano caruana so Dimitri on draken he will square up I Believe against Wesley so but Hikaru Nakamura he also earned his way through To Toronto out of group a he first beat Rodrigo Vasquez then David Navarra and Then lenier the Ming is in a very Impressive performance today Yeah got absolutely nothing more I can Add to that it was Sort of everything that that we were Built for and everything that we had Prepared for in a matchup between Hikaru And Lanier Lanier came out guns blazing In many of these games he had some Really really nice positions but Like I said you have to play moves you Can’t just get there and say look what I Look look what I have here this is my Presentation please make a judgment on It you actually have to play moves and Hikaru forces you to make the Right Moves not just once not just twice but The entire game and you saw in that last Game that he is capable of playing 15 Best defensive moves in a row how do you Beat a guy like that I don’t know don’t Ask me don’t ask Robert don’t ask linear Dominguez because nobody has been able To figure it out and I still think that He is a number one or number two

Favorite in Toronto and he was fully Focused he let his moves do the talking And well we’re gonna have a chance to Catch up with him when we come back from This short break we will have a car in Nakamura for an interview so stay tuned Here at the 2022 chess.com Global Championship presented by Brave [Music] Foreign [Music] Foreign [Music] [Music] Foreign [Music] Foreign [Music] [Music] Foreign [Music] [Music] Foreign [Music] Hikaru Nakamura Hikaru congrats on a Great match how does it feel to book Your ticket to Toronto Yeah I mean it’s it’s nice to uh to win The patch I I don’t know if I Necessarily played great chess uh but Fortunately I was able to keep it Together when there was when there’s a Lot of pressure and yeah it’s just it’s Great it’s great to win a match

Yeah my question was going to be in that Last game we realized 22 moves into it Hikaru that this the 19 moves that had Been played were the same so Is that a deliberate attempt and then it Maybe goes slightly awry or how like how Does that happen how do you go into the Same 19 or 20 moves just what what are The feelings like especially as the game Is developing Yeah I mean I basically forgot to look At the line I simply forgot but Lenny I Played this against me and um in St Louis I just I completely forgot that That he had done it so I didn’t look at The line and I mean I I knew there was Another line that I was intending to Play but I figured uh you know at the End of the day that he would have to Prove something and I think he actually Did prove something I thought H4 what he Did was great I suspect for a computer It was completely winning Um but I think maybe he was a little bit Too slow this G3 F4 I think if you’ve Gone F4 right away or maybe some A6 I Mean I feel like there’s probably some Computer line where it’s very close to Winning for white uh but at the end of The day we’re only humans if you can’t Prep to move 40 I mean you have to find The moves then uh you know we’re not 3800 so Lenny air couldn’t find the move Well in general in this match hikara

Felt like you were going down on the Clock early out of the opening stage not Something we see every day from you so I Guess what does that indicate in terms Of how seriously you were taking the Match and how strong of a player linear Is and what a tough opponent he is for You well I mean the first thing is the First game there’s no there’s no reason Not to go down on the clocks I’m up a Pawn like in the worst case I’ll always Be able to bail and make a draw so There’s no reason not to use that time Um since I’m the one who is extra Pawn In the second second game I’ve already That was the the Berlin game yeah I was Just trying to remember the what I Prepared for the candidates uh I mean I Know there are a couple lines with this Bishop B2 or Bishop E5 and I’m just Making sure that I didn’t mess up the Move forward and I think what I did was Correct with Bishop E5 I know there’s Another one where you take on B2 then You go back to E5 but I think what I did Was correct and um uh it was another Position that once it simplified it was It was very uh it was very simple to Play so I I think in terms of first Against that was fine in terms of third Game honestly uh maybe maybe this will Sound a little bit little little bit Arrogant but if I if I hadn’t need if I Hadn’t started a feeling I need to use

The restroom somewhere around like move 10 I think I probably would have won This game and we wouldn’t have had a Fourth game honestly because uh when I Played this ah4 move for some reason I I Was expecting G4 and then I was gonna go Bishop D6 but I can simply play the Other order with Bishop D6 96 takes Queen d6h4 G4 G3 and I’m just a little Bit better and it’s very easy to play so Um yeah it happens and then fourth game Obviously was was very choppy but I Think uh I just made better decisions in The critical moments That was going to be part of my question Is one of the things Robert and I said Today and one of the things that Obviously gets said about this highest Echelon like that you bring when you Place you know especially in these in These rapid and Blitz events is uh Defensive uh just ability to buckle down Play some rerouting moves play quickly Not overthink the position do you think That is the single most important skill To make it to a final eight for example In out of 64 players is that really what It comes down to everybody has Preparation everybody’s good tactically But when it comes down to playing some Of these unpleasant positions it seemed Like you were just unbeatable today the Position could have been slightly worse Could have been much maybe much better

For Lanier but he wasn’t just going to Beat you at all I mean I think it highlights the Difference between classical chess and Then rapid and Blitz I mean there’s a Reason when you play classical chess That you actually spend like four or Five hours looking at stuff before a Game as opposed to Rapid and Blitz Because if I played the way that I Played today uh In classical I think I Would have lost the last game Specifically Um so that that does highlight a big Difference I mean I I think ultimately Yeah it comes down to the critical Moments when you’re playing rapid and Blitz who who makes less blunders but Also considering that I knew I was worse I I started trying to just play nepo Style and just play Fast Um unfortunately I think my moves for The most part were pretty good and again As they start getting lower and lower it Just became too difficult uh to play With no time on the clock and also I Mean when you’re playing with a two Second increment I mean you do have an Increment but that increment really goes Goes by quickly so if you get to like 30 Seconds it is almost like You can make a couple of quick moves and Just like that you have 30 seconds but With a two second increment it’s it’s

Very tough and um yeah I again I thought I made good decisions when I was under Pressure for the most part and it’s just I’m very happy Yeah nicaro you obviously are world Renowned streamer and you know of course Beloved now you’re chess is taking you Over the board again you’re going to uh Iceland at the end of October then to Canada at the first week of November Does that excite you to be playing you Know in more and more over the board Events in addition to your streaming It’s it’s fun to play chess let’s let’s Leave it at that but I will say Um I actually really excited to go to Iceland I haven’t been there in I think 18 years so I I am really excited to go To Reykjavik that should be it should be A lot of fun how I do that and then go To Toronto I mean I’ll figure all that Out later but it is great because at the End of the day I feel like with both Both the um the 960 but then also this Event really the main goal was make it To the make it to the end like at this Point like sure I can lose the next Match and I I won’t I won’t really care I just wanted to make sure that I get to Get to you know go and play play chess So it’s all good Yeah do you prefer over the board do you Prefer fully online or do you prefer Traveling to a location and playing on a

Computer in front of another guy Physically I mean I Act I have to say I don’t know what the Format is I’ve heard both like I I think I heard from Fabiano that we’re playing On computer screens I think I heard from Leonards or test however pronounce his Name that we’re playing on dgt board so I really don’t have any idea what’s Going on exactly Um so I’ll just I’ll just see see how it Goes but I do think that um after long Periods of time it is a little bit odd Play on board it definitely felt it when I played in St Louis in the in the rapid And Blitz uh maybe it’s about a month Ago now it seemed a little bit odd Playing over the board where it wasn’t Blitz just so I think I think it just it Depends on what I’ve been playing a lot Of recently Yeah no I I mean hey Cara your schedule Always is busy you’re seemingly mopping Up events left and right including a Double title Tuesday Victory so uh you Know always great to see you Participating and this was a tremendous Match of me we heard from you saying uh You could have done a few things better Here and there but ultimately you are The person moving through and it was a Great showing so congratulations zakara Thank you guys

Thank you so much Yes all right Well Hikaru Nakamura has made his way Through against lenier Dominguez we’ll Show you the bracket once more he takes Down Rodrigo Vasquez David Navara and Lenier Dominguez of Levy he’s always a Powerhouse but Hikaru just showed his Best chess when he needed it today Yeah I like how he and Lanier are the Same seed I know they became the same Person toward the end uh and then they Emerged you know it’s like uh two versus Two so only number one emerges Um listen hikara was the favorite in This matchup just like in tennis we have Certain uh areas where an individual is Kind of uh Predicted to be the the winner and he Did his job he took care of business There was UPS there was Downs he was Dominance in some matches and this match Was super super close but now we get to See him in Toronto that’s really the Big Show For sure and since we’re speaking of uh You know these great matches we also saw Uh Dimitri on draken take down Fabiano Caruana so as we dive a little bit more Into that match uh let’s take a closer Look because it’s time for a new segment We like to call the brave move of the Day in which we highlight a key move or Set a move to decide the outcome of the

Match between andrekin and carwana and It was a draw in game one but Levy here In game two we can see that both players Down under 10 seconds carwana makes the Move King to G6 and on draken has his Eyes on the prize here with no time of The clock Yeah he uncorks Bishop to E4 which Overloads the light squared Bishop from The defense of the promotion uh and the Defense of the E4 square if you take the Bishop obviously white is promoting if You do not which ultimately happened in The game the bishop is unable to deal With the consequences of promotion and Dimitri went on to win and this was this Was really the beginning of the end for Fabiano You could argue that it was the Beginning of the end not just in this Game of the entire match but I don’t Know I don’t know if Bishop B4 was the Brave move of there Fabiano’s King G6 Was a little too brave but yes Bishop E4 Sealed the deal not just in this game But it really felt overall in Mr Fairchess on YouTube or Dimitri on Draken as he goes by uh punch this Ticket to Toronto by winning this game And then the next one Yeah it certainly was the critical Moment because it allowed him to take a Lead and he did not relinquish that lead And that’s our brave move the day Remember it’s time to make your move

From chrome to Brave try it now at Brave.com Chess so Levy we have two players making Their way through to Toronto in addition To the two that we saw yesterday so we Know Hikaru Nakamura is up top away the Winner of Duda and Serana Wesley so will Take on Dimitri on draken the vanarone Will take on the winner of dingley Ren And nihal sarin and then we have the Upper right hand side I mean no one is Made it through to the round of eight From those two groups no that’s sort of Like a foreign land to me as we see nepo With rajabov that of course is a is also Another one and two matchup we’ve had Three of those the strangest matchup Gotta be here I’ve got no idea what to Expect Geary has been seemingly like it Like like in The Matrix just dodging Everything and just just being Incredible and uh his match up against Roundup really made me think that he is In Peak form in this event it wasn’t Even close but how is he going to fare Against the man that has taken down a Five-time world champion as well as uh The world uh rapid Champion I don’t know I really don’t know it seems like any Time pankrative sits down to play he you Gotta maybe look at him as a potential Favorite in a matchup we’ll see what Geary comes with and how his prep is and I don’t know that one is the most the

One that’s up in the air the most for me Yeah he started the event as one of Those kind of anonymous type of 2650 Players but Pavo pancreatov he’s a name That people will remember after he beat Vichy and nordybeck but we have these Matches on Wednesday October 5th that is Two days from now 9 A.M Pacific Time Mark these down your calendars will Anish Geary and John schizoph Duda the Number one seeds in their group well They make it through or will the Upstarts in Pablo pankratov and Alexi Serrana will they continue their upset Streaks and make their ticket to Canada And face off against the other Elite Player so Levy I mean it’s been a Fantastic show I mean really some great Matchups and not only do we have the two Coming up on this coming Wednesday we Have two more the following Wednesday so The round of 16 continues it is all Exciting oh it’s super exciting it’s a Shame we have to wait a little bit Longer for uh for these players but Listen people have commitments they have To play in tournaments and while the Chess.com Global Championship brought to You by Brave is quite an exciting event To play over the board still for many of The of these players takes precedence But um yeah I’m super pumped for those Matchups I’m super pumped for nepo and Rajaba for dingly Ren and nihal sarin

Robert as always this was a pleasure and I don’t know what your thoughts are on The upcoming matchups but I have been More than satisfied and I am eagerly Looking forward to the remaining Matchups in round of 16 but also now Finding out who’s going to play who in Toronto yeah it’s going to be an Interesting Wednesday or I should say Wednesdays because our next two Wednesdays will be jam-packed with Action here at the chess.com a global Championship presented by Brave and well Before we sign off we do want to give One last major shout out to our uh Presenting sponsor our friends at Brave They will stick with us through Toronto For the entirety of the cgc so thank you So much uh for all of that but we are Going to sign off for now it is hikar Nakaburra it is Dimitri on draken they Will be joined by four more players in The next two Wednesdays and of course Wesley so levonne aronian and they made Their way through yesterday so now we Say goodbye see you Wednesday for more From the chess.com Global Championship Presented by Brave [Music] Thank you [Music] Foreign [Music] Thank you

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