Carlsen -- Wang Hao, Tata Steel 2011

While going through the combinations in Chess Informant 111, I found another game worthy of memorization.* Magnus Carlsen's 29 move victory against Wang Hao's Caro-Kann Defense at the 2011 Tata Steel Grandmaster A Tournament in Wijk aan Zee.

Needless to say, helpful annotations of this game are available in several places on the web. The purpose of memorizing games is comprehension of the strategies and tactics of the struggle.


Carlsen,Magnus (2814) - Wang Hao (2731) [B12]
Tata Steel GM-A 73rd Wijk aan Zee (12), 29.01.2011

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 Bf5 4.Be3 e6 5.Nd2 Nd7 6.Ngf3 Bg6 7.Be2 Ne7 8.Nh4 c5 9.c3 Nc6 10.Nxg6 hxg6 11.Nf3 Rc8 12.0–0 a6 13.g3 Be7 14.h4 b5 15.a4 Qb6 16.axb5 axb5 17.Kg2 c4 18.Ng5 Qd8 19.Bg4 Bxg5 20.Bxg5 Qc7 21.Rh1 Nb6 22.h5 gxh5 23.Bxh5 Na4

White to move

24.Bxf7+ Kxf7 25.Qf3+ Kg8 26.Rxh8+ Kxh8 27.Rh1+ Kg8 28.Qh5 Rf8 29.Bf6 1–0

The daily tournament reports at Tata Steel Chess offer Carlsen's quip that commentary, "wasn’t really called for after such an easy win." The moves in the king hunt that would have ensued in absence of resignation are given there.

Daniel King's video commentary is available on YouTube. John Fedorowicz analyzed the game for the Internet Chess Club, and the video is available to members.


*Attentive readers will observe that this game was not published in Chess Informant, and thus should fail to meet the standard mentioned "Conditions for Tactical Combinations."