Bishop takes Pawn with Check!

Two positions were presented to my elementary students at the after school chess club yesterday. The first occurred in my shortest game in a weekend Swiss. The second position did not occur in Nepomniachtchi,I. -- Carlsen,M., Halkidiki 2003. Cyrus Lakdawala explains in Nepomniachtchi: Move by Move (2021), which was just published, that Carlsen, "even as a newborn infant, wouldn't fall for 8...dxe3??" I explained to the students that Carlsen was not born knowing this tactic, but learned it, just as they can.

My short loss:

Rodriguez,Luis (2211) -- Stripes,James (1472) [B21]

Collyer Memorial Spokane (1), 21.02.1998

1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.c3 dxc3 4.Nxc3 d6

Remembering the game incorrectly, I presented my move as 4...Nc6, which is probably a more accurate move order.

5.Bc4 a6?

A waste of time. 5...Nc6 should be played. After 5...Nc6, it is still possible to fail the way I did in the game. For instance, 6.Nf3 Nf6 7.e5 Nxe5?? 8.Nxe5 dxe5. This was the position shown to the students because I was presenting the tactic from a faulty memory.

6.Nf3 Bg4??

Utter foolishness.

7.Ne5+- dxe5

White to move

8.Bxf7+ 1-0

I resigned because I had far better things to do than watching how easily a master would checkmate me from such a horrid position.

Ian Nepomniachtchi (2447) -- Magnus Carlsen (2450) [B06]
Wch U14 Halkidiki GRE, 2003

1.e4 c5 2.c3 d5 3.exd5 Qxd5 4.d4 g6 5.Nf3 Bg7 6.Na3 cxd4 7.Bc4 Qe4+ 8.Be3

The game continued 8...Nh6. 

For the children, however, the error that Magnus Carlsen could see through is worth examining.

After dxe3??

White to move

9.Bxf7+ wins the queen.

9...Kxf7 allows 10.Ng5+ forking king and queen.

9...Kf8 delays the fork one move. 10.Qd8+ Kxf7.

The World Chess Championship between Champion Magnus Carlsen and Challenger Ian Nepomniatchchi begins at 16:30 Friday afternoon in Dubai. That's 3:30 am in my time zone. I may not watch the beginning of the game live, needing some sleep. But, I will check on the progress as soon as I awake.