FINAL MOMENTS of WORLD #1 MAGNUS CARLSEN vs. WORLD CHAMPION GUKESH

The move I would play if I was playing this in Blitz. Okay, I'll turn on the engine and check. I don't normally like to, but it is the best move. H4, pawn to H4, then E5, then H3, and... What's the difference? There's a difference, apparently. The difference is the Black Rook can also start giving checks. Okay, I'm going to quickly put this on the board while Gukesh thinks. H4, E5, this is what he's calculating. Pawn takes knight, pawn down to H2, F7, Queen, Queen, this is actually relevant. At the very end, Rook G3, only move to draw, and now you can't go forward because the Black Queen comes back. The White Queen blocks, the Rook hangs. H4 on the board. This is happening. Has he calculated everything? Of course, it's Gukesh. Oh my gosh. Moment of truth. Will we see the Queens on the board? That is a crazy endgame. That's a crazy line. Magnus is going for it. You're pretty much all in, actually, with Gukesh. Like, E5, I think you just have to push. Magnus reaching out. And such a key difference, right? To take that pawn first before you start pushing H4. How important is that? So important. And oh, H3. It's about to happen, guys. Moment of truth. Gukesh is going for H3. He is going to sacrifice this knight. Maybe you could give a check first, but apparently you have to play H3 anyway at some point. But is it the only move or are there other moves to hold here? There are other moves. Knight to H5, also possible. I was going to say, can you just kind of go away with a knight and then try to use the knight to retreat back to a square when white advances? I mean, the thing is, though, white is advancing with two pawns. Black is just advancing with that one. So you're always going to have at the back of your mind that Magnus can just drop back with the rook and maybe just fend off and slow down the advanced H pawn. Normally, one does run quicker than two. One is so fast you just push it down the board, but you have to push it. Look at the tension there. Look at Gukesh. His chair is moving faster than he needs to right now, but he has to bring on the pace. He has to make a decision. He's under two minutes. Feeling the nerves. H3. Will he go for this direct line? Has Gukesh stuck to his biggest strength and calculated his way through? This is crazy. H3. If not, you can move the knight. The white rook will come back and start guarding the pawn. It's a totally different type of game, but that one you need to be accurate for another 10-15 moves. Here, if he's accurate... Oh, look at him. He's definitely calculating this line. He's going to play it. It's happening. I think it's happening. If I had to bet, Gukesh goes for H3. It's the direct calculation, and this is what he does best. He's reaching the one-minute mark, though. Make a move. Oh, he has to have a clear head. Just to give you an update, meanwhile, it looks like the world champion could be in trouble. The women's world champion is definitely in trouble. And he goes for it. He does it. Oh, my God. Brilliantly calculated. And Tanya, I can feel the tension from here. The Indian spirit now coming out, willing Gukesh to play that move. And he does play that move. This is going to get dramatic either way. We might see the birth of new queens on the board. We might see simultaneous promotions, perpetual checks. Magnus also needs to calculate. He might well spend the remainder of his time trying to work out what to do. But for whites, have you burned your bridges? Are you forced? Are you committed to this line? And that's the big question. Because if you start bringing your rook into defense on the first rank, I think Gukesh is just super fast, giving that check, putting the pawn on H2, knight jumping onto G4. You've got everything that just flows into the position here. Magnus, I think he has to go for this line that you showed earlier. And that one we should mention at best play is a draw because black gives a check to the king with his rook. And because the king is forced onto squares, it will continue getting checked. And we'll see actually a dance between queens and the white king there. How tricky is best play in this position? Should we investigate while Magnus thinks? Yeah, let's do it. Let's do it. OK, again, this is us using a bit of help here. But best line, if Magnus plays the most natural move, pawn takes knight. It is a race. It's something we pointed out before. And this is very findable for both sides. Rook G3, only move to give a check to the white king. Cannot come forward because now black wins after the queen slides back. Due to the fact the white rook hangs in the corner, Magnus would be forced, therefore, to step back with his king and now only move. You have to check with the queen. Magnus steps this way. You have to check with the queen. And we might just see a repetition like this. So the queen needs to check the white king, but also stay connected to the white rook so that the white queen can't block, can't build a bridge to that king. This is incredible stuff. And if Gokesh has seen this line through, and that's why he took pawn takes pawn before pushing that h-pawn, that is super impressive. Yeah, some crazy lines even in this position, by the way. Like the king can go back and not get mated. And we could see this position and only move to draw. Queen c1. And at the very end, it is a only move again. So you don't have time to capture the knight. You'll get checkmated as black. Yeah, you don't have time. And you only have seconds, guys, to calculate this. It's just insane. You almost have to feel your way through the complications. What a position. h3 on the board. And Magnus calculating, should he capture that knight? Should he perhaps go back with the rook, try to stop the pawn on h3? I have a feeling if Magnus doesn't capture the knight, he's actually running risk of losing himself. And I think he's going to just take it and settle for the Armageddon. And that's the irony, right? If he doesn't capture the knight, it means he's playing for the win because he's calculated it all the way through and has realized that Gokesh has that perpetual in the end. But then he's putting himself at so much risk. Oh, two and a half minutes versus one minute here. Clocks are leveling out. Anything could still happen. And this position is just so complicated. You know, with the queens on the board, there's so many checks, it's open. Like you have to calculate a safe place for the white king to hide. Well, the jacket is... Oh, he's just readjusting himself. Someone tell Magnus he's got only two minutes on the clock. But look at him. He's settling into calculation mode. Wow. He knows it's a race on board and clock. I think that was him getting ready to fight. That's not the look or the action of a man who's about to bail out with a draw. So the players do get a 10-second increment now. We have crossed move 40, Again, 10 seconds is barely anything. And Magnus about to make a decision. He does go for the line. We will get that endgame with the queens on the board and Gokesh will have to be precise with his checks. Yeah, absolutely. Queen is coming. Just to mention the white rook, if it drops back now, that would be met by maybe a check first, I'm not sure, but the black rook coming down to the bottom of the board and cutting the connection. So both sides are committed. They both have to make queens. And then Gokesh has to find the right checks. He loses otherwise. Magnus Carlsen will take the win if Gokesh isn't precise. And he doesn't have to. Hang on a second. He's reaching for the rook. He can give a check first. He gives a check. It's still fine. But maybe this is tricky because it encourages white to step up with a king. And that would be a mistake. Magnus moves forward. He loses. Magnus has to go back with his king. You, of course, can't go into the center because you walk into a promotion with check. So you only have three safe squares. He reaches out. I think his hand movement says he's falling back with it. And he does. Indecision almost from Magnus Carlsen. Okay, king to d2. So Magnus is getting ready to potentially shield any checks with his knight. That is another layer to this whole problem here. So complex for both sides. But how do you fight that, you queen? You're a point in queens. You give a check. The knight blocks it. How is this still a draw? Maybe it's time to give a check with the rook. With the rook, the knight check, the knight blocks, and then you can start checking with your queen. This is walking a tightrope. More for Gukes than Magnus, we should mention. Magnus should be safe. Magnus has the opportunity to play on if he wants, but can also bail out with a draw. But here Gukes just needs to queen. He can also give a check with his rook, though. That gives away that that is the continuation, even with queens on the board. Gukes needs to move. He picks up the queen and he goes for it. Magnus will queen as well. And now. Will he find the right move? Only move. He has to check with his rook, not with his queen. If he touches his queen, he loses Gukes. Oh my gosh. Huge moment. He's down to 10 seconds. He needs to check with the rook. Only move. Five seconds. Oh, he checks with the queen. It's the wrong one. Oh my goodness. And the bar shoots up. The bar shoots up. Magnus is now winning as the black queen cannot get in the circuit of checking the white king and touching and keeping its contact with the white rook in the corner. As we showed earlier, Magnus is using his knight to pivot around with his king. Magnus is going to win this game. If the checks run out, Magnus is the one to give checkmate with his own queen. Oh, it was just a split second decision there for Gukes. You know, not much time. And he carries on the checks. How? This is heartbreaking. How clear is the path? He's just going to hide with his king to a2. And, but there's rook g2 check at the end. It's still not easy. Magnus is going to have to walk a tightrope himself here to win. King b2, only winning move. And then after a check with the black queen, he'll need to find it. Putting his king in the corner and then slowly walking up the board. You invite rook g2 and then you go up with your king. And you walk forward. And then you have to realize that you are still checkmating black at the end when you lose your knight. And of course, Magnus sees it all. He's doing it. Watch him do this step by step. And another check. He's going to play king a2. Everything that you just said, he's going to make it happen on the board. You could start with king a1. Same idea though. You allow a rook check and then you walk up the board. But this is the only way for Magnus to win. If he moves his king back towards the center, if he slides to the right, it's a draw again. Wow. He sees it. And he's got 30 seconds to figure this out. There's no time. With a rush of blood to the head. He's going to find this. King a2. Understanding that rook takes knight is not possible. He's reaching for the king and it looks like he's going to be shifting over to the left. He's getting nervous himself. Down to 15 seconds, Magnus. I think he's actually going the wrong way. The way he moved his hand. Oh no. He's going a2. He finds it, Magnus. He spotted that even if the white knight is captured here, that it's white giving checkmate. White. This diagonal check even. Sorry, queen to f5. That is the key. And the black king will not be able to hide safely. Lukasz needs to keep checking. This is amazing. And of course, he's found all of it. He's going to walk up with the king. It's incredible what Magnus does. You know, it just levels in chess. It just levels. And Magnus is on a different one. This is another level of game. The knight is taken. The checks have dried up. And now Magnus is winning if he finds the right checks himself. Black's turn is done. All the checks are gone. It's white's turn to check now. Right. And the question is where to check? Because, you know, the black rook is a defender. It can block any diagonal checks. This is still incredibly complicated. It's no longer this check because the black rook has not left the G file. The rook was moving in other variations. He actually needs to check. There we go, behind. Incredible. Look at the precision. He's just finding the best moves. And he made the last one with two seconds on the clock. Magnus, five seconds. Has he just found his way to checkmate right now? Has he figured all of this out? He's finding all the best moves. He has to give a check on F8. He finds it again. And he's doing it with just no seconds on the clock. I mean, it's incredible. The problem for black is if you walk into the center as you want to do, you get skewered on the long diagonal and your rook is hanging. And it's happened. Wait, this isn't even the best move. I'm wrong. Rook to E6 is the only winning move. It's the only move? Oh my God. And he's reaching out for the rook. This is masterclass in motion by Magnus Carlsen. He's found every single top move. Unbelievable. In this crazy position. And now, Lukáš, his king has been incredibly mighty in this game, but ultimately, it will not survive all on its own. I mean, I don't even know why he couldn't just pick up the rook. Was that perpetual? It was a perpetual check. And the handshake. Magnus Carlsen does it. Lukáš resigns. What a game that was. That was game of the year so far, I'm going to say. Unbelievable. Magnus Carlsen still the boss. Wow. And you know, that finish at the end, you know, first with Lukáš finding this incredible resource, you know, but then only having seconds on the clock and making the wrong turn, the wrong check. And then Magnus, the way that he played that final stage with such accuracy with 10 seconds on the clock. That was genius. Both of them genius. Like Lukáš went wrong just one move, but the rest of the game, he was inspired himself. And it is fitting that two king walks decided that game because it's two kings of chess.