"It's Insane!" || Magnus Carlsen INVENTS A New Chess Opening! (Anna Cramling Left SPEECHLESS!)

Magnus Carlsen just invented a brand new chess opening and the entire chess world, but especially Anna Kramling, were left completely speechless. And trust me, just give me two minutes to show you this new opening idea by Magnus in this game, and you will be speechless as well. All right, in the game, Magnus here, playing as White, opens one knight to a3, and his opponent in this March 2025 Title Tuesday Blitz game, Jeffrey Xiong, the very strong Asian Grandmaster, he goes one e5. Now Magnus, knight to c4, this being the follow-up idea, targeting the pawn on e5. Did Magnus know Black would go e5 just so he could go knight c4, targeting the pawn? It certainly looks that way. Now Jeffrey, this guy is very experienced. He goes e4, gaining more space in the center and defending the pawn on the e4 square. But Magnus in this game, he's relentless. He plays the move d3, targeting the pawn on the e4 square. All right, Jeffrey, he sees this. d5 is the move, defending the pawn and attacking the knight on the c4 square. Good offense and defense, but Magnus is not done. Knight d2, Magnus going knight to a3, knight to c4, and then knight d2. Was that his plan all along? Knight f6 by Jeffrey. He's simply developing, playing solid. He's getting ready to castle with something like this, perhaps. But Magnus, e3. What is he doing? All right, Jeffrey, knight c6, bringing out those knights. It's hard to argue with that play by him so far in this game. And now the big idea by Magnus. Knight to e2, achieving what can only be described as some version of Anna Kramling's cow opening. I'm calling this the Norwegian cow opening. And it's different from the cow opening by Anna Kramling, because instead of going straight to d2 at the knight, you go knight a3 to c4, targeting the pawn, and then back d2. Only Magnus would do that. Therefore, it is the Norwegian cow opening. All right, black, bishop d6, developing in this new opening. And Magnus, knight g3, continuing with the standard idea in the cow opening, bringing these knights out to g3 and b3 like this. What is Magnus doing? And trust me, Magnus, I mean, he may play some silly moves at first, but later in this game, he turns up the heat and shows you why he really is the GOAT. All right, black, queen to e7, perhaps flirting with the idea of castling long, but also defending the pawn on the e4 square. White had three attackers, and black now has one, two, three defenders as well. So far, so good. All right, white here. He takes on e4. d takes e4, trying to gain back some space in the center, perhaps. Black takes back, and now Magnus finally abandons the cow opening strategy. He goes knight c4 instead of the standard knight to b3, as popularized by Anna Kramling, the very popular Swedish chess YouTuber. All right, now knight c4. The knight jumps up. And here, Jeffrey Zhang, on move 9, makes a big mistake. Here, the best moves for black are simply taking on g3 with the bishop, or perhaps castling, letting white capture on d6. Either of those moves would be perfectly fine, but instead, he plays the move bishop to b4, flying out with the bishop and targeting the white king on the e1 square. Now, the problem with this is white has a number of ways to simply block the attack by the bishop, including bishop d2 or c3, c3 in particular being extremely strong here. Instead, bishop d2 played in the game. Now we have bishop d6 flying up with the bishop and targeting the weak knight on c4. Now here, c3, finally pushing back the black bishop, bishop d6. And here, Magnus does trade. We have knight takes, and then queen takes. And then here, Magnus begins to really fight back in this game. c4, a very strong move, gaining space. The pawn being supported by the bishop, and now c3 is open for the other bishop, and that bishop would be a bona fide monster on the long diagonal. And beyond that, white would also be threatening trading queens. And if the queens come off the board, the pawn on the e4 square would be a weakness, and Magnus might even have a slight edge in the endgame. How does Magnus do it every single time? Opening up with the Norwegian cow opening and somehow fighting back in the middlegame? This does not make any sense. Magnus here is literally bending space-time and reality itself with his moves. Alright, Jeffrey in the game. Long castles, very simple chess. Centralizing his rook, getting his king to safety. But now, bishop c3, offering the trade of queens. If black takes, white takes back. And if black takes, white takes back. The queens come off the board, and the pawn on the e4 square would be a massive weakness for black. White could target, say, the knight, the bishop somehow, perhaps, maybe, and black would be under a significant amount of pressure. Alright, Jeffrey, he knows that queen c5. He gets out of the way of the potential queen trade, but this was not the right square for the queen. Instead, e7 is a little bit better and a little bit safer, as on c5, the queen is very vulnerable to a b4 advance. Jeffrey Zhang, not knowing the queen on c5, would be quite vulnerable here. Alright, Magnus, queen to a4. The queen flies out. And here, Jeffrey goes down, kind of the wrong plan. He begins knight g4. What is he doing? Is he potentially threatening a sacrifice on the e3 square, including knight takes, f takes, and then queen takes e3? Maybe, I don't know. Either way, Magnus here, he respects the threat, and he goes bishop e2, simply blocking the e-file. That way, a black takes here, and white takes back, and a black takes. Then, at least, it's not hitting with check on the e1 square to the king. But here, Jeffrey, he continues down the wrong plan, f5. This was the idea of knight g4. It's a pretty common idea in various middle games and various openings. You free the knight, then free the f-pawn, and so on, but this is just asking a little bit too much, and the queen on the c5 square is still too vulnerable. So here, Magnus b4 is the move, attacking the queen, and would you look at this? Suddenly, out of nowhere, Magnus Carlsen has the attack against the black king. If the queen moves, b5 can come. If the knight moves, a7 might fall. Has Magnus done it? Has he really done it with the new opening, the Norwegian cow? All right, queen to e7. The queen flies back. Now, Magnus, does he go b5? No. He trades on g4. Bishop ticks, then f ticks, and then here we go. b5 is the move, driving back the knight, and there's no way to defend the a7 pawn and queen a7, and then a8 is coming. Black, knight b8, the only square for the knight. Every other square is either occupied or would result in the loss of the knight immediately. Therefore, knight b8 is the move. Now, the knight technically guards the back rank. Will Magnus trade on a7? No, he will not. He castles. This guy understands his basic chess principles. The king needs to castle in the middle game to be safe. Now, Jeffrey, he sees this, and he launches the a0-h pawn, h5, with the very dangerous threat in this new opening, the Norwegian cow, h4, and then g3, trying to blow open lines on the king's side. Magnus is going to have to be fast if he wants to win this game. Now, here, the best lines for white include taking on a7 and c5, simply going for it with the attack asap, but Magnus, he takes a moment to centralize his rooks. Rfd1 is the move, but this is not the right way forward. The attack is too important. Jeffrey Zhang is too far advanced on the king's side, and here Magnus will be slightly punished for his insolence in this game. h4 is the move. Jeffrey Zhang, the punisher, pushing back that knight. Where's it going to go? It goes to the e2 square, but here, sure enough, as promised, Jeffrey Zhang finds the move, g3, and would you look at this? The tension of the pawns is palpable. There are so many possible trades. One thing is for sure, some of these pawns in front of the white king will be blown off their original squares, and when that happens, black is going to have a vicious attack against the white king. All right, Magnus here, he's in panic mode. He trades on d8. Rook takes d8. If queen takes d8, and then rook d1. Rook slides over, also pressuring the queen on d8. It's got to move somewhere. Now here, Jeffrey, he inserts the intermediate move. g takes f2, the intermizzo. The king takes, and then rook to f8, the rook occupying the open rank against the white king. Jeffrey here understands his attacking principles. He wants to bring every single piece into the attack against the white king. Now here, Magnus, knight f4. The knight jumps up. He's trying to block the attack, but did he walk right into some sort of g5 tactical idea? Jeffrey here, he doesn't go for it. Instead, queen to e7 is the move, as his queen is under attack. There's no time for g5. The queen's got to go somewhere. Queen e7 chosen in the game, and in case you're curious, queen to g5 may have been a little more precise, threatening the rook sac on f4 with the trade and the recapture. And by the way, guys, real fast, this video is sponsored by me. If you want to learn how I reached 2,000 ELO chess in about seven months, I went from about 1,100 to over 2,000 on chess.com in just seven months. I share everything in my free chess community. Link is right here, drmikechess.com. Real simple, drmikechess.com. I'm very active there. I answer everyone's questions literally daily. If you have any questions about chess, you want to connect, go right there. It's free to join, and I guarantee your rating will increase after you join or you get your money back. It's free, it's a joke, but seriously, join right there. All right, back to the video here. All right, here, Magnus, bishop b4, the simple idea, skewering the queen and the rook on the f8 square. What is Black going to do? Here, Jeffrey Zhang, he does the only thing he can do. He channels pure, unfiltered, Gotham chess energy, and he sacks the rook. Rook takes f4, the brilliant move. What is the idea if you simply go back, White just takes the rook, and you are as good as done. You are simply cooked. Therefore, Jeffrey here, he knows the rook is cooked, so why not just launch it at the white king? Rook takes f4, trying to rip open the space around the king and create dead space here. E takes f4 is the move, and then e3 check hits the king. Jeffrey giving up the pawn, but there are potential ideas if the king takes. The bishop has all kinds of discovered attacks, including bishop to g4. He takes the rook. That would be dangerous. Therefore, here, Magnus, he does not take the free pawn. Oh, no, king g1, and here Jeffrey continues. Queen to f6, targeting the weak pawn on the f4 square. This game goes on and on. It's total insanity. All right, queen b3. The queen drops back and defends the pawn on the c4 square. Of course, there were better squares like c2. c2 is very important, as that would guard e2 in addition to c4. Instead, here, Magnus, queen b3 is the move, which looks super awkward. You don't defend e2. e2 is a threat, and you walk right into the pin of the bishop. Why would he do that? I don't know. The goat is just beyond me. All right, e2 is the move. Pushing the pawn. The passed pawn must be pushed. Here, Black is threatening to promote to a new queen. That would be a born-again queen. All right, rook e1. Defends against the threat. Queen d4. The queen flies in, attacks the white king on g1 square. The king has got to slide over. King to h1 is the move. And then here, Black. He's got all these pawns he can capture. He can capture on c4 with the bishop or the queen. On f4 with the queen. In the game, he does take on c4 with the bishop. Bishop takes c4. Attacks the queen. The queen's got to go somewhere. Here, Magnus. Queen to c3 is the move, offering the queen trade. But Jeffrey Zhang, he finds the flaw with this move. He takes the pawn on the f4 square and ignores the queen entirely. Now, h3 gains some space. And Jeffrey plays the absolutely insane-looking move. Queen to f1. It's not a queen sack. If you take the queen, you get a new queen, the born-again queen. What a crazy idea. And by the way, for reasons that are truly, truly beyond my comprehension as a 2000 ELO player, I have my limits. a5 is the top engine move. Try to figure out why that is the top engine move if you can. I cannot for the life of me. All right, from here. Queen f1 is the move. By Black. Magnus. He cannot take on f1. If he does, Black gets a new queen. And he's as good as done. Or a rook if you want to disrespect the opponent. Instead, here. King to h2, played in the game. The king slides off the back rank. Jeffrey, he's not done. Queen to f4. Hits the king. King g1 again. And here, Jeffrey, he technically has the option of going back yet again. And both sides go back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. Over and over. And it would be a draw on the spot. But Jeffrey showing his class, showing his gutso, his moxie. Whatever you want to call it. Bishop takes b5. He's playing on versus the goat in Magnus Carlsen's new opening. The Norwegian cow. The audacity of this Asian grandmaster in this game. All right. Bishop c5 is the move. Actually, I think Jeffrey's American. Oh, he's American. The American Asian GM. The audacity. Bishop c5. Defending somehow. Now, here. Jeffrey. Queen to f1. Hits the king again. King to h2. And here. Queen to f4. Hits the king. But missing the stronger tactical idea of simply b6. Shooing away the bishop. And then bishop c6. Targeting g2. And threatening mate. That would have been a little more precise. Instead, queen to f4 is the move. Targets the king. King to h1. Knight d7. Targets the bishop. Bishop g1. The bishop flies back. Queen to f1. Once again, offering the cheeky queen trade. Again. White cannot accept. But here. Magnus. He finds a way to start clawing his way back from this game. It's like he's at the bottom of this deep well. And he's just clawing his way up the walls of this ridiculous well. Why am I making this analogy? I have no idea. But in any case, he takes the pawn on g7. Clawing his way out of the well that Jeffrey Zhang has created for Magnus in this new opening. The Norwegian cow. Alright. b6 is the move. Jeffrey. Responding to the threat of the back rank mate. Queen to b8. Or, sorry, g8. Was a big threat. Therefore, b6 makes a lot of sense. Giving the king some loft on b7 to escape to. Magnus. He's not done. Queen to h8. Hits the king. King b7 is forced. And now queen takes h4. Magnus winning the pawns on the g file and the h file. Now he has two extra passed pawns on the g2 square and the h3 square. If the queens come off the board. Magnus, again, is going to have his chances in this new chess opening. Alright. Jeffrey. Bishop c6. Threatening checkmates in one move. Magnus here has got to respond. He does his cctos. Checks, captures, threats, optimizations. Queen to f2 is the move. What a ludicrous position we have here. Can you just sit back and appreciate the insanity of this? Can you even, like, understand what's going on? I can barely comprehend this. Here. Jeffrey. Bishop takes g2 is the move. Capturing on g2. But it's a mistake. Position getting even more insane. But trust me. It gets more insane than this. Here. The right move for white. And keep in mind. Both sides in extreme time pressure. Both sides having 5 seconds left on the clock. The winning combination. I will show it for you. The winning combination is taking on g2. The queen takes. The king takes. And that's it. You just win. You have the rook. But Jeffrey. Or sorry. Magnus. He doesn't see this. The goat is human after all. He is mortal. He bleeds. King to h2 is the move. Magnus respecting the threat by Jeffrey. Playing this move almost instantly. In about .2 seconds here. Now. Here. Knight to e5 is the move. Jumping up. This is a mistake. The winning idea was bishop takes h3. Not winning. But the key idea. And black again is hanging in there. The point being. If white takes on say. I don't know. Here. Black takes back. And black is still doing somewhat okay with the advance pass pawn. Instead here. Knight to e5 is played. And what's the idea? Magnus. He simply takes the pawn on the e2 square. Removing one of the defenders of the queen on the f1 square. This position is just melting my brain right here. Rook takes e2. And if my brain even still existed. It's just a puddle at this point. Jeffrey Zhang is about to throw a nuclear bomb on what is left of the puddle of my brain. With the move knight to f3. What on earth is happening here? I don't know. Let's keep going. King g3 is the move by Magnus. Trying to run away out of the attack. And here. The finishing sequence. You ready? In this ludicrous position. Can you even make sense of what's happening here? Knight takes g1 is the move. Queen takes g2. Check. Hits the king. And the queen. Black. He takes on g2. The rook takes back. And in this position. Jeffrey Zhang. He runs out of time on the clock. But truth be told. There's no way to stop the pawn. And black would be losing anyways. Actually black could sack the knight potentially. And this might be. I mean black might have chances. But in the end. He did lose on time. In this position. Versus the new chess opening of Magnus Carlsen. Jumping in with the knight. Anticipating e4. Then going back to d2. And then completing the cow opening formation. Even continuing with knight g3. The tip of the hat to Anna Kramling. The Swedish chess YouTuber. And apparently a pretty decent chess player herself. Alright chess YouTube. That is all for today. If you enjoyed the video. Please do me a huge favor. I would really appreciate that. Comment down below. I am responding to comments right now. I'm a real person. And I will get back to you. So please comment whatever you want. Smash that like button. If you can. And if you want to learn. How I reached 2000 elo. In just 7 months. And became a top 1% online player. Link is right there. DrMikeChess.com By the way. My real name is Dr Mike Jansen. Hence the Dr Mike and then chess. But no one gets that joke. No one gets the thing there. But Dr Mike really is my name. And I can't promise. You'll play as good as Magnus Carlsen. In this game. With this brand new opening. Norwegian cow. But I can promise. I will help you personally. One on one. I will review your games. Show you where you're going wrong. And show you exactly. What you need to do to improve. And I'll even give you. Some free opening courses. That I have built out. For white and for black. Giving you a complete opening repertoire. Essentially everything you need. Right now. To improve. Daily puzzles. Custom advice. Everything you need. I have players improving by. 300 points. In almost like. 3 weeks. It's ridiculous. The progress. Some of my players are making. But anyways. That's all. And as always. I will see you. In the next video.