Firouzja vs. Carlsen!! — Norway Chess 2026

Hi everyone, it's Jerry. I have an excellent game to share with you from round one of Norway Chess 2026 on the white end, Ali Reza Faruja playing against Magnus Carlsen. All right, time controls are unusual. Two hours each and should move 40 be reached. The only thing that kicks in is a 10 second increment. All right, out of this Queen's Gambit declines. We have now h6, no Bg5 lines, and an uncommon 5th by white in a3. Now, an idea behind a3, white introduces a queenside space grab. So, c5 is maybe nearby and that c5 pawn can be maintained with the pawn on a3 rather than a2. Black's response here is c5 interfering with any thoughts of a c5 move to demonstrate if black continues developing Bb7, c5 is there in this idea to try and chip away at c5 with b6 and now a5. If the pawn was still on a2, black would be breaking down white's structure, but it's on a3. White can continue here with Bf4, rook is defended, and everything is cool. c5 is well supported. Okay, how black plays it here doesn't allow any thought of c5 by white. Plays c5 himself, c takes d, e takes d, and we continue developing Bf4, bad bishop outside of the chain, Nc6, e3, from here a6 is played. Similar to a3, black has his eye on c4, obtain a queenside majority for black in this case, and with the pawn on a6, should there be pressure applied to c4, there is b5. Black is in a spot to support c4. Now, that said, computer notes you can play c4 straight away. It calls this top. You can lean on tactics here. In the case of b3, not Qa5, b4 is strong there. In the case of b3, b5 is there tactically for black. Poisoned pawn, Qa5 check is there, problem for the knight. Note a4 here would be a losing move, Bb4 will sting. Okay, another note here with a6, you do keep out the minor pieces from b5. So, if black at this point develops the dark square bishop to let's say d6, this would already be a great error. There is a dark square bishop exchange followed by Nb5, and then pawn captures pawn. Can't recapture the pawn, there is a fork there. So, black at this stage holding off on dark square bishop development, sneaks in a useful move here in a6, Bb2. Says you can also go to d3 and fall back, stick around on this diagonal, white plays it with Bb2. At this point, we now see c4. If the bishop does develop here, maybe not an attractive position here for black after both sides castles. This pawn can maybe be a bit of an issue. Qb3, Rf to d1, hammering away at that isolated pawn, throw it in a pin, net queen, post on b3, a bit disruptive. You may very well see that b pawn picked up as soon as that light square bishop moves. No Rb8 moves to track down the b2 pawn with the bishop around, watching b8. Anyhow, we are not pulled into an isolated queen-pawn position. We have a structural change. c4 played here, Ne5, okay, a little less pressure on d4. White can go elsewhere with this knight, not needed to watch over d4. Strong support with Ne3, knight improves from here, Ne5 it is. Bd6, castles, pop quiz, what is your move? Pause the video if you'd like. Okay, black also castles. Computer says apply more pressure to this knight right away while you still can. It's noting Qc7 here. Computer line coming up no doubt, this one here, giving up h2, a check, and now safeguarding d5, allowing this sequence right here, an imbalanced bishop for three pawns, almost a fourth pawn ready to fall, calls it around minus .2, anyone's game from there. Not what we see. No Qc7. Black also castles, Bg3. Carlsen expressed after the game this was a move that wasn't really on his radar. Backing off the bishop is doing what? Allowing the f-pawn to play. White is now in a position to support this knight, top piece in the position. So Qc7, f4 is there. Black at this point continues developing with Bf5. I should note, rather than white's move right here to castle, it said go with Bg3. Qc7, you're there with f4. Alright, black castles, Bg3, Bf5, f4. There's a big weakness here on e4. We'll see how white tries to take some care over this square. First, Bb7. You cannot drop in to e4. Nxd5 is there. Also, you can't take this knight. It's terrible for many reasons. Taking with the knight, a fork, a discovered attack. Take with the bishop, we still have these problems on the f-file, a double attack. So poison knight, we have here with Be7. Queen now defends the pawn, setting up e4 next. Alright, bishop also in a spot to maybe address some pin on this diagonal. Pin of the knight. White's response, let's take some care over that e4 square. Bf3 it is. Rc8, B4, black can't expand. Have to take care over c6. White's response is Rc1. And white's follow-up is Be1. Computer wants Be1 straight away. In response to Rc1, we have B5. Position heats up from here very quickly. B5, B4 hitting. A black piece will surface on B5 from there. Computer says Be1. Now, this move is similar to Bg3. Bg3 got out of the way of the f-pawn. Well, computer now has its eye on this g-pawn advance, this kingside expansion. If black responds with B5 here, black would be in trouble. Also, diving into the center, it's pointing out multiple minor piece exchanges there with a timely d5, giving the knight a shove. Time-sensitive line. D5 played before the black queen can establish a strong post on that square. Here's the thing. In response to Be1, this top move, if B5 is played, we see this kingside play with g4. Bb4, h4, g5 nearby. And if the bishop backs off, the bishop gets squashed by the structure alone. White is for choice here. Not what we see. The bishop does not fall back to e1. It is. Rc1, B5. Bb1 only now, B4. A takes B, ready to remove the knight, ready to remove a key defender of this weakest square, e4. Bh4, throw the knight in a pin. From here, bishop captures knight is played. Black is not in a position to fall back to e7. There is a capture on f6. D5, ready to collapse from there. So, bishop takes knight, pawn takes bishop. Qd6, unpinning the knight. Ra1, knight e4. That's move 20. Serious time pressure for both players. Now, the follow-up from here is rook captures pawn. It's once more attracted to g4 from here. Very deep line I want to map out here. Beautiful continuation the computer has its eye on. Wants to first include g4 and only then swipe the a-pawn, meeting this f6 move with f5, oddly enough. What in the world is going on? It says, after pawn takes knight, bishop takes knight, and now this d5 move, taking advantage of the pin's knight. It does run a little deeper. I'll just map out some moves from here. Some variation like this, where the bishop falls. That dangerous c-pawn will be a winner for white. Bishop out of position to stop white's c-pawn with this line. Rd8, right around the corner, supporting its advance. That's a really deep line, no doubt. White does not play with g4 here. We have rook takes a. From here, f6 is played. If black captures the c-pawn, there's Qa1, target the knight, the knight moves, and hammering away at that pinned knight. From here, it is f6. Black finally trying to get rid of this pesky knight on e5. Pop quiz, what is your move? Pause the video if you'd like. Okay, this is an extremely important middle game moment. The reply here is bishop captures knight. Now, if you go in for this exchange on c6 and then say to yourself, this knight is too good, let me get rid of it. Okay, it's immediately replaced with the bishop. This here is a winning position for black, despite being down the pawn. Where's the extra pawn? Pawn on e3. What useful role does it really play here? Dominant bishop in this opposite color bishop position. It doesn't get much better than this. The very square, you don't want to have that bishop eyeing in your position. Same side's castled here on the king's side, g2. It's eyeing that square. Great offensive piece, defensive piece once the king is on h7 here, guarding and holding the diagonal. Black will soon converge on g2. This bishop completely ineffective. Very important to know which minor piece exchanges to make here. We do not see a knight exchange. It's bishop captures knight, bishop captures bishop, no knight exchange from here, knight g4. You must preserve this piece. This is the only piece available to white that can challenge this monster on e4. It is just a blink away from doing just that. Queen d7, unpinning the knight. Knight f2, knight e7. Okay, this bishop is ready to be removed. It's just a question of the timing at this point. Do you take it straight away and open up this square maybe a little bit too soon? The knight is going to get to one of these two squares, f5 or d5, and from there, maybe pressure on both pawns, or at the very least, the e3 pawn. Anticipating the eventual pressure on e3, more development. Queen e2, defensive e3, rook ready to play somewhere over here on the queen side, a1. Rook c6, rook takes rook, queen takes rook. Only now is the bishop removed. Pawn takes knight, rook a1, knight d5, and just in time, only after the rook is able to get over here on the queen side, the bishop now falls back to e1 to watch over the pawn on c3. White is up a pawn. Where is that extra pawn? d5. Not so easy to get rolling with this extra pawn, this passed pawn. Position remains about equal. From here, rook b8 is played. If f5 is played, holding onto this, interfering with any thought of f5 by white, an idea here for white is rook a5, and then rook c5, hitting a lot of stuff. c4, ready to collapse. So, no f5. Rook b8. From here, f5 is played. If rook a5 in this position, there is rook b5, cutting out the pivot on c5. So, from here, it's f5. Follow up is king h7. If rook b3, it's pointing out rook a7. In that position, knight captures pawn is a losing move. Black tries to coordinate there, saying top there is rook b1. If knight captures pawn in that position, queen h5 is a winner, looking for this checkmate in two idea on g7. Okay, black does not try to coordinate on c3 here. King h7, queen g4, coordinating with this pawn, queen g6 nearby, queen d7. Notice, this pawn is poison. Knight captures e3, there would be queen g6 check, and rook a7. Problem on the 7th rank. Rook b7, rook a8 check is there, leading to mate. So, the e-pawn here, poison. We have defense over black's 7th rank, with queen d7. Queen takes pawn. Rook e8, queen g4. That's move 33. I have a shot clock pop quiz for you. Try to place yourself in Carlsen's shoes here. He still needs to make 8 moves to have that 10 second increment kick in. Can you find black's only move here in, let's say, two and a half minutes or less? Pause the video if you'd like. Okay, black does not find the way here. Ends up playing king g8. The only move here was with knight captures pawn. Now, why didn't he go for this? I believe there was a very pretty move he missed in his calculations. After queen g6 check, king g8, and rook a7, black would be in yet another only move situation. I believe it was in this position that, in his calculations at least, that he did not come up with this only move. Pause the video if you'd like. See if you can find black's only move here. Okay, the only move here is with knight d1. It's a very problematic situation for black. Queen is under fire. Don't go too far. It's going to be checkmate on g7. If you take the rook, there would follow queen takes rook check and queen takes knight. White is up a piece and winning. The only move here was with knight d1. Very pretty. No time to take the queen. Knight covers f2. Rook takes bishop is a checkmate in one threat. The knight is on a less vulnerable square by including this move. It's not on e3. It's getting out of the way of that queen takes rook check and queen takes knight. Only after knight d1 and bishop d2 does it say you can collect that rook. Queen takes rook check, king h7, it calls this equal. No tracking the knight. What a pretty move. He had to kind of spot this from a distance from this point right here after queen g4 did not manage to do so. Plays out here with king g8. White now up two pawns here. Two clean pawns. Two pawns that now roll. e4, knight e3, queen f3. The remainder of these moves really just play playing on here out of momentum. This is a completely lost position for black at this stage. Very clumsy knight in the end and after move 38, e5, black resigns. Two pawns up. They continue to roll and there's no counterplay whatsoever. No tricks on d4 that are going to hurt white. Completely losing position here for black. So what a game. What a start to this always A-plus event Norway chess. Your thoughts on this one. Feel free as usual to leave any feedback to this video in the comment section below. I hope you enjoyed it and maybe took a thing or two away. That's all for now. Take care, bye.