Why was Magnus Carlsen embarrassed after this game? | Carlsen vs Keymer

Welcome everyone to the second round of Norway Chess 2026. We have Magnus Carlsen here. He opens the game with pawn to c4 and he plays the English opening. Vincent Keimer, the man in form, plays e5. Vincent fresh from his victory at Bucharest, Romania. Knight comes out to c3 and Magnus who won in Sweden. Bishop to b4 puts pressure on the knight. One of the main moves here is knight d5 attacking the bishop. He brings his knight to f3 attacking the pawn. There are many ways to play. Knight c6 is one of them but taking on c3 makes the most sense because now after it takes back, you can play pawn to d6 or even push the pawn to e4. He plays a dxc3 and e4 may be knight d4 and white is better so d6 makes sense. Pawn to e4 by Magnus. Well Magnus now has a bishop pair as you can see here while black has a very good structure and in fact all the pieces are pretty well placed. So the knight comes to c5 attacking the bishop and the pawn. You can drop back the bishop, keep it in the game and the plan is to play b4 to kick the knight away. Knight comes to f6 putting pressure on the e4 pawn and Vincent is so well prepared here. He has 159 on the defending the pawn on e4 and pawn to a5 played. It's taking away b4. I mean b4 can still be played but the rook will get active here so Magnus goes knight d2. We have a4 gaining even more space and Vincent goes a4. Magnus plays knight b1. It's incredible how this knight from g1 has landed up on b1 but it does remind us of this game of Vincent where he went with his knight from b1 I think to you know somehow it had reached g1 and h3 against mvl in Bucharest. Knight to a3 played and Vincent plays pawn to b6. He's now planning to put his either on b7 or a6 to put pressure on c4. The bishop comes to d2. Magnus defends this pawn on c3 is looking forward to play b4. Queen comes to e8 and now bishop to g5. The bishop moves again threatening to take on f6 and double the pawns but queen e6 played and we have pawn to f3 just solidifying the structure and bishop comes to a6. Pressure on the c4 pawn and we have bishop to e3. The knight comes back to d7. White castles. Black's aim in such positions is to play g6, f5 maybe. I'm not so sure. Rook c8. Vincent is playing on the queen side maybe angling for something like c6. I don't know if d5 is possible though. b4. Magnus lashes out. ab, ab. It does feel like Magnus' position has quite a lot of potential now with the knight coming to b5. He goes queen d2 and now knight to e6 so that this knight is looking at all these important squares and the other knight can come to c5. Knight to b5 played and bishop goes back to b7. Magnus pushes his pawn to b4 taking away the c5 square from the knight. He would love if at some he can get the c5 break but h5. I love this move by Vincent Keimer. It seems like nothing is happening on the king side but this h-pawn can suddenly start to soften up white's king side. So it's a very very nice move. h5. I mean wow! And knight to f8 played. So this knight can now go to g6. Knight to a7 attacking the rook. The knight is a little bit offside but just rook d8. Seems like Magnus is going wrong here. Rook a2 with the idea of rook f a1 doubling down the a-file and the h-pawn starts to roll. I think it would be Magnus' best interest to play h3 but he goes rook a1 and this does allow h3 g3 weakening the f3 square but he goes queen f6 and his plan is to play now h3 but Magnus stops it. So there was a moment there for Vincent to be playing h3 but knight g6. Now the dark squares have become really weak. Knight to b5. The knight now attacks the pawn and Vincent takes the rook on a2. You must notice something very carefully here. The knight on e6 is protecting the g5 square. So if the pawn pushes forward, bishop g5 would trap if the knight is not there. So that's the reason why after rook d7, c5 is an insanely good move. The point is after rook a7, bishop c6, you have knight c7 and the point is after takes, there's bishop g5 trapping the queen. These are the tactics but Magnus after rook d7 plays rook a7. Vincent instantly plays bishop c6. So Magnus missing that moment now takes on c7. That's a big mistake because now knight takes c7. It's a good move because if rook c7, one can understand that Magnus is aiming for c5, bishop g5 and b6 is hanging. But knight takes c7 taken and now Magnus goes b5. But what he's missed completely is the move, oh no not knight e8, knight e6 was the move. Because after takes takes, queen d6, bishop e8, this and knight f4. Black is winning because there's a big attack coming. So knight e6 would have done the trick but knight e8 allows simply the rook to go back and he finds it. And the main point is that now if the bishop moves, there is c5 and bishop g5. So he has to give back the piece. Imagine bishop b7, boom c5, takes here, bishop g5, you win the queen. So bishop e4, the piece is given back but now Magnus is totally winning. Vincent Kramer is just utterly lost. Queen f2 attacking the pawn on b6 and rook b7 defending it. Rook comes to a6. Magnus is putting pressure here on the b6 pawn but knight f4 is a strong move. Black in a way is not so bad, has fighting chances. Knight f4, bishop b6 a mistake because rook b6, rook b6, knight d3, queen e3 and knight c5 attacking here and here should have got back the piece. But Vincent, can he take here? No, he makes a mistake. He goes knight c7 giving Magnus a completely winning chance. And Magnus looks at the screen. He goes rook a2 and queen to g5. Now threatening knight h3, king to h1 played by Magnus. 1 minute 53 seconds for Magnus, 2 minutes 32 for Vincent. Bishop comes back to e3, 40 moves are done, 10 seconds increment begins. Queen e7 goes back and now Magnus goes king h2. Magnus looks up, 40 moves are done and so does Vincent. They both have around a minute on the clock. Knight c5 attacking the bishop. The bishop comes back to c2, g5 played and now queen to f3. The queen is coming in here slowly and steadily. Vincent goes queen e6 but now totally winning after rook a8, king g7, bishop f4 and queen h5 with a mate. But instead goes queen g4, a huge mistake by Magnus. Allowing this queen trade the position somehow has become equal in spite of the fact that white is a pawn up. Knight fe6, just simply come back. He goes king f8 and it's impossible to win this because of this c2 bishop being such a bad piece. King takes g3 and Magnus well, you might never have seen him watch up a plus 6 or a plus 7 position. King f3, king d7, king e2 but where's the breakthrough? There's just no way that white can do anything. Magnus is trying to bring his king around. Vincent even offers a trade of rooks because he knows that a rook trade is going to end in a draw then. The game will end in a draw. Magnus tries to keep the rook, hopes to come from the other side. King d7, plays king to c1 and now brings his rook to h1. Vincent defending brilliantly here. Rook h6, rook a8 with just two seconds on the clock. Rook f6, is Magnus going to break through here? Rook f5, the pawn is falling. Rook c7, he goes back because if bishop takes this one, some chances to hold here. So rook f1, rook d1, he comes in defense. Magnus is still trying to keep both his bishops and fight. Rook f1 and now just rook to f8. There goes rook a1 and somehow, it's all defended now. He even goes knight to d7, kicking the rook away. Rook f5 and now f6, beautiful move. And although he is forced f6, now there's no entry points because there's nothing much to do. It's a complete fortress. It sealed up the position. Magnus trying to enter now from the h-file. Rook a8, some kind of mate if the bishop goes away. King c7, takes, takes and if b6, there's always going to be king c6. So rook b8 and now it's a total fortress. Vincent knows it. He plays his rook to d6 and Magnus is going to be so unhappy with himself here. He should have won this game. Knight b6, bishop d3 and there's nothing more to do. The agree and it's 85 moves. Look at Magnus there. He's so unhappy. In fact, he even spoke about his play in the confession room that he felt utterly embarrassed by the way he played in this game. Yeah, I think like a cow that's ashamed of its body, this game is just an utter embarrassment. Vincent Keimer manages to hold. In fact, he had his chances to win as well. Couldn't take them but I am sure that the one who would be really upset with his own play is Magnus Carlsen. Well, there are off days also. For the greatest player of all time, it happens. For now, it's a draw between these two players and you can see their Magnus. It's a rare sight that Magnus is so unhappy. He just stood there on the chair and then shaking his head, he left. There's still an Armageddon game to play and we'll bring you that game in a separate video. Hope you liked it. This is Sagar Shah signing off. Please do subscribe to Chess Base India.