One of the greatest chess player to ever play the game of chess has not played a classical game of chess for a while and he suggests that he might be getting bored of it. Although he has been more active in order formats with his brilliant play. It even led to speculation that he might have retired from playing classical chess.
Not until TePe Sigeman tournament. It was super surprising for the organizers of the tournament when Magnus reached to state his interest in participating in the tournament so he was invited. In the course of the tournament he has to play the Turkish wonderkid Erdogmus. The game is one a lot of people will be looking forward to watch.
The first game against Arjun was a draw for Magnus but the interesting was the second round when he played Grandmaster Grandelius where Magnus played the Benoni against GM Grandelius's 1. d4 opening.
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 c5 4. d5 exd5 5. cxd5 d6 6. e4 g6 7. Be2 Bg7 8. Be3 O-O 9. Nf3 Bg4
Why I find the opening interesting is because it is not everyday you get to see top grandmasters play the Benoni more often in a classical game. You might find it in blitz or rapid games but not in a classical game.
Magnus went for the bishop is g4 variation for a pin along the diagonal and a quick way to get rid of the bishop and not getting trapped at the back. The game was a balanced combination of principles and strategy with both sides making use of the principles to develop their pieces.
10. Nd2 Bxe2 11. Qxe2 Nbd7 12. O-O Ne8 13. f4 f5 14. exf5 gxf5 15. Bf2 Nc7 16. Nf3 Nf6 17. Qd3 b5 18. Nxb5 Nxb5 19. Qxb5 Rb8 20. Qd3 Ne4
The issue came in for white when he went for Qd3 after hitting on the queen with the rook on b8. To achieve this Carlsen went for a pawn sacrifice on b5 which after the knight exchange, black will have the open b-file with his rook. Aside from that, the center will come with strikes from the knight on f6 as well. This good advantage that black has is the coordination of his pieces which makes it better for him.
Playing against a super grandmaster like Magnus, all it takes is simple inaccuracy and that is all it takes for him to get a win. After white played a simple inaccuracy with Qd3 which honestly speaking, I would have played the same or even something worse. While the move is inaccurate due to the center counterplay that black gets, I must say Magnus played most of the engine recommendation down to the end.
The game ended with Carlsen creating a passed pawn on the queen side which is what makes the black idea in the Benoni strong.
Here is the link to the game
Game link
Here is the PGN game:
[Event "TePe Sigeman Chess Tournament 2026"]
[Site "https://lichess.org/broadcast/tepe-sigeman--co-chess-tournament-2026/round-2/4Uwzk4as/OQ3uLScf"]
[Date "2026.05.02"]
[Round "2.3"]
[White "Grandelius, Nils"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "2662"]
[WhiteTitle "GM"]
[WhiteFideId "1710400"]
[BlackElo "2840"]
[BlackTitle "GM"]
[BlackFideId "1503014"]
[TimeControl "90 minutes for 40 moves + 30 minutes for the rest of the game + 30 seconds per move from move one."]
[Variant "Standard"]
[ECO "A65"]
[Opening "Benoni Defense: King's Pawn Line"]
[UTCDate "2026.05.02"]
[UTCTime "12:51:23"]
[BroadcastName "TePe Sigeman & Co Chess Tournament 2026"]
[BroadcastURL "https://lichess.org/broadcast/tepe-sigeman--co-chess-tournament-2026/round-2/4Uwzk4as"]
[GameURL "https://lichess.org/broadcast/tepe-sigeman--co-chess-tournament-2026/round-2/4Uwzk4as/OQ3uLScf"]
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 c5 4. d5 exd5 5. cxd5 d6 6. e4 g6 7. Be2 Bg7 8. Be3 O-O 9. Nf3 Bg4 10. Nd2 Bxe2 11. Qxe2 Nbd7 12. O-O Ne8 13. f4 f5 14. exf5 gxf5 15. Bf2 Nc7 16. Nf3 Nf6 17. Qd3 b5 18. Nxb5 Nxb5 19. Qxb5 Rb8 20. Qd3 Ne4 21. Rab1 Qa5 22. Ng5 Qd2 23. Qh3 Nxg5 24. fxg5 Rxb2 25. Rxb2 Qxb2 26. Qh5 Qxa2 27. g6 h6 28. Qf3 a5 29. h4 a4 30. Qf4 a3 31. Qxd6 Qb2 32. Bxc5 a2 33. Qe6+ Kh8 34. Kh2 Qe5+ 35. Qxe5 Bxe5+ 36. Kh3 Rd8 0-1
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