MagnusCarlsen vs Sina-Movahed: game review

17.d3! The only good move here: every alternative is clearly worse.

• Attacks the knight on e4.
• Opens a line for the bishop on c1.
• The next best move, 17.d4, would drop White's winning chances from 62% to 42% (−0.91).
• 17.d3 threatens dxe4, winning a rook, and stops …Kf7.
• It threatens dxe4, winning a rook, so Black has to spend the next move on it.
• Black was threatening …Kf7, winning the exchange. d3 takes care of it.

18.Re3! The only good move here: every alternative is clearly worse.

• Moves the attacked rook to safety.
• Protects the d3 pawn, which was hanging.
• The next best move, 18.Re2, would drop White's winning chances from 62% to 48% (−0.21).
• 18.Re3 gets the rook out of the way of …Nxe6.
• Black was threatening …Nxe6, winning a rook. The rook steps away.
• Shores up the knight on f3, which was under as much attack as it had defence (1 against 1).

50.e7! The only good move here: every alternative is clearly worse.

• Pushes the passed pawn to e7, close to promotion.
• Takes d8 away from the rook on b8.
• The next best move, 50.Rd5, would drop White's winning chances from 92% to 54% (+0.41).
• 50.e7 wins a rook for two pawns, picking it up with 52.Rxe7+.
• Sets up a sequence and wins a rook for two pawns once the captures settle, picking it up with 52.Rxe7+.
• It prepares Rd8: the pawn covers d8.

51.Rd8! The only good move here: every alternative is clearly worse.

• The next best move, 51.g6+, would drop White's winning chances from 92% to 42% (−0.84).
• 51.Rd8 wins a rook for a pawn, picking it up with 52.Rxe7+, and threatens e8=Q#, with mate in 1.
• Sets up a sequence and wins a rook for a pawn once the captures settle, picking it up with 52.Rxe7+.
• It threatens e8=Q#, with mate in 1, so Black has to spend the next move on it.
• Black answers 51…Rxe7, taking the e7 pawn.
• After 51…Rxe7 52.Rxe7+ Kxe7 53.Rxb8 Na4 54.Ra8 Nxc3 55.Rxa3 Nd5, the rooks are traded and White comes out a piece and a pawn up (+6.51).

• Both sides followed opening theory up to 8.Re1: 15 moves in all, 8 by White and 7 by Black.
• Black left the book with 8…e4. In 77 games from this position, strong players played 8…Be7 (90%) or 8…Nf6 (5%).
• The main line goes on 8…Be7 9.Bc2 Bxc2 10.Qxc2 Nf6 11.d4 e4 12.Ng5.
• From here White scored 61% in those games, with 15% drawn.