Carlsen's beautiful central sacrifice vs Firouzja

Featured is the chess game between Magnus Carlsen and Alireza Firouzja from the 2021 Tata Steel Masters. After move 7, Carlsen obtains a central pawn majority. Instead of accepting Firouzja's offer in the middlegame of a repetition of position, Carlsen implements a thematic pawn sacrifice in the center that completely changes the course of the game. What makes this game in particular special is Carlsen's 2nd pawn sacrifice that grants his knight an excellent post on e5 while also further weakening the black king position. Firouzja has a simple plan to push his passed a-pawn, and it's Carlsen who must be timely in his attack on the black king. #MagnusCarlsen #AlirezaFirouzja Image of Magnus Carlsen by Lennart Ootes lennartootes.com ★ LICHESS.ORG https://lichess.org/@/Chess-Network ★ CHESS.COM https://www.chess.com/member/chessnetwork?ref_id=1552369 (affiliate link) ★ TWITCH http://twitch.tv/ChessNetwork ★ TWITTER http://twitter.com/ChessNetwork ★ FACEBOOK http://facebook.com/ChessNetwork ★ PATREON https://www.patreon.com/ChessNetwork ★ DONATE https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=QLV226E6FUUWG PGN 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Nbd7 5. Bg5 h6 6. Bh4 Be7 7. cxd5 Nxd5 8. Bxe7 Qxe7 9. e4 Nxc3 10. bxc3 O-O 11. Bd3 c5 12. O-O cxd4 13. cxd4 b6 14. a4 Bb7 15. a5 bxa5 16. Rxa5 Nf6 17. Re1 Rfd8 18. Qa1 Qc7 19. h3 a6 20. Rc5 Qf4 21. Re5 Nd7 22. Ra5 Nf6 23. d5 exd5 24. e5 Ne4 25. Qd4 Rdc8 26. Raa1 a5 27. Rab1 Bc6 28. e6 fxe6 29. Ne5 Qf6 30. f3 Ng5 31. Rb6 Be8 32. Qe3 a4 33. Ng4 Qd8 34. Rxe6 Nxe6 35. Qxe6+ Bf7 36. Nxh6+ gxh6 37. Qxh6 Qc7 38. Qh7+ Kf8 39. Qh8+ Bg8 40. Qh6+