A sound, but very unambitious opening move where white almost certainly intends to fianchetto his bishop and enable castling. Black has the choice to continue to mirror white's move once more with g6 or begin a more aggressive attempt to control the center.
| Game | Result | Year |
| Caruana, F. (2827) vs Carlsen, M. (2840) | 1/2-1/2 | 2017 |
| Ding, Liren (2791) vs Carlsen, Magnus (2863) | 1/2-1/2 | 2020 |
| Ding, Liren (2791) vs Carlsen, Magnus (2863) | 1/2-1/2 | 2020 |
| Caruana, F. (2781) vs Carlsen, M. (2872) | 1-0 | 2014 |
| Ding Liren (2813) vs Carlsen, M. (2835) | 1/2-1/2 | 2019 |
| Carlsen, M. (2832) vs So, W. (2815) | 1-0 | 2017 |
| Carlsen, Magnus (2861) vs Karjakin, Sergey (2780) | 1-0 | 2013 |
| Carlsen, M. (2853) vs Nakamura, Hi (2787) | 1/2-1/2 | 2016 |
| Carlsen, M. (2853) vs Nakamura, Hi (2787) | 1-0 | 2016 |
| Carlsen, M. (2853) vs Nakamura, Hi (2787) | 1-0 | 2016 |