With only 4 rounds left, Magnus has to make a move to have a chance to catch up with the leaders. This is why this game is important to the young Norwegian phenom.
[Event “Tal Memorial”]
[White “Carlsen, M.”]
[Black “Anand, V.”]
[ECO “D30”]
[WhiteElo “2801”]
[BlackElo “2788”]
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 dxc4 5. Bg5 Bb4 6. a3 Bxc3+ 7. bxc3 h6 (I don’t remember seeing this move before.)
8. Bxf6 Qxf6 9. e3 (9…0-0 is the safer and more solid choice. 9…b5 is the riskier one.)
9…b5 10. a4 (Black must play 10…c6 here. 10…a6 is no good because White can simply play 10…axb5 due to the pin.)
10…c6 (Both 11. Qb1 and 11. Ne5 are playable.)
11. Ne5 (Black can simply castle. Another possible move is 11…a6. Both are fine choices.)
11…a6 (Now White needs to put his Bishop on the h1-a8 diagonal. He can do that with either g3 then Bg2 or Be2 then Bf3.)
12. g4! (I give it a ! because it is a shocker. I did not expect this at all. This looks to me like one of the Kasparov move. While it may or may not be the strongest move, it certainly has excellent psychological value.)
12…Bb7 13. Bg2 Qe7 14. 0-0 0-0 = (White has compensation for the pawn. Now is the time to start some actions on the Kingside while Black is still not fully developed and his pieces are not fully coordinated yet. Magnus can start with 15. f4.)
15. f4 (Perhaps it is time for Vishy to give back the pawn and develop his Knight with Nd7. Black cannot afford to be under develop just to hang on to the pawn, especially when Magnus is threatening to launch a Kingside assault.)
15…Nd7 (Now the question is which pieces to capture on c6? A capture by the Knight makes more sense to me.)
16. Nxc6 Qd6 = (Magnus can simply retreat with Ne5. But another interesting choice is 17. Ne7+ Qxe7 18. Bxb7. )
17. Ne7+ Qxe7 18. Bxb7 Ra7 19. Bg2 Nb6 20. axb5 axb5 21. Rxa7 Qxa7 22. Qa1 Qe7 (A series of moves were rapidly played. The position is somewhat equal but if given a choice, I would take Black as White has weaknesses with his pawns. Black obviously did not want to trade Queens. It is more beneficial for Black to keep his Queen on the board to create chances to win. In this position, White cannot just sit back. He must continue his attack on the Kingside.)
23. e4 Ra8 24. Qb2 Ra5 25. e5 Qh4 (I am not so keen on this move. White can just ignore it and continue with 26. f5 and here is a possible continuation 26…Qxg4 27. h3 Qg5 28. fxe6 fxe6 29. Qb4)
26. Qe2 (Here is one possible line 26…Ra3 27. f5 Rxc3 28. fxe6 fxe6 29. Qe4 Qd8 30. Qg6 Qxd4+ 31. Kh1 Re3 32. Qxe6+ Kh7 33. Qf5+ Kg8 34. Qe6+ 1/2)
26…Ra3 27. f5 (Will Anand take the pawn on c3 or will he retreat with Qe7? It is a critical choice for Black now.)
27…Rxc3 28. fxe6 fxe6 29. Qe4 (So far, the players followed the line I suggested a few moves ago.)
29…Qd8 30. Qg6 Qxd4+ 31. Kh1 Re3 (Still following the line I suggested. However, I just saw a possible improvement. Instead of 32. Qxe6+, White can play 32. Bc6 and here is a possible continuation 32…Qc5 33. Qxe6+ Kh7 34. Be4+ Rxe4 35. Qf5+ Kg8 36. Qxe4 Qd5 37. Qxd5+ Nxd5+=)
32. Qxe6+ Kh7 33. Qf5+ Kh8 = (Magnus is thinking here. He has the perpetual in hand. But he’s looking for any possible winning line. So far, I don’t see it.)
34. Qf8+ Kh7 35. Qf5+ (So Magnus came to the conclusion is White has nothing better and the perpetual is the best outcome.)
35…Kh8 36. Qf8+ 1/2
Click here to replay the game.
h6 so far only chosen by players with ratings of 2000 or below
G4 by magnus…?????
Carlsen has faced 4…dxc4 only once before, and lost…
While Anand has played 4…dxc4 much less frequently and with lesser results than 4…c6. Thus, it seems that he wanted to steer Carlsen to this line…
This setup by White with pawns on c3, d4, e3, f4, and g4 reminds me of the book entitled “Chess: A Psychiatrist Matches Wits With Fritz” by Ernest F. Pecci, M.D., 2001, with the foreward written by Kasparov.
In it the author shows how he successfully attacked Fritz numerous times by setting up this kind of pawn structure as White, keeping the center closed, castling long, and attacking Black’s kingside castle.
Interesting concept, yet much more difficult with today’s Fritz and grandmasters : )
Your friend in Tromsø, Sven “Sjakkfantomet”, mentioned on his blogg yesterday about the fact that Anand often win through his counter attacks. -So Magnus shouldn’t advance too fast eighter…
Go Magnus Go!
Looks like an interesting and instructive middle and endgame are on the horizon…I remember Capablanca said he preferred to have a queen and knight more than a queen and bishop…
Dear Susan,
One sugestion please. While we see your analysis on the monitor, we have difficulty in understanding the notes unless parallely we make the moves on a board. Many a time that is not possible, like for example, in travelling. So if you provide a sublink like ‘click to play now’, it will be very useful and we can easily understand the analysis. I think this is possible, as after the game, the same normally given through this link
Please check if this can be done in future analysis. If done, that can be a great help.
Regards, Vijay
34.Qg6 Nd7 35.g5 Rxe5 36.gxh6 Re7 37.hxg7+ Qxg7 38.Qh5+ Qh7 39.Qxb5
3D replay
The kid has a very poor record against Vishy; he will have to work hard this tournament to get more than 50%
What was wrong with 25. Qa5
best chess blog hands down