Ivanchuk, V (2739) – Carlsen, M (2801) [A48]
Tal Memorial (5), 10.11.2009
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 g6 3.Bf4 (Ivanchuk chose the London system. Perhaps he did not want to face possible novelties from Magnus in the Gruenfeld.)
3…Bg7 4.e3 d6 5.h3 0–0 6.Be2 b6 7.a4 c5 8.c3 Ba6 9.0–0 Qc8 10.Re1 Qb7 11.Bb5 =
11…Bxb5 12. axb5 a6 13. Qe2 axb5 14. Rxa8 Qxa8 15. Qxb5 Na6 (16. Qxb6 cxd4 17. cxd4 Rb8 18. Qa5 Rxb2)
16. Bh2 Qc7 17. Nbd2 Nc7 18. Qb3 (The position is equal. However, I like Black’s position a little better.)
18…Ne6 19.Ra1 Rb8 (Some players have a hard time playing with the Black pieces. Magnus seems to do well in this game equalizing very quickly.)
20. Ra3 (The idea of this is to double up the Queen on a2 with the threat of Ra7. A way to stop this is with 20…Qd5. However, I like 20…b5 a little better and then after 21.Qa2 Qd5.)
20…b5 21. Qa2 Qd5 (If 22. Qxd5 Nxd5 23. Ra7 cxd4 24. exd4 =)
22. Qa1 (Ivanchuk wants to keep the Queens on the board to increase his chances of scoring a full point. Wishful thinking though. Both 22…cxd4 and Ne4 are fine for Black. As I mentioned above, even the position is equal, I would prefer Black’s position a little better.)
22…Ne4 23. Qa2 Qxa2 24. Rxa2 Nxd2 25. Nxd2 b4 26. Kf1 bxc3 27. bxc3 cxd4 28. cxd4 (This game is clearly heading toward a draw soon.)
28…Nc7 29. Ra5 f5 30. g4 Rb5 = 31. Rxb5 (In this level, neither side has any practical chances on winning whatsoever.) 1/2
Click here to replay the game.
Well done with Black by Magnus.
3D replay
The Nanjing magic is gone. Carlsen is back to the “draw”-ing board.
Carlsen will no doubt be back and better than ever. It is extremely difficult to steamroller the cream of the chessic crop when ill.
Proof that Carlsen has arrived are the jabs such as @8:46 a.m. and the many jealous comments about him on other sites during the Nanjing tournament. (There were many positive and congratulatory comments as well.)
To Anon “The Nanjing magic is gone”
Well what can one expect when Chucky plays the ‘Boring’ or ‘London’ System? In fact I play the London a lot,and used to think that it was a nice patzer opening to frustrate the opponent. I was amazed to see it played by none other than the creative Ivanchuk!
Amar