Karjakin – Carlsen (Game 4)
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 Ruy Lopez just as in game 2.
4. Ba4 Nf6 5. 0-0 Be7 6. Re1 In game 2 it was 6. d3.
6…b5 7. Bb3 0-0 8. h3 Anti-Marshall, avoiding it altogether.
8…Bb7 9. b3 d6 10. a3 Karjakin had this position before against Bacrot in 2009.
10…Qd7 11. Nbd2 Karjakin has this position against Tomashevsky in 2010 Russian Championship. He won as well as the game against Bacrot. The most popular is 11…Nd8 or either Rook to e8.
11…Rfe8 The main move is 12. Nf1. White won 81% of the game according to statistic! Statistically speaking, this line is good for white, not so much for black. So we will see if Carlsen can defy the odd 🙂
12. c3 Anand, Inarkiev & Gashimov played this move before. Inarkiev won and the other 2 drew.
12…Bf8 Navara played this move against Anand in 2007 which ended in a draw. Carlsen wants a slow fight. The good news is Karjakin deviated from game 2 so this is a new battle. The bad news is you better grab lunch/dinner because it will be a long fight 🙂 There are many moves here. Anand played 13. Ba2. Another good move is 13. d4 It is up to Karjakin’s preference.
13. Nf1 This is a natural but new move. The knight can go to g3 then f5. It also opened up the diagonal for the bishop to go to g5. So black has to stop it with 13…h6
13…h6 As expected. Black does not want to allow white to play 14. Bg5
14. K3h2 White wants to play Ng4. In theory, it looks good. But the problem is now black can and should open up the center with 14…d5
14…d5 as expected and now it is equal. If 15. Ng4, pieces will come off the board into another boring endgame.
15. Qf3 Karjakin wants to keep pieces on the board for middlegame. The threat is 16. Bxh6
15…Na5 16. Ba2 would be most logical to maintain pressure on f7.
16. Ba2 Black has a few interesting choices. The logical 16…dxe4 17. dxe4 Nc4 or 16…c5 17. Bxh6 c4 sacrificing a pawn but with compensation.
16…dxe4 17. dxe4 And I expect Carlsen to play 17…Nc4 If 18. Bxh6 then 18…Qc6 winning the e4 pawn
17…Nc4 Karjakin has to think carefully here. If he takes on h6, the dynamic of the game will change drastically. This is the critical moment of the game. To take 18. Bxh6 or 18. Ng4. Even though equal, it may be easier to play black.
18. Bxh6 Now black can play 18…Qc6 or 18… Bxe4 19. Rxe4 Nxe4 20. Qxe4 gxh6 21. Ne3 Bg7 22. Nxc4 bxc4 23. Bxc4 white is exchange down but with plenty of compensation. Very dangerous for black.
18…Qc6 It is clear that Carlsen is not in a Kamikaze mode by playing 18…Bxe4 🙂 Now another critical moment: 19. Bc1 Nxe4 20. Ne3 Ned6 21. Qg3 Ne4 22. Qf3 Otherwise, white would be worse.
19. Bxc4 This is not good. 19. Bc1 is better.
19… bxc4 20. Be3 Nxe4 21. Ng3 Now black can take on g3 or 21…Qg6. Black has powerful bishop pair and with the threat of Rad8 > d6 > g6. This is like yesterday. Karjakin’s inaccuracies are causing him problems. Carlsen in the driver seat again.
21…Nd6 This is a move I did not consider. Black is still better. White has a problem with the b2 pawn and black has the Bishop pair. This is one of those rare occasion where the double pawn is actually helping black.
22. Rad1 Rab8 Karjakin is down to 39 minutes to make move 40. Carlsen still has 51+ minutes. This is a very difficult position for white. I question 14. N3h2 and 15. Qf3, wrong plan by team Karjakin
23. Bc1 Protecting the b2 pawn.
23…f6 24. Qxc6 Bxc6 25. Ng4 -/+
25…Rb5 protecting the e5 pawn to play f5, potentially doubling up the rooks. Black is looking good.
26. f3 Black should proceed with 26…f5 then just slowly improving the position.
26…f5 White’s only serious option is 27. Nf2
27. Nf2 Be7 This is very surprising to see Karjakin suffering with the white pieces. This time it’s preparation problem. If Karjakin holds again, we have to call him Mr. Houdini! No one escapes the jaws of lethal Carlsen twice in such positions 🙂
28. f4 If 28…exf4 29. Ne2 If 28…Bh4 29. Rxd6 cxd6 30. Nxf5 and black is better.
28…Bh4 29. fxe5 And if 29…Bxg3 30. exd6 Rxe1+ 31. Rxe1 cxd6 black is better.
29…Bxg3 30. exd6 Rxe1+ 31. Rxe1 cxd6 Even though the material count is even, black has bishop pair. White’s bishop is stuck defending b2 pawn, and knight has no good place to go. Black just has to slowly brings his King up.
32. Rd1 Kf7 33. Rd4 Re5 34. Kf1 It is in the best interest for Carlsen to trade Rooks. He has a risk free shot to squeeze this endgame.
34…Rd5 35. Rxd5 Bxd5 Karjakin has about 12 minutes and Carlsen has about 23 minutes to reach move 40.
36. Bg5 Kg6 Black is continuing to put on pressure.
37. h4 This move is inexplicable. He is weakening his position for no reason. 37…Kh5 will pose a problem for white.
37…Kh5 38. Nh3 Bf7 39. Be7 Bxh4 40. Bxd6 Bd8 I am not sure why Carlsen allowed the exchange of the d6 and h4 pawn. That only helped white. Karjakin has spent more than 11 minutes for his 41st move.
41.Ke2 A natural move. Now I expect Black will respond with 41…g5.
41…g5 42.Nf2 Black is slowly improving his position.
42…Kg6 Planning f5-f4 and then Kf5.
43.g4 Generally the less pawns on the board the closer White gets to saving the game. I am quite optimistic for Carlsen. An important decision for Carlsen to push f5-f4 or allow the trade of Pawns. Here is a line that shows the danger for White: 43…Bb6 44.gxf5+ Kxf5 45.Bg3 Bh5+ 46.Kd2 Bf3 47.Kc2 Bd5 48. Kd2 a5 49.Ke2 g4 50.Kd2 Bf3 51.Kc2 a4 52. Kd2 Ba7 53. Kc2 Be3 -+
43…Bb6 As expected. The above variation showed what happens if White trades with 44.gxf5+ and then plays passively.
44.Be5 Now capturing 44…Bxf2 and then fxg4 would not be good as the resulting opposite colored Bishops endgame would be simple draw.
44…a5 45.Nd1 Karjakin gave up the Pawn on g4. The idea is that if Black takes 45…fxg4, then 46.Ne3 Kh5 47.Bg3.
45…f4 Now Black has a protected passed Pawn. But how can Carlsen make further progress?
46.Bd4 Bc7 47.Nf2 Be6 48.Kf3 Bd5+ 49.Ke2 Bg2 50.Kd2 Now I expect 50…Bf3. Karjakin is trying to build a fortress.
50…Kf7 51.Kc2 Bd5 52.Kd2 Black’s plan can be to march the King to the Queen side and try to attack the b2 Pawn.
52…Bd8 53.Kc2 Ke6 54.Kd2 Kd7 The Bishop went to d8 the prevent an attack on the g5 Pawn by Bf6.
55.Kc2 Kc6 56.Kd2 Kb5 57.Kc1 The Black King has almost arrived at the destination 🙂
57…Ka4 58.Kc2 Bf7 59.Kc1 Bg6 Now Ka4-b3 is unstoppable.
60.Kd2 Kb3 61.Kc1 Bd3 Trying to provoke 62.Nxd3.
62.Nh3 Carlsen is getting very low on time. 14 minutes for the rest of the game plus the 30 second increments each move he makes.
62…Ka2 63.Bc5 Be2 64.Nf2 Bf3 65.Kc2 Bc6 66.Bd4 Bd7 It seems that Carlsen is struggling to find a way to make further progress.
67.Bc5 Bc7 68.Bd4 Be6 69.Kc5 f3 Finally a change to the structure of position!
70.Be3 Kd7 71.Kc1 White could not take the Pawn with 71.Bxg5 because of 71…Bb6 72.Bh4 Be3 and then checkmate with Ba4!
71…Bc8 72.Kc2 Bd7 73.Kc1 Bf4 74.Bxf4 gxf4 Karjakin should hold the game now.
75.Kc2 Be6 76.Kc1 Bc8 77.Kc2 Be6 78.Kc1 Kb3 A key moment. 79Kb1 is a must.
79.Kb1 Ka4 80.Kc2 Kb5 81.Kd2 Kc6 82.Ke1 Kd5 83.Kf1 Ke5 84. Kg1 Kf6 Black will win the g4 pawn, but likely not the game.
85.Ne4+ Kg6 86.Kf2 Bxg4 87.Nd2 Karjakin has build an unbreakable “fortress” to save the game.
88.Kxf3 Kf5 89.a4 Bd5+ 90.Kf2 Kg4 91.Nf1 Kg5 92.Nd2 Kf5 93.Ke2 At this point, Carlsen can only hope for a miracle.
93…Kg4 94.Kf2 Draw agreed.
Just as in game 3, Carlsen had the upper hand throughout most of the game. But Karjakin showed good defense. The match is tied 2-2.
Tomorrow is rest day. Game 5 will be played on Thursday.