Match Carlsen-Anand 2014 Partie 1 : 1/2-1/2

  [Event "FWCM 2014"]  [Site "Sochi"]  [Date "2014.11.08"]  [Round "1.1"]  [WhiteID "5000017"]  [White "Viswanathan Anand"]  [BlackID "1503014"]  [Black "Magnus Carlsen"]  [Result "1/2-1/2"]  [BlackElo "2863"]  [WhiteElo "2792"]  [Annotator "Sagar Shah"]   [ECO "D85"]   {The World Championship 2014 has begun in Sochi! Things look so different over  here than in Chennai. The opening ceremony was short and so was the press  conference. Anand looks more relaxed and comfortable. There was a magician at  the Opening ceremony! There is no glass wall to separate the spectators from  the players. Only a handful viewers came to see the first game. Same players  but such different settings! All said and done there is no denying the fact  that this is the biggest spectacle for any chess lover. And the number of  people following the games through internet is just mind boggling. Enters the  Defending World Champion Magnus Carlsen in a light blue shirt with a greyish  coat looking young and smart. Vishy on the other hand comes in his customary  NIIT shirt. But this time he wears a suit! As the game builds up the suit  recedes into the background! Yes there was a lot of heat in the game today!  Let's get it started.} 1. d4 {21st November 2013, Chennai. After four Whites  in the match, Anand finally opened with 1.d4. Magnus played his solid and  reliable Nimzo and was put to the test by the Saemisch variation with 4.f3. It  was a wild game with spectators being on the edge of their seats. Anand, of  course, lost that game but one cannot deny that 1.d4 had given him thousand  times more chances to beat Magnus than 1.e4 as White. The match ended in 10  games only with a score of 6.5-3.5 in the favour of Magnus which that meant  that Anand never got a chance to try 1.d4 again. So steely was his resolve to  push his queen's pawn against Magnus that he clawed his way back winning the  Candidates 2014 to setup a rematch. And I had absolutely no doubts that Anand  would begin game 1 (in his mind game 11 of Chennai) of the 2014 World Chess  Championship with 1.d4} Nf6 (1... d5 {The Slav with 2...c6 and the QGD with 2..  .e6 are openings Magnus has played more often recently.}) 2. c4 g6 (2... e6 {  A rest to the Nimzo Indian/ Queen's Indian today. But Magnus has played it 159  times before as just 52 games with 2...g6. I think we will see it in some game  in this match.}) 3. Nc3 d5 {The Grunfeld had been a regular part of Magnus's  repertoire earlier but since the Candidates that took place in March 2013, he  hasn't tried it. It is interesting what GM Abhijeet Gupta mentioned in one of  his tweets: The last two times the World Championship matches started with the  Grunfeld for Anand he had won it. Yes, both the matches with Topalov and  Gelfand had begun with the Grunfeld.} 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. Bd2 $5 {A positional  approach to the Grunfeld but that doesn't mean that sharp positions do not  arise from here. Take for example the game Vishy played in this same line  against Magnus's second Jon Ludvig Hammer in 2013 and you realize that the  mind games had already begun.} Bg7 6. e4 Nxc3 (6... Nb6 {is another main  option in this position but we leave this for some other day!}) 7. Bxc3 O-O 8.  Qd2 Nc6 $5 {Extremely interesting. For all those out there who have no idea of  what Grunfeld Defence is all about, here is the key. Black allows White to  build up a strong center and then blows it up almost invariably with the move  c5. By putting his knight to c6 Magnus bids adieu to the plan of breaking the  center. Instead what he wants to do is to pressurize it with his pieces. A  dangerous approach because if it backfires, White will be left with a huge  space advantage.} (8... c5 {of course is the main move and this is that crazy  game which Anand played with Magnus's second Jon Ludvig Hammer.} 9. d5 Bxc3 10.  bxc3 e6 11. d6 e5 12. h4 Be6 13. Nh3 Qxh4 14. O-O-O Qxe4 15. Bd3 Qa4 16. Ng5  Qxa2 17. Qe3 Qa3+ 18. Kd2 Qb2+ 19. Bc2 Bf5 20. Rc1 Rd8 21. Nxf7 Kxf7 22. Qxe5  Rxd6+ 23. Qxd6 Nc6 24. Rxh7+ Kg8 25. Rd7 Re8 26. Qf6 Bxd7 27. Qxg6+ Kf8 28.  Qf6+ Kg8 29. Rh1 Re2+ 30. Kxe2 Nd4+ 31. cxd4 Qxc2+ 32. Ke3 Qc3+ 33. Kf4 Qxd4+  34. Qxd4 cxd4 35. Ke4 a5 36. Kxd4 a4 37. Kc3 b5 38. Kb4 Kf7 39. Rh7+ Ke6 40. g4  Be8 41. f4 Kf6 42. Rh6+ Kg7 43. g5 Bg6 44. Rh3 Bf5 45. Re3 {1-0 (45) Anand,V  (2783)-Hammer,J (2608) Stavanger 2013}) 9. Nf3 (9. d5 {is also possible.}) 9...  Bg4 {Magnus played this move after 15 minutes of thought. What surprises me is  that he himself chooses the move 8...Nc6 and then when Vishy makes the most  natural move 9.Nf3, he digs himself into a huge think. Something was very  fishy! Maybe Magnus just forgot his preparation or he was trying to recollect  a line he had seen some months ago.} 10. d5 (10. O-O-O {could be met with the  very strong idea of} Bxf3 11. gxf3 e5 $1 12. dxe5 (12. d5 Qh4 $1 {[%cal Gg7h6]}  ) 12... Qh4 $1 $17 {The threat of Bh6 is very strong.}) 10... Bxf3 11. Bxg7  $146 {This was Vishy's novelty. Let's see what was played before this.} (11.  gxf3 {was played by Moiseenko against Magnus's friend Ian Nepomniatchi. Maybe  it was because of him that Magnus came to play this line today.} Ne5 12. Be2 c6  13. f4 Nd7 14. Bxg7 Kxg7 15. dxc6 bxc6 {And a little assessment in this  position shows that Black has absolutely no problems because the White king  does not have a safe haven to park himself.} 16. O-O-O Nf6 17. Qxd8 Rfxd8 $11 {  The central pawns are more of a weakness than strength and Black equalises  without any problems.}) 11... Kxg7 12. gxf3 (12. Qc3+ f6 13. gxf3 Ne5 {would  transpose to the game.}) 12... Ne5 13. O-O-O {The difference from the  aforementioned Nepomniatchi position is that White has the option to whether  to push f3-f4 or not and at the same time the f3-pawn is not hanging because  of Qc3+. But if you try to look at this position deeply, you understand that  White has the space but Black has the breaks. He can break open the position  with c6 or e6 where as White's only hope here is to get things going against  the black king maybe with f4-f5 or h4-h5.} c6 (13... Nxf3 14. Qc3+ $19 {is not  what the doctor ordered.}) 14. Qc3 {[%cal Gc3g7]} f6 15. Bh3 {Magnus praised  Anand's idea of playing simple chess with Bh3, taking away the c8 square from  the black rooks, in the press conference. Indeed Anand at this point was way  ahead on the clock and had a very nice position too. He looked confident and  Magnus was a little worried. It seemed as if things had gone wrong for the  Norwegain but he is after all Magnus. Fighting back is in his blood!} (15. dxc6  {As Nigel Short mentioned, this move wins a pawn but some really huge lines  are going to be opened against the White king.} Qb6 16. cxb7 Rab8 17. f4 Rxb7  $1 18. fxe5 Rc8 $19 {Just an illustrative line to show how things can go wrong  for White.}) 15... cxd5 {CRITICAL POSITION 1: I would say this is the first  critical position of the game. Let's try to understand why this position is so  important. First of all you have options here. Whenever there are many options  in a position, more often than not it is a critical position. There is an  option to take with the rook. or the pawn. and there is also an option to push  back the knight with f4.} 16. exd5 $1 {Brilliant decision by Anand and I must  agree that I would have never made such a choice. I mean how can one make such  a move which simply ruins his pawn structure, render the pawns on f2-f3 as  doubled and isolated. The answer to this is very simple: A very subtle feel  for Dynamics. Anand can sense that he needs the pawn on d5 to prevent Black  from successfully play e6 later and shutting his bishop. At the same time with  the e-pawn moving to d5, the e file is opened up which can put pressure on the  e7 pawn. In return the pawn weakness is not so relevant because the Black  pieces cannot attack them. Though the White position looks 'ugly', I think  exd5 is a 'beautiful' move! As they say beauty lies in the eyes of the  beholder!} (16. Rxd5 $2 Qb6 $1 {[%cal Ge7e6,Gf8c8] The idea is not to play e6  and then Rfc8. White is already worse.} 17. f4 $2 e6 $1 $19) (16. f4 Nf7 17.  Rxd5 (17. exd5 {[%csl Gd5,Gf2,Gf4] would be similar to the game.}) 17... Qb6  18. Qe3 $11 {I had predicted White to play this when the position is quite  close to equal.}) 16... Nf7 17. f4 (17. Rhe1 {looks natural but is met with}  Ng5 $1 $15 {The B has to be given up.} 18. Bg4 h5 $17) 17... Qd6 (17... Qb6 18.  Rhe1 Qxf2 {was a brave albeit a non human way to play.} 19. Rxe7 Qxf4+ $13) 18.  Qd4 Rad8 19. Be6 $1 {People grew very excited at this point. The Bishop was  surely a monster on e6. Many players claimed that White had a huge advantage  here. GM Vidit Gujrathi said: Is this the bishop Anand was talking about?!!  Well, the story goes that a few days before the match, Anand wrote on twitter,  "I tell Aruna to remind me about Bishops in the morning." In the morning Anand  writes: "It's morning and I have Bishop on my mind." While at that point,  Anand's statements looked puzzling, all is becoming clear now!} (19. Rhe1 {The  natural move lets Black equalise with} e5 $1 20. fxe5 Nxe5 $11) 19... Qb6 {  Offering a queen exchange. What Magnus recognizes is that there is nothing  inherently wrong with his position. His pawn structure is solid and his knight  has some good squares to go. What his problem is is that the white pieces are  just too active. It makes sense for him to exchange them and then all that  White will be left is with weaknesses.} 20. Qd2 {Many people said that the  Chennai endgames haunted Vishy to such an extent that he doesn't want to go  into endgames with Magnus any more. While some truth does exist in it, I think  it is an overstatement. Vishy being an objective player will usually try to  make the best move and here he thought preserving the queens was the best but  taking the queens would have given White something to play with.} (20. Qxb6  axb6 21. Kb1 {making way for the rook to come to the c-file.} Rd6 22. Rhe1 (22.  Rc1 Nd8 $1) 22... Re8 (22... Nd8 $6 23. Bc8 $1 Re8 24. a4 $14 {Things are a  little tied up for Black. The knight cannot move because the b7 pawn will hang  and the white king is getting ready to make his way up to the black queenside.}  ) 23. a4 $14 {I have the difficult task of assessing this position but I would  say that White has some pressure. Black being Magnus will defend it accurately  for sure. White is on the better side of the draw but nothing more than that.})  20... Rd6 $1 {Making space for the N to go to d8.} 21. Rhe1 (21. h4 {This  attack is not so dangerous now.} Nd8 $1 22. Bg4 e6 $132 {And things are going  pretty fast in the center itself for White to focus on the kingside.}) 21...  Nd8 22. f5 Nxe6 23. Rxe6 Qc7+ (23... Rxe6 {I thought to myself: why not take  on e6 here? White will have to take back with the pawn and either way it will  be good for Black.} 24. fxe6 {But now we can blockade the pawns on with a  piece on d6 and the d5 pawn is a huge liability.} (24. dxe6 $2 Rc8+ 25. Kb1 Qc5  {f5 is attacked.} 26. fxg6 hxg6 $17 {The e6 pawn is a weakness and Black will  slowly gang up on it with Rc6.and Qf5+ etc.}) 24... Rc8+ 25. Kb1 Qd6 $15 {I  had a feeling that Magnus would have loved to play this position.He has now  weaknesses, nothing to fear. It's just one way traffic.}) 24. Kb1 Rc8 $6 {an  imperceptible error by Magnus} (24... Rxe6 {was no longer so strong as before}  25. dxe6 $1 $11) 25. Rde1 Rxe6 26. Rxe6 {White can now recapture on e6 with  his rook. You have to understand one very important concept here. It is called  "no half measures". Once Vishy made the decision of playing in unconventional  and dynamic fashion by ruining his pawn structure, he cannot really try to  then start playing positionally. Taking with the pawn on e6 improves the  structure but takes away the dynamism. And this is very important in this  position. A master would not even think twice to take on e6 with the rook as  that gives him the required activity to maintain the balance.} Rd8 {an  admission that he had wasted time with this idea of Qc7+ and Rc8.} (26... gxf5  {was also possible.}) 27. Qe3 Rd7 28. d6 $5 {You can see the difference in  styles of both the players. Vishy cannot really sit doing nothing. All the  time he wants to do something active. Here Magnus as White might have just  improved his position with something like a3 but not Vishy. This almost  backfired just like the game six in Chennai when Vishy gave up a pawn to reach  a drawish rook endgame which he lost.} (28. Qxa7 Rxd5 $17) 28... exd6 29. Qd4  Rf7 30. fxg6 (30. Qxd6 Qxd6 31. Rxd6 gxf5 $15 {Never is Vishy going to go into  such endgames again. This position might be drawish but if Carlsen is your  opponent, two to three hours of pain lies awaits you!}) 30... hxg6 31. Rxd6 (  31. Qxd6 Qxd6 32. Rxd6 g5 $1 {Once again this is a slightly better endgame for  Black because the h and f-pawns are slightly weak but I guess White has good  drawing chances if he begins with} 33. h4 $1 $11) 31... a6 32. a3 {No more  back rank problems.} Qa5 33. f4 Qh5 34. Qd2 Qc5 {Like a magician who waves his  wand and the viewers understand nothing, Carlsen is doing something similar  with his Queen. He is moving it from one end to another in order to provoke  Vishy into make a mistake. And sure enough Vishy goes wrong.} 35. Rd5 Qc4 36.  Rd7 Qc6 37. Rd6 (37. Rxf7+ Kxf7 {Once again this is position with a small edge  for Black. I am not sure if Magnus can win it but the safe choice is not to go  into such endgames where you have no counterplay.}) 37... Qe4+ 38. Ka2 Re7 $1 {  Now both of black pieces are activated.} 39. Qc1 a5 $1 {As one popular writer  from India Srikant Govindaseshan writes: Magnus is so good at playing with  small advantages. Give him a bull and he will milk it too! With nothing much  to do Magnus improves his position. His threat is to tighten the noose around  the white king with a5-a4.} 40. Qf1 $6 (40. Qc8 $1 Qxf4 41. Rd8 {would have  taken the fight to the opponent.} Qe3 42. Rg8+ Kh6 43. Rh8+ Kg5 44. h4+ Kf4 {  looks extremely scary for Black as his king is walking in the park but this  one too will end in a draw after} 45. Rg8 $1 Qe6+ 46. Qxe6 Rxe6 47. Rxg6 $11)  40... a4 {Many people said that allowing the pawn to a4 was just too much.  Vishy now has a tough defensive task ahead. But the good news is that he just  got an extra hour on his clock.} 41. Rd1 Qc2 {The Rook is not ready to come  into e2.} 42. Rd4 $1 {And this was the more Vishy was happy to find. His idea  is to plonk the rook to b4. But this is the second CRITICAL POSITION of the  game. Black has to move his rook into the game. But where exactly? to e2 or e3?  } Re2 $6 (42... Re3 $5 {was the critical move. The threat is as crude as it  can get Rxa3 followed by Qb3#} 43. Rd7+ (43. Qd1 Qxd1 44. Rxd1 Rb3 $1 {With  the idea of b5.} 45. Rd8 f5 46. Rb8 b5 $15 {Black is better here and that is  for sure. But maybe it is not sufficient for victory.}) (43. Rb4 $2 Rb3 $1 44.  Rxb3 axb3+ 45. Ka1 Qxh2 46. Qd1 Qh3 $1 $19 {preventing the check on d7 and  planning to regroup his pieces with Qe6. After this the black passer on the  kingside along with his king will be sufficient to win.}) 43... Kh6 44. Rxb7  Rb3 45. Rxb3 axb3+ 46. Ka1 Qxh2 $17 {This is definitely much better than Rb4  for White as he is not a pawn down here but still the position is a huge  torture. Mainly because the white king is in such a precarious situation  thanks to the b3 pawn. We can thus conclude that Re3 would have given Black  every chance to press in the position. Whether he would win or not is an  entirely different story.}) 43. Rb4 b5 44. Qh1 $1 {Experts everywhere  applauded this move. And sure enough it is a very neat idea. The idea is very  simple. White wants to activate his Queen to the best square in the position  and that is on d5. It looks very simple when explained but it is not so easy,  mainly because the move as such is threatening nothing. It is just improving a  piece.} (44. Rxb5 Qc4+ 45. Ka1 Qxb5 $19) 44... Re7 (44... Rxh2 45. Qb7+ Kh6 46.  Qb8 $13 {And it is black king who is danger now.}) 45. Qd5 $1 Re1 {a mate is  threatened on b1 but White is just in time to deliver the perpetual.} 46. Qd7+  Kh6 47. Qh3+ Kg7 48. Qd7+ {A grand struggle for the first game of the match.  Both players go back with something positive and negative. Vishy will be happy  that he could put Magnus under pressure in the opening and wriggle out of a  tough position in the end. But his play in the middlegame was less than  appetizing. Magnus can be happy that inspite of sliding into an inferior  position in the opening he could put Vishy on the ropes. But of course his  technique was not nearly as flawless as we are used to seeing him. Peter  Svidler rightly pointed out, "As humans we remember the incident that happened  most recently." And the last thing that happened was that Vishy saved a  difficult ending. Hence, Vishy might just be a tad happier! Tomorrow Magnus  has the white pieces and it will be fun to see what he comes up with!}  1/2-1/2