Match Carlsen–Anand 2014 Partie 4 : 1/2-1/2

   [Event "FWCM 2014"]  [Site "Sochi"]  [Date "2014.11.12"]  [Round "4.1"]  [WhiteID "1503014"]  [White "Magnus Carlsen"]  [BlackID "5000017"]  [Black "Viswanathan Anand"]  [Result "1/2-1/2"]  [BlackElo "2792"]  [WhiteElo "2863"]  [LiveChessVersion "1.4.3"]  [ECO "B40"]  [Annotator "Sagar Shah"]   {It was the first time in a World Championship match that Magnus was playing  after he had lost the previous game. What would be his first move of the game?  While it is relatively easier to guess what Vishy would play because he can  either go 1.d4 or 1.e4, things are not so simple with Magnus. He can play  either 1.e4, 1.d4, 1.c4 or 1.Nf3. But this time he did not change his opening  and continued with 1.e4 as he had done in game no.2.} 1. e4 c5 $5 {Finally the  Sicilian has arrived! Why are we so excited about this move? For the people  taking their first steps in chess, Sicilian is one of the best  counter-attacking openings in chess. It is not symmetrical like e4-e5 and  while with 1.e4 White controls the light squares, with 1...c5, Black is  controlling the dark squares. So immediately there is a sharp battle on the  board. Vishy used the Sicilian in Chennai as a last ditch attempt in game no.  10 but here he is not so cautious as before.} 2. Nf3 e6 {The e6 move can lead  to many different Sicilians like the Kan or the Paulsen or the Taimanov. My  task would have been cut out had Magnus played 3.d4 here but after the  theoretical hit he received yesterday, it was safe to assume that he wouldn't  go for the open Sicilian.  By the way, just as a side note, it is important to  mention the shrewd move order employed by Vishy. He knows that Magnus is a big  expert in the Bb5 Sicilians. To 2...Nc6 or 2...d6 there would have been high  chances that Magnus would go Bb5 and hence Vishy chose 2...e6.} 3. g3 {All the  hopes of a sharp Sicilian had been dashed. People were ready to shut their  laptops in anger! After all the King's Indian Attack is one the most boring  openings in chess. But this particular move order is a little different from  the traditional King's Indian Attack that starts with 3.d3. The main  difference is that White can play Bg2 quickly, 0-0 and break the center with a  direct d4.} Nc6 4. Bg2 d5 5. exd5 exd5 6. O-O Nf6 7. d4 {The previous moves in  the opening were quite natural. One might get the feeling that this is the  Tarrasch Defence that we get from 1.d4. The biggest difference here of course  is that in the Tarrasch, White has a pawn on e2 instead of c2. And this makes  the Tarrasch a much more sound opening than the one we have on board because a  central e2 pawn is much more valuable than the c2 pawn.} Be7 8. Be3 {This was  played by Nigel Short and Gawain Jones against Fabiano Caruana in 2010 and  2012 respectively. Both the games ended in a draw but Caruana wrote the  following on twitter: Vishy's position looks slightly uncomfortable. I  remember suffering quite a bit in this line years ago vs Nigel Short.} (8. dxc5  {is another way to play here.} Bxc5 9. Nc3 O-O 10. Bg5 Be6 {and Black doesn't  have many problems as seen in Andreikin-Kobalia.}) 8... cxd4 (8... Qb6 $5 {is  a nice and interesting alternative.} 9. Nc3 $5 Qxb2 10. Na4 Qa3 11. Nxc5 {with an  unbalanced position.}) (8... O-O $5 9. dxc5 Ng4 $1 {and Black will soon  recover the c5 pawn.} 10. Bd4 Nxd4 11. Qxd4 Bf6 $11) (8... Ng4 9. Bf4 {doesn't  change much.}) 9. Nxd4 {One of my friends wrote to me at this point. "Oh my  God! Vishy is much worse." I replied to him, "Why do you think so?" His reply  came in just three letters, "IQP."  IQP better known as the Isolated Queen  Pawn positions is one of the most commonly arising pawn structures in chess.  It comes to from so many openings that it would be simply impossible to list  all of them here. Suffice it to say that many books have been written on this  topic and my favourite is 'Winning Pawn Structures' by Alexander Baburin.  But  coming back to what my friend said, is Black really worse here? Words of  Tarrasch echo in my mind right now: "He who fears an Isolated Queen's Pawn  must give up chess!"  The point is very clear. IQP structures are dynamic.  They are difficult for the side with the IQP to play because he has to make  full use of the dynamic possibilities in the position. But that doesn't mean  that these positions are worse in any way. As Vishy Anand said in the press  conference," It's just a normal Isolated Queen's Pawn position!"} Bg4 $1 $146 {  "Vishy's move order in the opening was subtle. The g4 bishop is a thorn in the  flesh and makes Rad1 ideas far less appealing", said Nigel Short on twitter, a  man who has played the white side of this line on a few occasions. Anand was  still in his preparations at this point. How did he guess that Magnus would  play this? The logic is simple. Once Anand decided that he would go for e4 c5 Nf3  e6, the chances of Magnus not playing the Open Sicilian were quite high. So  if not the Open Sicilian, the what? 3.g3 is of course a huge possibility.  Hence this novelty by Anand shouldn't really come as a surprise to us knowing  how well he prepares for such matches.} (9... O-O {had been played in all the  games before this.}) 10. Qd3 (10. f3 $2 {Would be a positionally poor move.  Apart from closing the bishop on g2 it also weakens the e3 bishop.}) 10... Qd7  {Played so that the bishop cannot be pushed away from g4 by the move h3.  Vishy's opening play has been impressive. He has equalized and has a very  comfortable position.} 11. Nd2 O-O (11... Ne5 $6 12. Qb5 $1 {It doesn't make  sense to go into an endgame when you have the Isolated Queen Pawn. You must  strive to keep the maximum number of pieces on the board.}) 12. N2f3 Rfe8 {  This move came as a surprise to many people who thought that the threat of  Nxc6 followed by Ne5 should be prevented. But it is not really a threat and  Vishy doesn't stop it.} 13. Rfe1 (13. Nxc6 bxc6 14. Ne5 Qb7 15. Nxg4 Nxg4 16.  Bd4 Bf6 $1 $11 {Black should be fine.}) 13... Bd6 {White has a strong blockade  on d4 but Black is so active. What is interesting to see now is how both the  players try to play this position because computer usually gives an evaluation  like 0.00 but when moves are made there are bound to fluctuations in this  assessment.} 14. c3 {a calm move. Another idea I can think of over here is to  take on c6 and play c4.} (14. Nxc6 bxc6 15. c4 Bf5 $1 16. Qf1 Be4 {And this is  where the bishop wants to be. Sitting strong on the e4 square. The knight on  d4 is preventing Bf5 and hence it should not be exchanged on c6 immediately.})  14... h6 {a small little move which serves a lot of purposes. Two most  important being, stopping a piece from coming to g5 and clearing off the back  rank threats.} 15. Qf1 $5 {People were surprised to see this move. India's  Abhijeet Gupta even called it a Karpovian move because Karpov used this same Qf1!  move to beat Spassky in their Candidates Semi final in 1974, of course  in a totally different position. It looks extremely sophisticated but the idea  is also to simply play h3 followed by Kh2.} Bh5 $5 {Moving his bishop  unprovoked? What exactly is Anand doing? Well he wants to plonk his bishop on  the beautiful e4 square. The idea is simple: to play Bg6 followed by Be4. One  might assume that Magnus would try his best to stop this plan with Nh4!? but  Magnus had no such intentions. He continued merrily with h3.} 16. h3 (16. Nh4  $5 {was Jan Gustaffson's recommendation.}) 16... Bg6 17. Rad1 Rad8 $11 {Both  sides have finally developed all their pieces and I feel that Anand has  absolutely no problems because not only do his pieces look much more active  but they have better squares to go to than Magnus' pieces.} 18. Nxc6 {Finally  Magnus decides to change the pawn structure in the position. Such decisions  are not easily made as they have a long term impact on the game but Magnus  figures that it is the only way to make some progress.} bxc6 19. c4 {At this  point I had a feeling that White is slightly better because after cxd5 he will  be left with two pawn islands as compared to Black's three. But what I wasn't  able to understand is that Black is so active that he doesn't really have  anything to worry and this small positional defect can be easily defended.} (  19. Qa6 c5 $15 {And Black is better.}) 19... Be4 {Pundits did not like this  move but I guess there is nothing really wrong with it. When Anastasia  Karlovich asked Anand why he did not go for moves like Bb4 or Qb7 here, Anand  asked her if he had made any concrete errors. Otherwise what is the real  problem with the move he made. The computer might prefer Bb4 but Anand saw no  way ahead after Re2. He wanted to bring his bishop on the a8-h1 diagonal and  said that putting his bishop on d5 and rerouting his knight to e6 or g6 via  h7-f8 were his main priorities.  This is something we can learn from great  players. They always know what they want to do in the position. The importance  of making a plan was captured by Lasker when he said, "A bad plan is better  than no plan."} (19... Bb4 20. Re2 $11) (19... Qb7 20. Bd4 $11) 20. Bd4 $1 {A  very accurate move by Magnus. Usually when he is under some pressure, you can  expect him to make the best moves.} Nh7 (20... Re6 {could well be more  accurate but then Anand wanted to take back on d5 with the bishop and hence  this move would not fit into his plans.}) 21. cxd5 Bxd5 (21... cxd5 {looked  extremely natural trying to keep the bishop strongly centralized. but it could  be met with} 22. Qa6 Bb8 $11 {Black has no problems.}) 22. Rxe8+ Rxe8 23. Qd3 {  White's position looks good. And optically one does feel that Magnus from the  White side will be able to grind something out of this. But it was not to be.  The reason? Black bishops are well placed and so is the rook on e8. The knight  will soon go to greener pastures via f8-e6. So all in all Black is doing  pretty well here but yes if he does make passive moves, White will come out of  top because he has the better structure.} Nf8 (23... Bxa2 24. b3 $16) 24. Nh4 (  24. Bc3 {looked like a better try to press in this position. For example after}  Ne6 25. Nh4 {The knight is planning to come to f5 and put pressure on the g7  point.} Qc7 26. Nf5 (26. Bxd5 cxd5 27. Nf5 Be5 28. Bxe5 Qxe5 29. Qxd5 Qxb2 $11)  26... Be5 27. Qe3 Bxc3 28. Qxc3 Bxg2 29. Kxg2 c5 {A small edge for White but  nothing more.}) 24... Be5 $1 {Neutralizing the important d4 bishop.} 25. Bxd5  Qxd5 26. Bxe5 Qxe5 {Once again it is Black's activity that is keeping him  afloat here.} 27. b3 Ne6 28. Nf3 {The knight was anyway not doing anything on  h4 so White brings it back.} Qf6 29. Kg2 $1 {I know that this move doesn't  really change the objective assessment of the position but I quite like it.  It's a combination of such improving moves and mistakes by opponents that  makes Carlsen such a virtuoso in the endgame.} Rd8 30. Qe2 $6 {In the press  conference, Carlsen said that this was a lazy move. He should have preferred  Qc2.} (30. Qc2 Rd5 {Does not work now because} 31. Rxd5 cxd5 32. Qc8+ Kh7 33.  Qb7 $16 {and White is going to win a pawn.}) 30... Rd5 $1 {asking White to  exchange the rooks in such a way that his weak c-pawn becomes a strong passed  d-pawn.} 31. Rxd5 (31. Rc1 {I briefly considered this move but realized that  the rook on the fifth rank can be quite a good attacker too. for example} c5  32. Qe4 Rf5 {With the knight coming to d4, there is some pressure on White.}  33. Rc2 $2 Rxf3 $1 $19) 31... cxd5 {The position looks quite settled down at  this point. One could just dismiss this as a draw but when Magnus is playing,  extreme care has to be taken. He will try to use the little resources in this  position in order to press his opponent.} 32. Ne5 $6 {An uncharacteristic  mistake by Magnus which was based on a miscalculation.} (32. Qe5 {If Magnus  had not miscalculated he would have definitely gone for this.} Qxe5 (32... Qd8  {preserving the queens in this fashion might be the best.}) 33. Nxe5 $14 {  White is slightly better in this ending because his king is closer to the  center and he has outside passers. Yet the result is not a foregone conclusion.  }) 32... Qf5 $1 {smart move by Anand.} 33. Nd3 (33. Nc6 $6 {As said by Magnus,  he wanted to play this move but then saw that it could be met with} Nf4+ $1 34.  gxf4 Qg6+ $1 $11 {and the knight falls on c6.}) 33... Nd4 34. g4 $1 {Quite an  unusual move to tell you the truth. But White needed to get rid of that queen  from the active square f5.} (34. Qe8+ Kh7 35. Qe3 {looked natural to me but  then Black has} Qe4+ 36. Qxe4+ dxe4 37. Nc5 f5 {And Black is fine here as his  knight is excellently posted.}) 34... Qd7 (34... Nxe2 {was also good.} 35. gxf5  Nc3 (35... Nd4 $6 36. f6 $1 gxf6 37. Nf4 $14) 36. a4 Kf8 $11) 35. Qe5 Ne6 {  Around this point Magnus started to feel that he risks the chance of becoming  a little worse and hence decided to play it safe.} 36. Kg3 Qb5 {Anand was not  happy with this move. He should have gone d5-d4.} (36... d4 {This does not let  the knight move from d3.}) 37. Nf4 Nxf4 38. Kxf4 {This knight exchange was  some sort of a tacit draw offer. The queen endgame doesn't really hold much  for either side.} Qb4+ 39. Kf3 d4 40. Qe8+ Kh7 {The players reached the 40th  move mark and received an extra hour to think. But within five minutes Magnus  made his next move.} 41. Qxf7 {At this point Anand noticed a flaw in his  calculation that Qc3+ which he had planned was not the best move. Rustam  Kasimdzhanov who is Anand's second said that Anand will find the best move Qd2  via the process of elimination. And sure enough Vishy did find it!} Qd2 $1 (  41... Qc3+ $6 {is a typical blunder made by in experienced players which  Carlsen exploits and wins in fine fashion.} 42. Ke4 $1 d3 43. Qf3 $1 {The key  move which had to be seen.} Qc6+ 44. Ke3 Qb6+ 45. Kxd3 Qa6+ 46. Ke3 Qxa2 47.  Qe4+ $16 {And with a pawn down, Black has a huge struggle ahead.}) 42. Qf5+ Kh8  43. h4 Qxa2 44. Qe6 {another 'Carlsenesque' move which doesn't end the fight.  Carlsen wants to find that every little resource that would give him some  chance to fight on.} Qd2 $1 {once again Anand played in the most accurate  fashion. Now that g4-g5 is stopped, there is nothing more to play for and  Magnus settled for a three fold repetition.} (44... d3 $2 45. Qe8+ Kh7 46. Qe4+  Kh8 47. Qxd3 $16) 45. Qe8+ Kh7 46. Qe4+ Kh8 47. Qe8+ Kh7 {A draw was agreed.  One would argue that it was a dull game but I think it was a pretty good one.  There were a lot of interesting points related to the Isolated Queen's pawn  position and how both players tried to maintain the balance. After twenty  moves it did seem that Carlsen might give Anand a hard time but Vishy defended  accurately. In the press conference Carlsen was thoroughly dejected and seemed quite disappointed with his play in game no. 3  and 4. Many people thought that it was Carlsen's strategy to show that he was  not playing at his real strength. So apart from on the board fights, we are  also having some little off-the-board drama! This is bound to happen in an  event of the magnitude of the World Championship. Game five will be  interesting as Vishy will again have the White pieces. What Opening will  Carlsen choose this time to Vishy's 1.d4! Stay tuned.} 1/2-1/2