Match Carlsen-Anand 2014 Partie 6 : 1-0

   [Event "FWCM 2014"]  [Site "Sochi"]  [Date "2014.11.15"]  [Round "6.1"]  [WhiteID "1503014"]  [White "Magnus Carlsen"]  [BlackID "5000017"]  [Black "Viswanathan Anand"]  [Result "1-0"]  [BlackElo "2792"]  [WhiteElo "2863"]  [ECO "B41"]  [Annotator "Sagar Shah"]   {After game five ended yesterday, Magnus was visibly relaxed. He had drawn  with the black pieces and was now ready to press with the White in games six  and seven. Today we witnessed an extremely weird game. Magnus got a nice  position out of the opening. No queens. slight pressure, just the kind he  likes. As he was building up his position, he made a horrible mistake and gave  Anand the chance to win the game with a simple tactic. Anand missed it and  things were back on track for the World Champion. He won a smooth game after  that. Let's get straight to the action from the sixth game of the match.} 1. e4  {Carlsen sticks to his king pawn opening.} c5 {And Anand seems to be happy  with the position he got in the fourth game with the Sicilian.} 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4  $5 {The Open Sicilian! The very interesting question is when was the last time  an Open Sicilian was played at the World Championship level. As my friend IM  Srinath Narayanan mentioned to me it was last played by Vishy Anand vs Boris  Gelfand from their World Championship match in 2012. Remember the Sicilian  Sveshnikov!} cxd4 4. Nxd4 a6 $5 {The Sicilian Kan! It has not be as popular as  it's brother the Sicilian Taimanov with 4...Nc6 but nevertheless it is a very  popular opening.} (4... Nc6 {is the Taimanov.}) 5. c4 {White sets up the  Maroczy bind. This Maroczy bind against the Kan is much more potent than the  one against Taimanov as in the latter the knight is already on c6.} Nf6 6. Nc3  (6. e5 Qa5+ {of course is a very common trap.}) 6... Bb4 {Developing with  momentum by putting pressure on the e4 pawn. There are lot of ways in which  White can defend the e4 pawn but all have their own drawbacks.} (6... Qc7 {is  the other main move here but White has been scoring pretty well here after} 7.  a3 $5) 7. Qd3 $5 {A very odd move in the opening. Supposedly the d3 square  looks more natural for the bishop but the queen move has its own advantages.  The biggest one being that after Nc6 by black, White can just take it and then  exchange the queens, which would not have been possible had the bishop been on  d3. This move has been already played by some great players like Kramnik,  Ivanchuk, Leko and also Vishy Anand!} (7. Bd3 Nc6 8. Nxc6 dxc6 9. e5 Qa5 $5 {  leads to comfortable equality for Black.}) (7. f3 {weakens the dark squares a  little and can be met with the simple} Qc7 8. Bg5 Nc6 {Black has a fine  position.}) (7. e5 Ne4 8. Qg4 Nxc3 9. a3 (9. Qxg7 Na4+ 10. Kd1 Rf8 $19) 9...  Bf8 10. bxc3 Qa5 $15) 7... Nc6 (7... Qc7 {was the other available option.} 8.  a3 Bxc3+ 9. Qxc3 Nxe4 10. Nb5 $1 {is the little trick in this position.} axb5  11. Qxg7 Rf8 12. Bh6 $16 {White is substantially better.}) 8. Nxc6 dxc6 (8...  bxc6 9. a3 Bxc3+ 10. Qxc3 $14 {is a very pleasant position for White.}) 9.  Qxd8+ {Once again Magnus gets what he wants. Queens are off the board and he  can press in this slightly superior endgame. A good opening outcome for the  World Champion.} (9. e5 Qxd3 10. Bxd3 Nd7) 9... Kxd8 10. e5 {This looks pretty  natural and the best move in the position gaining more space.} (10. Bd3 e5 $1 {  and Black has no problems.}) (10. Bd2 e5 $1 $11 {Gives Black a good position.}  (10... Bxc3 $6 11. Bxc3 Nxe4 12. Bxg7 Rg8 13. Be5 $16)) 10... Nd7 {This move  can be condenmed as being too passive. The other option was the more active  Ne4. But does that solve all of Black's opening problems? I am not sure.} (  10... Ne4 11. a3 $1 (11. Bd2 $6 Nxd2 12. Kxd2 Kc7 $15) 11... Bxc3+ 12. bxc3 {  White has a nice position with extra space and two bishops. He should be  better.} Kc7 (12... Nxc3 $2 13. a4 $1 Ne4 14. Be3 $16) 13. Be3 $14) 11. Bf4 {  It was important to defend the e5 pawn with the bishop. If White played his  pawn to f4 it would have only hindered his bishop on c1. It was important to  defend the e5 pawn with the bishop. If White played his pawn to f4 it would  have only hindered his bishop on c1. This was a very important point mentioned  by Svidler in the commentary. The bishop might look passive right now but f4  would limit it even further.} Bxc3+ 12. bxc3 Kc7 {Many strong players on  Twitter condemned Vishy's opening play. GM Fabiano Caruana:Passive and  unpleasant position for Anand - something went very wrong. Now we can settle  down for a long grind. GM Pentala Harikrishna: Anand's opening choice is  surprising. if it is not worked out until draw,it is unpleasant position to  play against Magnus. GM Nigel Short: Actually I don't like the Black position  at all. GM Teimour Radjabov: Terrible choice by Anand today. Just worse,being  worse on Saturday all day long is unpleasant,bad week-end choice. As you can  see all the top GMs are in consensus that Black's position is passive and  Magnus is going to grind on for a long time! Not good news for Vishy Anand.}  13. h4 $1 {Typical Magnus move. You have to feel chess as well as he does to  explain this move. Once when I had a similar position against a GM he asked me  after the game why didn't you play h4-h5. I said what is the threat? He looked  at me as if he did not understand what I was speaking. Without saying much he  left from there. Today I realize that it was simply impossible for him to make  me understand why h4! was the best move. He felt it rather than seeing it! But  trying to put this into words:  The first idea is to push the pawn further  gaining more space. The pawn goes to h5 and if unhindered even to h6. Also the  h1 rook can immediately be activated via h3 and attack the g7 pawn. So all in  all this move starts to put latent pressure on Black's position.} b6 14. h5 {  The pawn wishes to go further to h6 and create more dark squared weaknesses.}  h6 {Stopping the h-pawn but now the g7 pawn will be weak. And Carlsen takes  full advantage of it.} 15. O-O-O (15. Rd1 $5 {was interesting because later on,  Magnus did bring his King over to e1. Maybe this would have saved him a few  moves.}) 15... Bb7 16. Rd3 $5 {As mentioned before the rook goes to g3 but  very interesting to note the Rook which Magnus chose. The rook on h1 is  already very well placed because whenever the pressure on g7 will increase,  Black will go g6 and then Rh1 will anyway come into the game.} c5 17. Rg3 Rag8  18. Bd3 {White moves are definitely easier to make in this position. Black has  a lot of pressure and it is not so easy to relieve himself of it. While  Carlsen is an excellent grinder, Anand is a shrewd defender in such positions  always looking for active counterplay. A great battle of attack and defense  lies ahead.} Nf8 {Anand is definitely angling for g6 to activate his pieces.}  19. Be3 g6 (19... Nd7 20. f3 $5 (20. f4) 20... Nxe5 (20... Kc8 21. Bf4 $14) 21.  Bf4 f6 22. Bxe5+ fxe5 23. Re1 $14) 20. hxg6 Nxg6 (20... fxg6 $2 21. Rxh6 $18)  21. Rh5 $1 {Carlsen knows the best way to keep up the pressure in the position.  He has the double bishops and would not want to part with them unless he is  getting some very concrete advantage.} (21. Rxh6 Nxe5 $1 22. Bf4 (22. Rxh8  Nxd3+ 23. Kd2 Rxh8 24. Kxd3 Rd8+ $15) 22... Rxg3 23. Bxe5+ Kd7 24. Rxh8 Rxd3  $11) 21... Bc6 $5 {This and the next move Kb7 was made pretty quickly by Vishy.  He simply wants to get his king off the h2-b8 diagonal.} 22. Bc2 {The bishop  was exposed and undefended on d3 and threats like Nxe5 would be in the air, so  Magnus safely decides to remove the bishop from that square.} (22. Kd2 {looked  pretty natural but now Black can relieve the pressure with the very accurate}  Ne7 $1 23. Rxg8 Rxg8 24. g3 Rd8 $1 {The reason why Kd2 would be a bad move.}  25. Kc2 (25. Ke2 Bf3+ $1 $15) 25... Ba4+ 26. Kd2 Nf5 $15) (22. f4 $2 Nxe5 $1  23. Rxg8 Nxd3+ 24. Kd2 Rxg8 $19) 22... Kb7 (22... Ne7 23. Rxg8 Rxg8 24. g3 $14  {maintains the pressure on Black thanks to the weakened h6 pawn.}) 23. Rg4 (23.  Kd2 {was a better way to start. The king will be well placed on e2. As we will  see in the game the timing Magnus chose to bring out his king was completely  wrong.} Be8 24. Ke1 $1 $14 (24. Ke2 f5 $1)) 23... a5 24. Bd1 Rd8 (24... Ne7 25.  Rxg8 Rxg8 26. g3 $14 {keeps control.}) 25. Bc2 {Magnus sees no way to make  progress and repeats the position. Some of the poeple started to think that  game might end in a draw but knowing Magnus it is obvious that he would press  in such situations.} Rdg8 26. Kd2 $2 {[%cal Gg6e5,Ga5a4] An extremely bad  mistake by Carlsen and very uncharacteristic of him. He is usually quite alert  to the tactical details but here this move simply lets Vishy win a pawn.} a4 $2  {Missing a huge tactical resource. As Vishy said after the game, he was just  too focussed on this idea with a4-a3 and trying to get counterplay that he did  not notice this tactic with Nxe5. Magnus noticed that he had missed the  tactics after he played Kd2 and Vishy noticed it after he played a4.} (26...  Nxe5 $1 {It is extremely surprising that Vishy missed this simple tactic.} 27.  Rxg8 Nxc4+ $1 28. Kd3 Nb2+ 29. Kd2 Rxg8 $17 {With the g2 pawn attacked and Nc4  coming up again, this position is extremely bad for White. How did Vishy miss  this tactic. He was under pressure and he made his move 26...a4 very quickly.  Maybe he just didn't believe that Carlsen would blunder so badly. Caruana's  tweet at this point: "Shocking blunders... Vishy won't be able to sleep  tonight."}) 27. Ke2 {Everything is back to normal now. Magnus pressing and  Vishy defending!} (27. a3 {would have been ideal but then it would trying your  luck a little bit too muc. Nxe5 is just winning.} Nxe5 $17) 27... a3 {What has  Black achieved by pushing his pawn to a3? The main idea is to now at some  point play Ra8 and exchange the bishops with Ba4. Kramnik said that Magnus  should not have allowed the black pawn to come to a3 but I think Magnus  realised that Nxe5 was actually possible and hence could not meet a4 with a3.}  28. f3 {Defending the rook on g4 and blunting the bishop on c6.} Rd8 29. Ke1 {  Magnus is playing the waiting game. He is keeping all his options open,  realizing that Black can do absolutely nothing.} (29. Bxg6 fxg6 30. Rxg6 Be8  31. Rg7+ Rd7 32. Rxd7+ Bxd7 33. Rxh6 Rxh6 34. Bxh6 {In this endgame you cannot  be sure that White is winning.} Ba4 35. Bc1 Bc2 36. Bxa3 Bb1 37. g4 Bxa2 38.  Kd3 Kc7 39. Bc1 Kd7 $11 {and Black should be able to hold this one.}) 29... Rd7  {Vishy's idea is now simple. He doesn't really care for the h6 pawn, he just  wants to create counterplay.} 30. Bc1 Ra8 31. Ke2 Ba4 {From this point Vishy  starts to self destruct. He gives up all the pawns without any compensation .}  (31... Rad8 {was a better try} 32. Bxh6 $6 Rh8 $1 33. Bxg6 fxg6 34. Rxg6 {And  White is pinned and it's opposite coloured bishops and there are some chances  to draw.}) 32. Be4+ $1 {Forcing the bishop to come back to c6.} Bc6 $2 (32...  Ka7 {was not the ideal option but it was the only way for Black to continue  the fight.} 33. Bxa8 (33. Bxg6 fxg6 34. Rxg6 Bb3 $1 35. axb3 (35. Bxa3 Bxc4+  $15) 35... a2 36. Bb2 Rad8 $15 {Black has a lot of counterplay.}) 33... Kxa8 {  might have been an interesting choice as the knight on g6 sits strong and  Black has decent counterplay. Of course White is better but Black has his  chances.} 34. Rxh6 Rd1 35. Bxa3 Ra1 36. Ke3 Nxe5 $44) 33. Bxg6 $1 {Now it is  all over. All the black pawns are falling.} fxg6 34. Rxg6 Ba4 (34... Rad8 35.  Rhxh6 {doesnt generate sufficient counterplay.} Rd1 36. Bg5 R8d7 37. Rxe6 $18)  35. Rxe6 Rd1 36. Bxa3 Ra1 37. Ke3 Bc2 38. Re7+ {And there was absolutely  nothing that Vishy could do and he had to resign the game.} (38. Re7+ Ka6 39.  Rxh6 Rxa2 40. Bxc5 $18 {The main thing I feel happened in this game was that  after playing a5-a4 Vishy realized that he missed Nxe5 tactic and he just  started to play weak moves. Chess is really a psychological games and it is  difficult to come out of such misses even for the best. A question was asked  to Kramnik who was in the commentary room: "How does one recover from such a  blunder?" Kramnik's answer: "My experience says that it is impossible to  recover." Let's see if Kramnik's words turn out to be. As of now Magnus leads  the match 3.5-2.5.}) 1-0