Match Carlsen-Anand 2014 Partie 9 : 1/2-1/2

  [Event "FWCM 2014"]  [Site "Sochi"]  [Date "2014.11.20"]  [Round "9.1"]  [WhiteID "1503014"]  [White "Magnus Carlsen"]  [BlackID "5000017"]  [Black "Viswanathan Anand"]  [Result "1/2-1/2"]  [BlackElo "2792"]  [WhiteElo "2863"]  [ECO "C67"]  [Annotator "Sagar Shah"]   {We are now into the final leg of the match. With eight games completed, the  score stands at 4.5-3.5 in favour of Carlsen. Anand's strategy has been pretty  simple.  He wants to take his chances with the White pieces and wants to hold  with Black. Even though very few games remain in the match, Anand felt it was  not the right moment to press with Black. And Magnus was pretty fine with what  happened today. Let's have a look at another Berlin.} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3.  Bb5 Nf6 4. O-O Nxe4 5. d4 Nd6 6. Bxc6 dxc6 7. dxe5 Nf5 8. Qxd8+ Kxd8 {This is  how my conversation with a ten-year-old student, who is around 1200 Elo, went:  Me: How was your tournament?  Student: It was good. But I really didn't do  well with the White pieces.1.d4 doesn't suit my attacking style so well.  Me:  Why don't you play 1.e4 from the next tournament?  Student: 1.e4?!! What do  you think I should do against the Berlin?!  I think every chess player now  knows what the Berlin is as you could see from the imaginary conversation I  had with this young kid. Yes, the Berlin is dangerous but only at the higest  level where guys like Carlsen, Anand, Caruana, Topalov, Kramnik, etc. who know  all the intricacies from both the sides. At our level (below 2500) I think  Berlin is just another opening that has a lot of possibilites. So learn from  these games but do not fear the Berlin would be my advice.} 9. h3 {The reason  why this move is preferred to the normal Nc3 was explained in game 7.} Ke8 10.  Nc3 h5 11. Ne2 $5 {This is where Carlsen diverted from game 7 of this  match in which he had played Bf4. This move is interesting. The idea is to  immediately challenge the f5 Knight by playing Ned4 and at some point also  eyeing the f4 square.} b6 {The Bishop plans to develop itself on b7 and  sometimes even to the a6 square.} (11... c5 $5 {stopping Nd4 has not been  tried before but I think it is pretty interesting.}) 12. Rd1 {You can  understand this move when you see the variation below. White tries to attack  the c7 pawn from Nb5, and the Black King defends c7 via d7. So Rd1 is intended  to cut the King off and of course you can never really argue when a player  places his Rook on an open file!} (12. Ned4 Nxd4 13. Nxd4 c5 14. Nb5 Kd7 $1 15.  Rd1+ Kc6 $15 {The Black King is safe on c6 and Black has an excellent position.  }) 12... Ba6 $5 {One of the journalist in the press conference asked Anand  what exactly is the subtlety in moving the Bishop to a6 and then to b7? For  the first time in the press conference, a genuine smile erupted on Anand's  face and he said I would rather not say it now. Of course Anand doesn't want  to reveal his preparation here but the point of Ba6 is not too complicated. It  can be explained with the help of direct Bb7.} (12... Bb7 13. Ned4 Nxd4 14.  Nxd4 {Now Black would really like to kick the Knight from d4 with the help of  c5 but the problem is Nb5 and there we have it. Bishop moving to a6 is  designed precisely in order to prevent this Nd4-b5 manoeuvre.}) 13. Nf4 (13.  Ned4 {was seen in the game Kurnosov-Karjakin and it gives Black excellent  position after} Nxd4 14. Nxd4 c5 $1 15. Nf5 Be2 $5 {a minor inconvenience to  the Rook before relocating the Bishop to e6.} 16. Rd2 Bc4 17. Ne3 Be6 18. Nd5  Rc8 19. b3 c6 20. Ne3 Rd8 21. Rxd8+ Kxd8 22. Bb2 g6 $11 {Black has absolutely  no problems and with the two bishops he might even be slightly better here.})  13... Bb7 $146 {This is the first new move of the game. Previously the only  game that reached this position, Dominguez-Ponomariov, continued Rd8 and ended  in a crushing victory for the White player. Hence, it is the perfect moment  for Anand to find the new move. It was unexpected for Magnus who started  taking a lot of time for his next moves.} 14. e6 {Carlsen goes for the most  direct move. Though the move looks really dangerous, Anand had it all worked  out.} Bd6 (14... fxe6 $6 15. Ng6 $1 (15. Nxe6 Bd6 $11) 15... Rg8 16. Ng5 {  White has a lot of pressure on the position.}) 15. exf7+ {Magnus said that he  really couldn't find anything concrete for White in this position.} (15. Re1 $5  {was interesting and it could have been Magnus' choice against an unprepared  opponent. But with Anand blitzing out his moves, it seemed quite dangerous to  go into this.} f6 $1 (15... c5 16. exf7+ Kxf7 17. Ng5+ Kg8 (17... Kf6 18. Re6+  Kxg5 19. Rg6+ Kh4 20. g3+ Nxg3 21. fxg3#) 18. c3 Rh6 {Black position looks  solid enough.}) 16. Ng6 Rh7 {And as Svidler rightly mentioned, the e6 pawn  might turn out to be a weakness more than a strength.}) 15... Kxf7 16. Ng5+ Kf6  (16... Kg8 {looks incorrect and a concession since the rooks are disconnected  for the time being.} 17. Nfe6 c5 18. Bf4 $14) 17. Ne4+ Kf7 18. Ng5+ (18. Nxd6+  cxd6 19. a4 (19. c4 Rae8 $15) 19... g5 20. Ne2 Kf6 21. a5 c5 $11 {Black is  alright.}) 18... Kf6 19. Ne4+ Kf7 {Now if Carlsen would repeat the position  with Ng5 it would be the third time and knowing what a tremendous fighter he  is everyone was of the opinion that he had just repeated the moves to gain  time on the clock and will now take on d6. But....} 20. Ng5+ {Magnus eschewed  all his fighting qualties and agreed to a draw by repeating the position  thrice. The match situation had surely more to do with this decision than  anything else. This was the shortest game of the match in terms of duration as  well as moves. Surely a draw with Black without even having to think for a  single move is quite a nice moral victory for Anand. The match gets more  interesting as three games are left and Anand has two Whites. Will he be able  to equalize the match? Only time will tell.} 1/2-1/2