Match Carlsen-Anand 2014 Partie 11 : 1-0

  [Event "FWCM 2014"]  [Site "Sochi"]  [Date "2014.11.23"]  [Round "11.1"]  [WhiteID "1503014"]  [White "Magnus Carlsen"]  [BlackID "5000017"]  [Black "Viswanathan Anand"]  [Result "1-0"]  [BlackElo "2792"]  [WhiteElo "2863"]  [ECO "C67"]  [Annotator "Sagar Shah"]   {The 11th game of the match turned out to be the last game. Vishy Anand was  trailing by a point with the score being 5.5-4.5 in favour Magnus Carlsen.  Vishy's solid choice of opening, Berlin, made it quite certain that he wanted  to play it safe in game 11 and go for the win in game 12. The opening went  wonderfully well for the Indian and after 20 odd moves he was on the verge of  snatching the initiative. That's when things started to go wrong! Before I  reveal all the details lets see what actually happened in the game.} 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 9. h3 {This is the third time the exact position has been reached in this  World Championship match. According to Carlsen, the Berlin suits his style and  he enjoys playing it with both the colours. And Vishy with his excellent  opening preparation has made Berlin almost a bullet proof system.} Bd7 {The  idea of this move is to make way for the king to go to c8 where it will be  safe. The bishop doesnt go to e6 immediately because it can be attacked by the  knight from g5. Remember the key point: The light squared bishop is the key  piece for Black in this position. Black as you will see takes utmost care that  it remains on the board.} (9... Ke8 {was played by Vishy on previous two  occasions.}) 10. Nc3 (10. Ng5 Ke8 {leads nowhere for White.}) 10... h6 {The  light squared bishop will be best placed on e6. It can be eliminated by Ng5 or  Nd4. The move h6 prevents a future h6 and later Black goes c5 to prevent Nd4.  All this for his unchallenged light squared bishop.} 11. b3 Kc8 12. Bb2 c5 {  Controlling the d4 square. Now the bishop is free to go e6 without any  problems.} 13. Rad1 b6 14. Rfe1 Be6 15. Nd5 {This move was important as Black  was threatening c5-c4 when his doubled pawns would be dissolved. It was  necessary to stop it because that is a huge advantage that White has in return  for giving up his bishop. At the same time he threatens the move Nf4.} g5 {  Didn't I tell you that the e6-bishop is the most important piece! He will do  just about anything to prevent it from getting exchanged.} 16. c4 Kb7 {In  general Black is behind in development but still he is fine because it is  impossible for White to create any meaningful threats. The closed nature of  the position gives Black a very nice position.} 17. Kh2 (17. g4 {I show you  this variation because I want to show you a very nice idea.} Ne7 18. Nf6 {and  now Black can play in the style of Benko Gambit.} b5 $5 {sacrificing a pawn in  order to open files on the queenside.} 19. cxb5 a6 $5 20. bxa6+ Rxa6 {Black  really has excellent compensation for the pawn.}) 17... a5 18. a4 {of course  White must prevent the black pawn from opening lines on the queenside with  a5-a4.} Ne7 19. g4 {This is the only real plan that White has in this position.  He realises that the g5 pawn is a weakness and looks to take advantage of it  with h4 in future. But before that he must fix this g5 pawn and hence g4 is a  good move.} Ng6 20. Kg3 Be7 {At this point I felt that Black has a very  comfortable position. h4 has been prevented and at the same time he has  connected his rooks. Anand has abolutely no problems but White is not worse.  Carlsen starts to improve his f3- knight seeing that h4 is no longer possible.}  21. Nd2 (21. Nf6 {This move could have been met with the very strong} b5 $1 {  This idea did occur in the game. You cannot take with the c-pawn as then b3  would hang and if you took with the a-pawn then a5-a4 gives Black enough  counterplay.}) (21. Nxe7 Nxe7 22. h4 gxh4+ 23. Nxh4 Rag8 $17 {gives Black just  too much counterplay.}) 21... Rhd8 22. Ne4 Bf8 23. Nef6 (23. Ndf6 Nf4 24. h4 $2  Nd3 $1 25. Re2 Nxb2 26. Rxd8 Rxd8 27. Rxb2 Rd3+ $17) (23. Rd2 c6 24. Ndf6 Rxd2  25. Nxd2 Rd8 $15) 23... b5 $3 {tremendously brave move by Vishy. Of course he  already had a very comfortable position but this move just turns on the heat  on Carlsen. The fact that there were also other good moves like ...c6, makes  this decision by Vishy commendable. He is ready to take extreme amount of risk  even in such a crucial encounter.} (23... c6 24. Ne3 b5 {was quite good as  well.}) 24. Bc3 $1 {Such moves make you a World Champion. While many players  would be quite disturbed by a beautiful move like ...b5!, Carlsen is not one  among them. He maintains his cool and plays a move that puts the ball back in  Vishy's court. That is the reason why beating Carlsen is extremely difficult.  He never really gives you the game on a platter!} (24. cxb5 c6 $1 {This was  the brilliant idea.} 25. bxc6+ Kxc6 $17 {The main problem is the loose White  center and also the weak b3 pawn which will fall pretty soon.} 26. Nc3 Rxd1 27.  Rxd1 Bxb3 $19) (24. axb5 a4 $1 25. bxa4 Rxa4 26. Rc1 Nf4 $1 27. Nxf4 gxf4+ 28.  Kxf4 Rd2 $15 {With a lot of activity for Black.}) 24... bxa4 {a brave decision  by Vishy but it would have been inadvisable for him to close the queenside  with b5-b4. So it was quite a logical move as well.} 25. bxa4 Kc6 $1 {At this  point, almost everyone including the engines are very optimistic about Black's  chances. He has pressure on the d5 point and also the idea of infiltrating on  the b-file with Rdb8. Carlsen had to be very careful. He was visibly tensed  because if he lost this game then the scores would be level with he having the  disadvantage of Black pieces in the last game. While some crack under pressure,  guys like Carlsen come up with fantastic concepts!} 26. Kf3 $3 {The double  exclamations are not for the objective merits of the move but for the  explanation that Carlsen gave at the end of the game. This is what he said , "  I felt that my center was disintegrating. The points e5 and d5 were under  quite a lot of pressure. I saw that my king was doing nothing on g3, so why  not bring it to e4 where it would protect everything!"  So easy to understand  when he explains it yet simply impossible for mere mortals to find it. This  gives us a gateway into the way Magnus thinks.} Rdb8 (26... Be7 $1 {was  definitely the best move and would have given Black an excellent position. The  idea is very simple. Black puts pressure on the f6 knight and intends to  capture it. If d5-knight takes back then the c4 pawn falls and if pawn takes  on f6 then d5 becomes weak. White is under pressure here.} 27. Ne3 (27. Ke4  Bxf6 28. exf6 Bxd5+ 29. cxd5+ Kd6 $17) (27. Nxe7+ Nxe7 $15 {c4 is just too  weak.}) 27... Rxd1 28. Rxd1 Bxf6 29. exf6 Rb8 30. Bxa5 Ne5+ 31. Ke4 Nxc4 $15) (  26... Bg7 {was considered by Anand and is equally as good as Be7. Anand should  have gone for it.}) 27. Ke4 Rb4 $6 {An extremely emotional decision by Anand.  As he described after the game that he lost the control on his nerves. At the  start of the game he was quite objective but here he sensed that it was his  chance to force the matters and hence went for it. It turns out that this was  not the best move. And practically too doesn't set White enough problems which  normally such exchange sacrifices should pose.} (27... Rb3 {was better but  maybe sufficient only for equality.} 28. Rb1 Ra3 29. Ra1 Rb3 (29... Rxc3 $5 30.  Nxc3 Bxc4 31. Rac1 Bb3 $15) 30. Rab1 Ra3 $11) 28. Bxb4 {Carlsen snatched the  rook without much thought. As he said in the press conference, he usually  loves to snatch material whenever he gets the chance.} cxb4 {Anand's decision  is quite understandable. He makes way for the bishop to come to c5. And at the  same time he thought he should have good compensation. But as Anish Giri  rightly mentions, "Anand just felt it. He did not see it." The perfection with  which Carlsen finishes off the game now is worth studying.} (28... axb4 {I had  a feeling that atleast this was a better option because the a4 pawn is quite  weak.} 29. Nh5 Rxa4 30. Ra1 Rxa1 31. Rxa1 $14 {White definitely is better but  Black atleast has a pawn for his worries.}) 29. Nh5 $1 {Carlsen said he was  quite proud of this idea with Nh5 with f4 that he found and maybe that was his  best move in the entire game. Anand might have missed this.} Kb7 30. f4 gxf4 $2  (30... Bd7 $1 31. f5 Bxa4 32. fxg6 fxg6 33. Nhf6 Bc2+ 34. Kd4 Bxd1 35. Rxd1 c6  $14 {was the last chance for Black.}) 31. Nhxf4 Nxf4 32. Nxf4 $1 {very  accurate.} (32. Kxf4 c6 33. Ne3 Kb6 $14 {keeps White's advantage to a minimum.}  ) 32... Bxc4 33. Rd7 Ra6 34. Nd5 Rc6 35. Rxf7 Bc5 36. Rxc7+ $1 {The final  little tactic before clinching the crown.} Rxc7 37. Nxc7 Kc6 38. Nb5 Bxb5 39.  axb5+ Kxb5 40. e6 b3 41. Kd3 Be7 42. h4 {creating a second passed pawn.} a4 43.  g5 hxg5 44. hxg5 a3 45. Kc3 {Anand stretched his hand forward which meant that  Carlsen had successfully defended his title and won the match with a score of  6.5-4.5.  If Anand would have kept his nerves and drawn this game, chess  lovers would have been treated to a very interesting 12th game. But it could  not be. At the age of 23 Carlsen successfully defends his title. This is an  amazing feat. He was surely the better player as Anand himself conceded in the  press conference. The Carlsen reign will not end so easily! Who will be his  next challenger? Majority of the people are talking about the Italian Fabiano  Caruana. But the next World Championship is two years away i.e in 2016. Till  then it's Carlsen all the way! Long live the King!} 1-0