World Chess Championship 2013: Preview 1 of the Anand-Carlsen Match

With the Anand-Carlsen World Championship Match just days away, I have decided to start posting some of my favorite games played by either Viswanathan Anand or Magnus Carlsen. Our first game is taken from the 2003 World Youth Chess Championships. In the gem below, a fourteen-year-old Magnus Carlsen drops the “hammer” on his fellow Norwegian.

[Event “FIDE World Youth Chess Championship”]

[Site “Halkidiki (Greece)”]

[Date “2003”]

[Round “1”]

[White “Hammer, Jon Ludvig (NOR)”]

[Black “Carlsen, Magnus (NOR)”]

[Result “0-1”]

[Eco “B07”]

[Annotator “Chris Torres”]

1.Nf3 {Thus begins an exciting encounter between Norway’s two young superstars. I am sure Norway’s coaches were wondering why this had to happen in round 1}

d6

2.d4 Nf6

3.Nbd2 g6

4.e4 {Jon Ludvig Hammer has complete control of the center.}

Bg7

5.Bd3 O-O

6.O-O Nc6

7.c3 e5 {Magnus Carlsen strikes at white’s central advantage.}

8.h3 {Hammer plays a clever but slow move here. In doing so, he keeps control of the

Center and makes Carlsen’s bishop on “c8” a very difficult piece to develop usefully.}

Nh5 {Magnus Carlsen chooses to complicate matters after his opponent’s “slow” move.}

9.dxe5 {Hammer plays what Carlsen was hoping for. Better was}

( 9.Nb3 Nf4 10.Bxf4 exf4 11.Qd2 {

Jon Ludvig Hammer would still be controlling the center, his king is castled

and his rooks are unified(the rooks can “see” each other.} )

Nf4

{Hammer’s center is fracturing and Magnus Carlsen’s knight has invaded his territory with initiative.}

10.Bb5 {?} {Hammer bishop would be way better on “c4” sharing a diaganol with Carlsen’s

king. On “b5” it pins Carlsen’s knight to an empty square.}

Nxe5{!} {Carlsen’s knights are becoming Hammer’s problems.}

11.Nxe5{?} {Big mistake. Better was:} ( 11.Nc4 Ned3 12.Bxf4 Nxf4 13.Ne3

c6 14.Bd3 Be6 )

Qg5 {!} {The obvious punishment for Hammer’s last crime.}

12.Ng4 Qxb5

13.Nb3 Ne2+ {!} {Carlsen is still punishing Hammer’s eleventh move. I can almost hear Montell Jordan singing “This is How We Do it.”}

14.Kh1 Bxg4

15.hxg4 Rae8 {!} {If you can spot why Carlsen played his last move, you are doing better than Hammer did in this game.}

16.Be3 {????} {Correct was:} ( 16.a4 Qc4 17.Be3 )

Rxe4 17.Re1

{Jon Ludvig Hammer must have been praying that Magnus Carlsen does not see the neat finish.}

Qh5+ {!} {Of course Hammer resigns. After gxh4, Rh4 is mate.} 0-1