World Chess Championship 2013: Anand vs. Carlsen Game 3

The third game of the Anand-Carlsen World Chess Championship Match was perhaps the most exciting and revealing game yet. Magnus Carlsen employed the Reti Opening as white but it was Anand who seemed better prepared for its complexities. After gaining an advantage, Vishy, as in game 2, failed to take the risks necessary to really bring the point home. The key point of the game occurs when Magnus muddies the waters with “28. e3.” For Anand to play for a win after this move, he would have had to go out on a limb on move 29. Carlsen rightly calculated that  Anand was unwilling to risk a loss to obtain a win. Armed with this information, Magnus Carlsen should be able to adjust his match strategy to capitalize on Anand’s cautious play.

[Event “World Chess Championship“]
[Site “Chennai”]
[Date “2013.11.12”]
[Round “3”]
[White “Magnus Carlsen”]
[Black “Viswanathan Anand”]
[Result “1/2-1/2”]
[Eco “A09”]
[Annotator “Chris Torres”]

1.Nf3 d5 2.g3 g6 3.c4 {Despite what I keep reading on other sites, this really should be called a
“Reti” not a “King’s Indian Attack.” IMHO the King’s Indian Attack should play
like the King’s Indian Defence in reverse. Bobby Fischer was excellent at
employing the King’s Indian Attack. The Reti, on the other hand, features an
early “c4” and allows for more early traps. Also, as in this game, white is not
just placing pieces “where they go” as he does in the King’s Indian Attack.}
dxc4 4.Qa4+ {Sometimes it seems that Magnus Carlsen just wants to make the job of being a
chess coach that much harder. Here he doesn’t have a center pawn but has brought
his queen out early. This is the kind of play we generally discourage young players from.}
Nc6 {Viswanathan Anand chose the best scoring move. Other ideas are presented below:}
( 4…Qd7 5.Qxc4 Qc6 6.Na3 Qxc4 7.Nxc4 Nc6 8.Bg2 Bg7 9.d3 Nf6
10.Bd2 Nd5 11.Rb1 a5 12.h3 e6 13.a3 a4 14.e4 Nde7 15.Bc3 Bxc3+
16.bxc3 b6 17.d4 Bb7 18.Nfd2 Na5 19.Nxa5 Rxa5 20.O-O O-O {1/2-1/2, Soppe Guillermo (ARG) 2440 – Lima Darcy (BRA) 2475 , Sao Paulo 1997 It (open) “Braganca Paulista”}
) ( 4…Nd7 5.Bg2 Bg7 6.Qxc4 Ngf6 7.O-O O-O 8.d3 Nb6 9.Qh4 Nfd5
10.d4 Nb4 11.Na3 c6 12.Rd1 a5 13.e4 h5 14.h3 f6 15.b3 Be6 16.Be3
Bf7 17.g4 g5 18.Nxg5 fxg5 19.Bxg5 hxg4 20.Bxe7 Qd7 21.Bc5 Be6
22.hxg4 Bxg4 23.Bxb6 Bxd1 24.Rxd1 {…0-1, Arsovic Zoran (SRB) 2444 – Raicevic Momcilo (MNE) 2379 , Kraljevo 9/19/2011 Ch Central Serbia (team)}
)

5.Bg2 Bg7 6.Nc3 ( 6.Qxc4 e5 7.Ng5 Nh6 8.Bxc6+ bxc6 9.d4 Qd5
10.Qxd5 cxd5 11.dxe5 Bxe5 12.Nc3 Bxc3+ 13.bxc3 O-O 14.Bf4 Re8
15.Nf3 {1/2-1/2, Shoker Samy (EGY) 2512 – Tkachiev Vladislav (FRA) 2631 , Mulhouse 5/27/2011 Ch France (team) 2011}
) ( 6.O-O e5 7.Nxe5 Bxe5 8.Bxc6+ bxc6 9.Qxc6+ Bd7 10.Qe4 f6 11.f4
Bf5 12.Qc6+ Bd7 13.Qe4 Bf5 14.Qc6+ {1/2-1/2, Markowski Tomasz (POL) 2557 – Kruppa Yuri (UKR) 2603 , Koszalin 1999 It (open)}
)

e5 7.Qxc4 Nge7 8.O-O ( 8.d3 O-O 9.O-O h6 10.Bd2 Nf5 11.Rac1
Re8 12.Ne4 Ncd4 13.Nxd4 Nxd4 14.Rfe1 c6 15.e3 Ne6 16.Bb4 Bf8
17.Bc3 Bg7 18.f4 exf4 19.gxf4 Nc7 20.Bxg7 Kxg7 21.Kh1 f6 22.Bf3
Be6 23.Qb4 Rb8 24.Nd6 Re7 25.Rg1 Kh7 26.Ne4 Rf7 27.Nc5 Qe7 {
…1-0, Martinovic Sasa (CRO) 2525 – Rubil Marko (CRO) 2094 , Sv. Filip i
Jakov 4/17/2009 Ch Croatia (team) (1st league) (juniors)} )
O-O 9.d3

h6 {This move signals to Magnus Carlsen that Viswanathan Anand is well within his preparation.}
( 9…Be6 10.Qa4 h6 11.Rd1 Nd4 12.Rb1 c6 13.b4 a5 14.Rd2 b5 15.Qa3
c5 16.Nxd4 exd4 17.Nxb5 cxb4 18.Qb2 Rb8 19.a4 Bd5 20.Rc2 Bxg2
21.Kxg2 Nd5 22.Bd2 Nc3 23.Bxc3 Qd5+ 24.Kg1 dxc3 25.Qb3 Qd7 26.Rd1
Rfc8 27.h4 h5 28.Kg2 Rb6 29.f3 {…0-1, Managadze Nikoloz (GEO) 2459 – Vorobiov Evgeny E (RUS) 2598 , Paleochora 7/23/2009 It (open)}
) ( 9…Nd4 10.Nxd4 exd4 11.Ne4 Be6 12.Qb5 b6 13.Bg5 f6 14.Bc1
a6 15.Qa4 c5 16.Nd2 Ra7 17.Nf3 Re8 18.Bd2 Nd5 19.b4 Bf7 20.bxc5
bxc5 21.Ba5 Qd7 22.Qxd7 Rxd7 23.Rfc1 Bf8 24.Kf1 Rb7 25.Nd2 Rb2
26.Bf3 Bh6 27.Rd1 Nc3 28.Bxc3 dxc3 29.Ne4 {…0-1, Seul Georg (GER) 2443 – Heyken Enno (GER) 2356 , Germany 1993 Bundesliga 1992/93}
)

10.Bd2 {The only reasonable path for unifying the rooks is developing the bishop as Magnus Carlsen did.}
( 10.Be3 Nf5 11.Bc5 Re8 12.Rfe1 Ncd4 13.Rac1 c6 14.Nxd4 exd4
15.Ne4 Be6 16.Qc2 Bd5 17.a4 b6 18.Ba3 a5 19.b3 c5 20.Rb1 Ne7
21.Bh3 Nc6 22.Rbd1 Ra7 23.Nd2 h5 24.Nc4 Bh6 25.Bc1 Nb4 26.Qb1
Bxc1 27.Qxc1 Rae7 28.Qd2 h4 29.Bg4 f5 {…0-1, Dumpor Atif (BIH) 2411 – Atalik Suat (BIH) 2583 , Zenica 12/ 8/2006 Memorial I.Subasic (cat.9)}
) ( 10.Qh4 Nf5 11.Qxd8 Rxd8 12.Nb5 Rb8 13.Bd2 a6 14.Nc3 Nfd4
15.Nxd4 Nxd4 16.f4 Bg4 17.Rf2 exf4 18.Bxf4 Rd7 19.h3 {1/2-1/2, Huzman Alexander (ISR) 2390 – Khmelnitsky Sergei (UKR) 2403 , Ukraine 1986 Ch Ukraine (1/2 final)}
)

Nd4 {Viswanathan Anand plays an aggressive innovation. I definitely believe Anand
had looked at this position with his team prior to this game.}
( 10…Be6 11.Qa4 Nd4 12.Rfc1 f5 13.Ne1 c5 14.Bxb7 Rb8 15.Bg2
Rxb2 16.Be3 Nxe2+ 17.Nxe2 Rxe2 18.Bxc5 e4 19.d4 f4 20.Rc2 Rxc2
21.Qxc2 e3 22.fxe3 fxe3 23.Qe4 Qd7 24.Nf3 Re8 25.Qxe3 Nf5 26.Qf2
Bd5 27.Re1 Rxe1+ 28.Qxe1 Bxf3 29.Bxf3 Nxd4 30.Bg2 {…1/2-1/2, Kuzubov Yuriy (UKR) 2623 – Negi Parimarjan (IND) 2631 , New Delhi 1/14/2011 It “Parsvnath Open”}
) ( 10…Nf5 11.Na4 Ncd4 12.Nxd4 Nxd4 13.Rfe1 c6 14.e3 b5 15.Qc1
bxa4 16.exd4 Qxd4 17.Re4 Qxd3 18.Bxh6 Bf5 19.Bxg7 Kxg7 20.Rxe5
Rab8 21.Ra5 Qd4 22.Qc3 Rfd8 23.Rxa4 Qxc3 24.bxc3 Rb2 25.h4 Rdd2
26.Rf4 c5 27.a4 a5 28.Re1 Be6 29.Re5 c4 30.Rxa5 {…1/2-1/2, Obukhov Alexander (RUS) 2475 – Yevseev Denis (RUS) 2554 , Krasnoyarsk 2003 Ch Russia}
)

11.Nxd4 exd4 12.Ne4 c6 13.Bb4 Be6 {Viswanathan Anand seemed quite comfortable in this position as is playing very
accurately. Here he simply, “develops with a threat.”}

14.Qc1 Bd5 15.a4 b6 16.Bxe7 Qxe7 {I am starting to really like Anand’s position better because he has more space and the bishop pair.}
17.a5 {Magnus is using a minority attack to create weaknesses on Anand’s queen side.}
Rab8 18.Re1 Rfc8 {
This is why Anand did not play 17… Rfb8. He wanted to place his “f8” rook
into the same file as his opponent’s queen. Placing your rook in the same file
as your opponents queen often times leads to something good down the road.}
19.axb6 axb6

20.Qf4 {?} {Magnus Carlsen has to use another tempo to get his queen in the game. His
choice of where to deploy his queen lacks a lot to be desired and with accurate play, Anand will push it around quite easily.}
Rd8

21.h4 {Nobody can state that Magnus Carlsen is not playing for a win.}
Kh7

22.Nd2 Be5 23.Qg4 {Magnus’s queen may look impressive here, but how many good squares does it actually see? Answer: Not many.}
h5

24.Qh3 {Right about now, Magnus Carlsen is starting to question why he brought his Queen to “f4” in the first place.}
Be6

25.Qh1 {Nobody plans to place the queen next to their king on “h1.” This is turning into a nightmare for Carlsen.}
c5

26.Ne4 Kg7 27.Ng5 b5 {!} {Magnus Carlsen stated, “I underestimated Anand’s plan with b5 giving up the bishop.”}
28.e3 {!?} {
This is the most hotly debated move of the match thus far. Computers seem to
think it is a mistake. IMHO, Magnus is creating complexities to throw Anand off
track. Magnus’ move 28 shows that he is not going to go down quietly. In fact,
Magnus obviously believes that he can out calculate Anand or he would not have played such a provocative move.}
dxe3

29.Rxe3 Bd4 {?} {
Unlinke Carlsen, Anand seems to fear complexity in this match. He could have
given himself a passed pawn and serious winning chances with the line below.}
( 29…Bxb2 30.Rae1 Rb6 31.Bd5 Bd4 32.Rxe6 fxe6 33.Rxe6 Qf8 )
30.Re2 c4 {Anand believes that he, “has enough counterplay here.” I would rather hear the
World Champion focusing on what is enough to win rather than what is enough to counter.}
31.Nxe6+ fxe6 32.Be4 cxd3 33.Rd2 Qb4 {Anand played this move very quickly. Perhaps better was:}
( 33…Rf8 34.Bxd3 Qd6 35.Qg2 Rxf2 36.Rxf2 Rf8 37.Raf1 Bxf2+
38.Rxf2 Rxf2 39.Qxf2 Qxd3 40.Kh2 e5 {and Anand would have a passed pawn which is half way to home plate.}
)

34.Rad1 Bxb2 35.Qf3 Bf6 36.Rxd3 Rxd3 37.Rxd3 ( 37.Bxd3 Qg4
38.Qxg4 hxg4 {Is also playable but leaves Anand with a dangerous passed pawn.}
)

Rd8 {?} {
This was a minor mistake but one that erases much of Anand’s advantage. It
would have been much better to leave the rook where it was for another move and play for complications like this:}
( 37…Bd4 38.Qe2 Rf8 39.Rf3 Rxf3 40.Qxf3 Qe1+ )

38.Rxd8 Bxd8
39.Bd3 {Someone of Magnus Carlsen’s abilities will not have a hard time achieving a draw from an opposite colored bishop endgame.}
Qd4

40.Bxb5 Qf6 {Viswanathan plays this move and offers a draw.}
41.Qb7+ {Magnus declines the draw and elects to play the game out for the pleasure of chess amateurs everywhere.}
Be7

42.Kg2 g5 43.hxg5 Qxg5 44.Bc4 h4 45.Qc7 hxg3 46.Qxg3 e5 47.Kf3
Qxg3+ 48.fxg3 Bc5 49.Ke4 Bd4 50.Kf5 Bf2 51.Kxe5 Bxg3+ {Neither side has mating material so the game is a draw.}
1/2-1/2