World Chess Championship 2013: Carlsen Wins Game 5!

In Round 5 of the 2013 Fide World Chess Championship Match, Magnus Carlsen delivered a figurative punch to the gut of the Champion, Viswanathan Anand. It has become clear that Magnus Carlsen respects Viswanathan Anand’s  opening knowledge much more than he respects his actual chess skills. Carlsen’s plan with the white pieces has been to get Anand “out of book” and then outplay the champion in unconventional positions. That is precisely what Magnus did in round 5.

[Event “World Chess Championship”]
[Site “Chennai”]
[Date “2013.11.15”]
[Round “5”]
[White “Magnus Carlsen”]
[Black “Viswanathan Anand”]
[Result “1-0”]
[Eco “D31”]
[Annotator “Chris Torres”]
[Source “”]

1.c4 e6 2.d4 d5 {This is the Queen’s Gambit Declined(1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6.)}
3.Nc3 c6 {Semi-Slav variation.}

4.e4 {Most common here is Nf3. Carlsen is quickly trying to steer this game into lesser known variations.}
dxe4

5.Nxe4 Bb4+ 6.Nc3 {Another uncommon move. Bishop to d2 is the standard reply.}
c5

7.a3 Ba5 8.Nf3 {This move has only been played 12 times before. I give the more common move and variation below.}
( 8.Be3 Nf6 9.dxc5 Qxd1+ 10.Rxd1 Ne4 11.Nge2 Nxc3 12.Nxc3 Bxc3+
13.bxc3 Bd7 14.Be2 Bc6 15.O-O Nd7 16.Rd2 O-O-O 17.Rb2 e5 18.f4
Rhe8 19.fxe5 Nxe5 20.Bd4 f6 21.Rfb1 Be4 22.Rd1 Nc6 23.Kf2 Re7
24.Rbd2 Red7 25.Bg4 f5 26.Re2 Bxg2 27.Bxf5 Rf8 {…1-0, Piskov Yury (RUS) 2442 – Dreev Alexey (RUS) 2711 , Yurmala 1982 Ch URS (juniors)}
)

Nf6

9.Be3 {Be2 is also playable.} ( 9.Be2 O-O 10.O-O cxd4 11.Nb5
e5 12.Nxe5 Bb6 13.b4 a6 14.c5 axb5 15.cxb6 Qxb6 16.Bb2 Rd8 17.Qd3
Be6 18.Rfd1 Nc6 19.Nxc6 bxc6 20.Bxd4 Qc7 21.Qe3 Ne8 22.Bb6 Rxd1+
23.Rxd1 Qe7 24.Bf3 Rc8 25.h3 Nf6 26.Bc5 Qe8 27.Rd6 Nd5 28.Qg5
h6 {…1-0, Dziuba Marcin (POL) 2556 – Guichard Pauline (FRA) 2277 , Warsaw 12/21/2008 Ch Europe (active)}
)

Nc6 ( 9…O-O 10.Qc2 cxd4 11.Bxd4 Nc6 12.Bc5 Bxc3+ 13.Qxc3
Ne4 14.Qe3 Nxc5 15.Qxc5 Qf6 16.O-O-O Qf4+ 17.Qe3 Qxe3+ 18.fxe3
e5 19.Be2 f6 20.Rd6 Kf7 21.Rhd1 Ke7 22.c5 Be6 23.Bb5 Rac8 24.Bxc6
bxc6 25.e4 Rc7 26.R1d3 Rb8 27.Ne1 Rb5 28.b4 a5 29.Nc2 {…0-1, Mester Gyula (HUN) 2400 – Hajnal Zoltan (HUN) 2225 , Miskolc 1998 It (open) “Avas”}
)

10.Qd3 {This is the first time this position has occurred in recorded chess history.}
( 10.Be2 Ne4 11.Rc1 cxd4 12.Nxd4 Nxc3 13.bxc3 Nxd4 14.Bxd4 O-O
15.O-O Bd7 16.Bf3 {1/2-1/2, Mellado Trivino Juan (AND) 2460 – Korneev Oleg (RUS) 2605 , Manresa 1995 It (open)}
) ( 10.dxc5 Bxc3+ 11.bxc3 Qa5 12.Qc2 Ng4 13.Qc1 O-O 14.Be2 Nxe3
15.Qxe3 Ne7 16.O-O Nf5 17.Qe4 Qxc5 18.Rfd1 f6 19.Bd3 g6 20.h4
Ng7 21.Qd4 Qxd4 22.cxd4 Bd7 23.Be4 Rab8 24.Rab1 Rfc8 25.Bxb7
Rxc4 26.d5 Rc7 27.dxe6 Bxe6 28.Be4 Rxb1 29.Rxb1 Nf5 {…1/2-1/2, Polgar Zsuzsa (USA) 2545 – Portisch Lajos (HUN) 2585 , Budapest 1993 Zt}
) ( 10.d5 exd5 11.Bxc5 Ne4 12.Qe2 Be6 13.O-O-O Nxc5 14.cxd5 Qf6
15.dxe6 Nxe6 16.Nd5 Qh6+ 17.Kb1 O-O 18.Qb5 Rab8 19.Ne7+ Nxe7
20.Qxa5 Nc6 21.Qf5 g6 22.Qf6 Qg7 23.Qxg7+ Kxg7 24.Bc4 Kf6 25.Bxe6
fxe6 26.Rd7 h6 27.Rhd1 Rbd8 28.Kc2 Rxd7 29.Rxd7 Rf7 {…1/2-1/2, Kubala Martin (CZE) 2295 – Splosnov Sergei (BLR) 2350 , Frydek-Mistek 1998 It (cat.4)}
)

cxd4

11.Nxd4 Ng4 {This position looks dead even. Now it will be up to the better chess player to win.}
12.O-O-O {Castling queen-side is a signal that Magnus Carlsen is confident playing for the win.}
Nxe3 {Viswanathan Anand isolates one of Carlsen’s pawns and gets rid of his bishop pair.}
13.fxe3 Bc7 {?} {If Anand had played Qe7 instead he would have stopped the trade of queens and
made playing pawn to b4 rather tricky for Carlsen. Play might have continued as follows:}
( 13…Qe7 14.Kb1 O-O 15.Qc2 Rd8 16.Bd3 g6 17.Nf3 Bd7 {And Viswanathan Anand would have a solid position in a flavor he feels comfortable with.}
)

14.Nxc6 bxc6 15.Qxd8+ Bxd8 16.Be2 Ke7 {?} {Anand’s play is not aggressive enough. It is better to develop with threats and play Bb6.}
17.Bf3 {Magnus Carlsen is more than happy to attack weak and pinned targets.}
Bd7

18.Ne4 Bb6 {?} {It is too late for this move to work now. Magnus can just play pawn to c5.}
19.c5 f5 {Nice, but now Anand loses his bishop pair.}

20.cxb6 fxe4 21.b7 {!} {I am fairly confident that Anand missed this move when he played 18… Bb6.}
Rab8

22.Bxe4 Rxb7 {White has, “a better bishop and a better pawn structure.”-Magnus Carlsen}

23.Rhf1 {and “two open files.”-Chris Torres}

Rb5 {It is not stated as often as it should be that, “rooks on open ranks are pretty good too.”}
24.Rf4 {!?} {Magnus goes about forming a rook battery in not the safest of ways but I
believe the intent is to trick Anand into replying with pawn to g5.}
g5 {Most everybody who is anybody would have played as Anand. Is the “Mozart of Chess” tricking the world?}
25.Rf3 h5 26.Rdf1 Be8 {Obviously this stops Rf7+.}

27.Bc2 {Clearly Carlsen wants Anand to play Rc5.}
Rc5 {Anand does not let Carlsen’s desires stop him from playing strong moves.}
28.Rf6 h4 {Now Magnus Carlsen’s king side pawns can’t move without creating unnecessary
weaknesses or allow the rook on h8 to become a powerful contributor.}
29.e4 {Blocks the bishop but gains the center.}

a5

30.Kd2 {The king must be active in the endgame.}
Rb5

31.b3 {Magnus Carlsen’s bishop is now blocked on both diagonals by its own pawns yet his position it still clearly better.}
Bh5 {Anand now has a clearly superior bishop.}

32.Kc3 Rc5+ {This puts a stop to the white king’s incursions.}
33.Kb2 Rd8 {?} {This move looks so good Anand failed to see that it was a key mistake. Better was:}
( 33…g4 34.R6f2 Rd8 35.g3 hxg3 36.hxg3 Bg6 {And Anand is fine.} )

34.R1f2 {Carlsen takes away Anand’s chances of gaining “the seventh.”}
Rd4 {Anand considers this his “decisive mistake” and believes he should have played
Rg8 instead. It is worth noting that the computers disagree with his opinion of
this move being a mistake, so it is likely that Anand did not quite know where he lost the game.}
35.Rh6 {Carlsen is playing with purpose.}

Bd1

36.Bb1 {!} {Trading bishops here would have resulted in another draw. Play would have followed something like:}
( 36.Bxd1 Rxd1 37.Rg6 Kd6 38.Rg7 Rd3 39.Ka2 Rd4 40.Re2 Re5 41.Kb2
Rdxe4 42.Rxe4 Rxe4 43.Rxg5 )

Rb5

37.Kc3 {Here comes the king again.}
c5

38.Rb2 e5 39.Rg6 a4 {?} {Anand should have discovered this:}
( 39…g4 40.Bd3 Rxb3+ 41.Rxb3 Bxb3 42.Rxg4 c4 43.Be2 Kd6 {Is an easy draw.}
)

40.Rxg5 Rxb3+ 41.Rxb3 Bxb3 42.Rxe5+ Kd6 43.Rh5 Rd1 44.e5+ Kd5
45.Bh7 {Carlsen is obviously planning Bishop to g8+.}

Rc1+ {??}{Anand is not looking his best today.} ( 45…Ra1 46.Bg8+ Kc6
47.Bxb3 Rxa3 {and Anand is fine.} )

46.Kb2 Rg1 47.Bg8+ Kc6 48.Rh6+
Kd7 49.Bxb3 axb3 50.Kxb3 Rxg2 51.Rxh4 {Three passed pawns against one is not good odds for Anand.}
Ke6

52.a4 Kxe5 53.a5 Kd6 54.Rh7 {Carlsen is using good technique but we would not expect otherwise.}
Kd5 55.a6 c4+ 56.Kc3 Ra2 57.a7 Kc5 58.h4 {Viswanathan Anand resigns.} 1-0

Round 1 analysis

Round 2 analysis

Round 3 analysis

Round 4 analysis