The 2013 Fide World Chamionship Match is close to being over at the half-way point. Viswanathan Anand received his second straight loss after playing poorly in a “drawish” rook and pawn endgame. At the press conference, for the second round in a row, Anand failed to recognize the location of his actual loosing mistake. What Anand does seem clear about is what today’s loss means to his future as a chess champion. After the loss in round 6, Anand simply said, “Today is a heavy blow…. I won’t pretend otherwise.”
[Event “World Chess Championship”]
[Site “Chennai”]
[Date “2013.11.16”]
[Round “6”]
[White “Viswanathan Anand”]
[Black “Magnus Carlsen”]
[Result “0-1”]
[Eco “C65”]
[Annotator “Chris Torres”]
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 {The same position as in game four. In other words, it is a Ruy Lopez Berlin Defence.}
4.d3 {Viswanathan Anand chose “4.O-O Nxe4 5.d4 Nd6” in game four. This is the other main variation.}
Bc5 {Magnus Carlsen could have also played d6 here.}
5.c3 {White had a lot of good choices but this is a rather Anand like move.}
( 5.Nxe5 Bxf2+ 6.Kxf2 Nxe5 {Proof that the Fork Trick does not work so well here.}
)
O-O {I often employ something like this:} ( 5…Qe7 6.O-O a6
7.Bxc6 dxc6 8.Nxe5 Qxe5 9.d4 Qe7 10.dxc5 O-O 11.Bg5 Qxe4 12.Bxf6
gxf6 13.Re1 Qg4 14.Qc1 Bf5 15.Re3 Bg6 16.Nd2 Rfe8 17.Nb3 Qg5
18.Rxe8+ Rxe8 19.Qxg5 fxg5 20.Na5 Re2 21.b3 Rc2 22.Nxb7 Rxc3
23.f3 Rc2 24.b4 g4 25.Re1 {…1/2-1/2, Aagaard Jacob (SCO) 2522 – Christensen Tobias (DEN) 2346 , Denmark 1/15/2012 Ch Denmark (team) 2011/12}
)
6.O-O Re8 {More often, black plays d6 to defend e5.}
7.Re1 {Some other good choices are:} ( 7.Nbd2 a6 8.Bxc6 dxc6 9.Nc4
Nd7 10.Re1 Bf8 11.d4 exd4 12.cxd4 Nf6 13.Nce5 Be6 14.h3 Nd7 15.Nd3
f6 16.Qc2 Bf7 17.Bd2 a5 18.b3 Ba3 19.Rad1 Nf8 20.Bc1 Bxc1 21.Nxc1
Qd7 22.Ne2 Bh5 23.Nh4 Qe7 24.f3 Bf7 25.Nc3 Rad8 26.Qf2 Qb4 {…1-0, Alekseev Evgeny (RUS) 2683 – Godena Michele (ITA) 2526 , Eilat 10/11/2012 Cup European Club}
) ( 7.Bg5 h6 8.Bh4 Bf8 9.Nbd2 d6 10.d4 exd4 11.Nxd4 Bd7 12.Nxc6
bxc6 13.Bd3 Be7 14.f4 Qb8 15.Bxf6 Bxf6 16.e5 dxe5 17.Ne4 Qxb2
18.f5 Red8 19.Bc4 Be8 20.Qh5 Rd6 21.Rab1 Qc2 22.Qg4 Kf8 23.h3
Rad8 24.Kh2 Qa4 25.Rb4 Qa3 26.Rb7 R6d7 {…1-0, Carlsen Magnus (NOR) 2826 – Howell David WL (ENG) 2633 , London 12/ 3/2011 It (cat.20)}
)
a6
8.Ba4 b5 ( 8…h6 9.h3 b5 10.Bb3 Bb6 11.Nbd2 d5 12.exd5
Nxd5 13.d4 Nf4 14.Nf1 Nxg2 15.Kxg2 Qd7 16.Ng1 Bb7 17.d5 Na5 18.Be3
c5 19.f3 f5 20.d6+ Nxb3 21.axb3 Re6 22.b4 Rxd6 23.Qe2 Rg6+ 24.Kh1
Bc7 25.bxc5 Qc6 26.Nh2 Re8 27.Rad1 Ree6 28.Qd2 {…1-0, Abreu Aryam (CUB) 2487 – Alvarez Pedraza Aramis (CUB) 2466 , Habana 5/11/2008 Memorial J.Capablanca (open)}
)
9.Bb3 {The famous chess queen, Alexandra Kosteniuk, lost with Bc2.}
( 9.Bc2 d5 10.exd5 Nxd5 11.a4 b4 12.Ng5 h6 13.Ne4 Bb6 14.Qh5
Nf6 15.Qf3 Nxe4 16.Qxe4 Qd6 17.Nd2 f5 18.Qh4 Qe7 19.Qg3 bxc3
20.bxc3 Qf6 21.Nc4 Bd7 22.Nxb6 cxb6 23.Rb1 Na7 24.Qe3 Qg6 25.f3
b5 26.axb5 Nxb5 27.Bb3+ Kh8 28.Ba4 Bc6 {…0-1, Zhao Dindin (CHN) 2217 – Kosteniuk Alexandra (RUS) 2469 , Szeged 1994 Ch World (juniors) (under 10) (g)}
)
d6 {This is a very equal position. I like Carlsen’s move a little better than:}
( 9…h6 10.Nbd2 d6 11.h3 Bd7 12.Nf1 Qc8 13.Be3 Bxe3 14.Nxe3
Be6 15.Bc2 Bd7 16.Nh4 Qd8 17.Nhf5 Bxf5 18.Nxf5 Ne7 19.g4 Nxf5
20.gxf5 d5 21.Qe2 dxe4 22.dxe4 c6 23.a4 Nh7 24.Kh2 Qh4 25.Rg1
Ng5 26.Rg3 Red8 27.Qe3 Qf4 28.Bd3 Rab8 29.axb5 {…1-0, Recuero Guerra David (ESP) 2471 – Rodriguez Gonzalez Ruben (ESP), Santa Olaya 2000 It (open)}
)
10.Bg5 {Viswanathan Anand goes straight for the pin. Here are some other interesting games from this line:}
( 10.a4 Bb7 11.Nbd2 h6 12.Nf1 Ne7 13.Ng3 Ng6 14.axb5 axb5 15.Rxa8
Bxa8 16.Ba2 Qd7 17.h3 Bb6 18.Nh2 d5 19.Nh5 Nxh5 20.Qxh5 Nf4 21.Bxf4
exf4 22.Nf3 c6 23.d4 Qa7 24.Bb1 c5 25.e5 Bc6 26.Qf5 cxd4 27.cxd4
Bxd4 28.Nxd4 Qxd4 29.Qh7+ Kf8 {…1-0, Bauer Christian (FRA) 2631 – Marciano David (FRA) 2522 , Switzerland 10/22/2011 Ch Switzerland (team) 2011}
) ( 10.Nbd2 Be6 11.Nf1 Bb6 12.h3 h6 13.Ng3 Bxb3 14.axb3 a5 15.Nh2
Qd7 16.Ng4 Nxg4 17.hxg4 f6 18.Nf5 Ne7 19.Be3 Bxe3 20.Rxe3 d5
21.Re1 d4 22.Qc2 c5 23.c4 Nxf5 24.gxf5 Reb8 25.Ra3 Kh7 26.Rea1
Qc7 27.Qd2 bxc4 28.bxc4 Rb4 29.b3 Rab8 {…1/2-1/2, Dominguez Lenier (CUB) 2716 – Karjakin Sergey (UKR) 2717 , Moscow 11/16/2009 It “World Blitz”}
)
Be6
11.Nbd2 h6 12.Bh4 Bxb3 13.axb3 {Viswanathan Anand’s rook on a1 is all of a sudden developed without ever moving.}
Nb8 {Explaining all the reasoning behind this move would take too much space in the
context of analyzing this game. However, it is quite common to redeploy the
knight to d7 in the Breyer System of the Ruy Lopez. Clearly this is what Magnus intends.}
( 13…Bb6 14.Nf1 g5 15.Bg3 d5 16.exd5 Qxd5 17.Ne3 Qd7 18.h3
Rad8 19.Rxa6 Qxd3 20.Qc1 Re6 21.Kh2 Ne4 22.Rxb6 cxb6 23.Rd1 Qe2
24.Re1 Qd3 25.Rd1 Qe2 26.Re1 Qd3 {1/2-1/2, Spraggett Kevin (CAN) 2580 – Fedorchuk Sergey A (UKR) 2645 , Metz 4/19/2007 It (open)}
)
14.h3 {Viswanathan Anand is creating a whole so he can redeploy his knight as well.}
Nbd7
15.Nh2 Qe7 {Magnus Carlsen has completed my three opening goals: 1. Pawn in the center, 2. Castle, 3. Unify rooks.}
16.Ndf1 {This is not for defence. Viswanathan Anand want his knight on e3 where it would see d5 and f5.}
Bb6 {Magnus Carlsen gets his bishop out of the way so that he can play c5 and prevent Anand from playing pawn to d4.}
17.Ne3 Qe6 {This stops the threats surrounding Nd5 and also places tthe queen on a more active square.}
18.b4 a5 19.bxa5 Bxa5 20.Nhg4 {Viswanathan Anand has succesfully redeployed both his knights.}
Bb6
21.Bxf6 Nxf6 22.Nxf6+ Qxf6 23.Qg4 {?} {A slight inaccuracy which give Carlsen some rope to work with. Better was something along the lines of:}
( 23.Qe2 Bxe3 24.Qxe3 c5 25.b4 Qe7 26.Reb1 cxb4 27.cxb4 Ra4 28.Rxa4
bxa4 29.b5 Rb8 30.b6 a3 31.Ra1 d5 32.exd5 Qd6 )
Bxe3
24.fxe3 Qe7 25.Rf1 c5 {Magnus Carlsen has an advantage in space and pawn structure.}
26.Kh2 c4 {Magnus is trying to make something happen because he has a small advantage,
Really, this game should be a draw. But, I could say that about the starting position as well.}
27.d4 Rxa1 {I didn’t expect Magnus Carlsen to give up control of the a-file.}
28.Rxa1 Qb7 {Afther this, the a-file is rather useless for Anand anyways.}
29.Rd1 {Anand is pushing toward complications because he is behind in the match. An easier draw can be had after playing pawn to d5.}
Qc6 {I think Magnus is kind of offering a draw by coaxing Anand to play pawn to d5.}
30.Qf5 {Viswanathan Anand still is hoping for something.}
exd4
31.Rxd4 Re5 32.Qf3 Qc7 {Magnus Carlsen thrives in endgame complications.}
33.Kh1 {Viswanathan Anand’s instincts are to take his king off of the same diagonal as
his opponents queen so that he does not lose the game to tactics.}
Qe7
34.Qg4 Kh7 35.Qf4 g6 36.Kh2 Kg7 {Should the pieces come off the board the kings want to be as close to the action as possible.}
37.Qf3 Re6
38.Qg3 {?} {Anand blunders a pawn without explanation.}
Rxe4
39.Qxd6 Rxe3 40.Qxe7 Rxe7 41.Rd5 Rb7 {A pawn up, Magnus Carlsen is definitely in the drivers seat in a “drawish” rook and pawn endgame.}
42.Rd6 f6 43.h4 Kf7 {“At this point I missed the whole h5 idea. I didn’t really think you could give up a pawn like that.”-Magnus Carlsen}
44.h5 gxh5 45.Rd5 Kg6 46.Kg3 Rb6 {Magnus Carlsen keeps placing his rook in the same rank as his king so that he
can move pawns forward without annoying checks by Anand.}
47.Rc5 f5 48.Kh4 Re6 49.Rxb5 Re4+ 50.Kh3 Kg5 51.Rb8 {Viswanathan Anand’s rook wants to have checking distance.}
h4 {“Now it’s a draw but I had one little trap, Kf4 to Ke3. Well fortunately, he went for it.”-Magnus Carlsen}
52.Rg8+ Kh5 53.Rf8 Rf4 54.Rc8 {One of the players would need to make a huge blunder for this game to result into a full point for someone.}
Rg4
55.Rf8 Rg3+ 56.Kh2 Kg5 57.Rg8+ {This is where Anand wrongly believed he lost the game. “Here I gave
this check…. Rc8 is just a draw.”-Viswanathan Anand}
Kf4
58.Rc8 Ke3 59.Rxc4 {“I thought he was going to go for Rg4 or a similar idea and then I’m OK. But I just blundered into f4.”-Viswanathan Anand}
f4
60.Ra4 {??} {This is the real location of Viswanathan Anand’s fatal error. I am sure he knows this now.}
( 60.b4 h3 61.gxh3 Rg6 62.Rc7 f3 63.Re7+ Kf4 64.Rf7+ Ke4 65.c4
Rg2+ 66.Kh1 Rc2 67.c5 Rc1+ 68.Kh2 Ke3 69.Re7+ Kf4 70.Rf7+ Ke3
71.Re7+ Kf4 72.Rf7+ Ke3 {and this is the three-fold repition draw.} )
h3 {!}
61.gxh3 Rg6 {Perfect technique by Magnus Carlsen.}
62.c4{?} {Ra7 had a better chance for a draw.} ( 62.Ra7 f3 63.b4 Rg2+
64.Kh1 Re2 65.Re7+ Kd2 66.Rd7+ Ke1 67.Ra7 Kf1 68.c4 f2 69.Kh2
Re1 70.Rf7 Ke2 71.Kg3 f1=Q {But Carlsen still would have won.} )
f3
63.Ra3+ Ke2 64.b4 f2 65.Ra2+ {Anand keeps trying to avoid another loss in front of his fans, but his defeat is inevitable.}
Kf3
66.Ra3+ Kf4 67.Ra8 Rg1 {A very solem Anand resigned as white for his second consecutive loss.}
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