World Chess Championship 2013: A Flawless Draw in Round 8

“I didn't particularly mind a draw, as was evident from my play. I was just hoping to set him one or two traps and if not then just to shut it down.”-Magnus Carlsen(photo courtesy http://susanpolgar.blogspot.com/) — “I didn’t particularly mind a draw, as was evident from my play. I was just hoping to set him one or two traps and if not then just to shut it down.”-Magnus Carlsen(photo courtesy http://susanpolgar.blogspot.com/)

I actually really enjoyed round 8 of the 2013 Fide World Championship Chess Match. First off, Magnus Carlsen and Viswanathan Anand played an opening variation of the Ruy Lopez, Berlin Defense that has not been used in World Championship play since 1886! Secondly, Carlsen and Anand played a flawless chess game and continued to play until it was clear to the hundreds of millions of viewers that it was indeed a draw. This round, coupled with game 4, game 6 and game 7 should provide the reader of my blog with enough knowledge to try the Ruy Lopez Berlin Defense the next time he/she plays chess at their local coffee shop.

Please enjoy my notes on round 8:

[Event “World Chess Championship”]
[Site “Chennai”]
[Date “2013.11.19”]
[Round “8”]
[White “Magnus Carlsen”]
[Black “Viswanathan Anand”]
[Result “1/2-1/2”]
[Eco “C67”]
[Annotator “Chris Torres”]

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.O-O Nxe4 5.Re1 Nd6 6.Nxe5 Be7 7.Bf1 {Steinitz played Bd3 against Zukertort in their World Chess Championship Match of 1886.}

A position from the World Chess Championship Match of 1886 and 2013!

Nxe5 8.Rxe5 O-O 9.d4 Bf6 10.Re1 Re8 {Previously, Anand had seen Nf5 played by McShane.}
( 10…Nf5 11.d5 d6 12.Nd2 Nh4 13.g3 Ng6 14.a4 Ne5 15.Ra3 a5
16.Ne4 Be7 17.f4 Ng4 18.Bg2 h6 19.c4 Nf6 20.Nc3 Nd7 21.Nb5 Nc5
22.Rae3 Bf6 23.Bf3 Bd7 24.b3 Rb8 25.Kg2 Re8 26.Ba3 Rxe3 27.Rxe3
Bxb5 28.cxb5 b6 29.Bg4 g6 30.h4 {…1/2-1/2, Anand Viswanathan (IND) 2800 – McShane Luke J (ENG) 2657 , London 12/12/2010 It (cat.19)}
)

11.c3 {And as long as I am talking about McShane.}
( 11.Bf4 Rxe1 12.Qxe1 Ne8 13.Nc3 Bxd4 14.Nd5 d6 15.Bg5 Bf6 16.Nxf6+
Nxf6 17.Bxf6 gxf6 18.Qe4 f5 19.Qe3 Be6 20.Qg3+ Kf8 21.Qc3 Ke7
22.Re1 Kd7 23.Bc4 Qh8 24.Bxe6+ fxe6 25.Qb3 Re8 26.Qxb7 Rb8 27.Qxa7
Qxb2 28.Qa4+ Qb5 29.Qh4 Qa5 30.Qxh7+ Kc6 {…1-0, McShane Luke J (ENG) 2706 – Kramnik Vladimir (RUS) 2801 , Moscow 6/16/2012 Memorial M.Tal (cat.22)}
)

Rxe1 12.Qxe1 Ne8 {Qe8 is much more natural but Anand does not want to trade queens just yet.}

Anand plays a strange looking knight move with a neat maneuver in mind.

( 12…Qe8 13.Qxe8+ Nxe8 14.Bf4 d5 15.Bd3 a5 16.Nd2 Bd7 17.Re1
c6 18.h3 g6 19.Nf3 Rd8 20.g4 Bg7 21.Kg2 Bf8 22.Bg3 Nd6 23.Bh4
Ra8 24.a4 Kg7 25.b3 f6 26.c4 Re8 27.Rxe8 Nxe8 28.c5 Nc7 29.g5
Be7 30.Bg3 Ne6 31.gxf6+ Bxf6 32.Be5 {…0-1, Frolyanov Dmitry (RUS) 2564 – Alekseev Evgeny (RUS) 2677 , Tiumen 6/26/2012 Ch Russia (Higher League)}
) ( 12…Nf5 13.Bf4 c6 14.Nd2 d5 15.Nf3 Nd6 16.Bd3 Bf5 17.Bxf5
Nxf5 18.Qe2 Qe7 19.Qd3 Nh4 20.Nxh4 Bxh4 21.g3 Bf6 {1/2-1/2, Smeets Jan (NED) 2619 – Kramnik Vladimir (RUS) 2791 , Wijk aan Zee 1/26/2011 It (cat.20)}
)

13.Bf4 {Magnus Carlsen has a very comfortable position and developing either bishop makes sense.}
( 13.Bd3 d5 {1/2-1/2, Koepke Christian (GER) 2319 – Bindrich Falko (GER) 2554 , Nuernberg 9/11/2011 It (open) “LGA Premium Cup”}
)

d5 {Anand gets a piece of the center.}

14.Bd3 g6 {Anand has a tricky knight maneuver in mind. Other ideas for this position are:}
( 14…Be6 15.Nd2 Nd6 16.Nf3 Bf5 17.Bxf5 Nxf5 18.Qd2 c6 19.Bg5
Nd6 20.Bxf6 Qxf6 21.Re1 Ne4 22.Qe3 h5 23.Nd2 Re8 24.Nxe4 Rxe4
25.Qd2 Qe6 26.Kf1 Kf8 27.f3 Rxe1+ 28.Qxe1 Qf5 29.a3 f6 30.Qd2
h4 31.Kf2 g5 32.Qe3 Kf7 33.Qd2 Qb1 34.g3 {…0-1, Geske Julian (GER) 2391 – Levin Felix (GER) 2510 , Wiesbaden 8/25/2012 It “Schlosspark Open”}
) ( 14…Qe7 15.Nd2 Qxe1+ 16.Rxe1 Be6 17.Nb3 Rd8 18.Na5 Bc8 19.Bb5
c6 20.Bxc6 bxc6 21.Nxc6 Kf8 22.Nxd8 Bxd8 23.Bb8 a6 24.Ba7 Be6
25.g4 Nf6 26.Bc5+ Ke8 27.f3 Kd7 28.Kf1 {1/2-1/2, Mamedov Nidjat (AZE) 2601 – Nielsen Peter Heine (DEN) 2665 , Konya 7/16/2012 Ch Turkey (team)}
)

15.Nd2 Ng7 16.Qe2 {Carlsen elects to set up a battery in the e-file rather than move his knight to f3.}
( 16.Nf3 c6 17.Qd2 Bf5 18.Re1 Bxd3 19.Qxd3 Qd7 20.Be5 Bxe5 21.Nxe5
Qf5 22.Qxf5 Nxf5 23.Nd3 Kf8 24.Nc5 Nd6 25.Nd7+ Kg7 26.Nc5 Kf8
27.Nd7+ Kg7 28.Nc5 Kf8 29.Nd7+ Kg7 30.Nc5 Kf8 {1/2-1/2, Salgado Lopez Ivan (ESP) 2618 – Bruzon Lazaro (CUB) 2691 , Quito 4/19/2012 Ch IberoAmerican (final) (Gp A)}
)

c6 17.Re1 {I would much rather be white. Having said that, it is not easy to find a good plan of attack.}
Bf5 18.Bxf5 Nxf5 19.Nf3 Ng7 20.Be5 Ne6 {Anand’s knight has been very busy today.}
21.Bxf6 Qxf6 22.Ne5 Re8 23.Ng4 {Magnus Carlsen’s technique is stellar. He tried a few ideas and now is going to force Anand to settle for another draw.}
Qd8 24.Qe5 Ng7

All the pieces are going to magically disappear.

25.Qxe8+ {This is a pretty way to exchange all the pieces.}
Nxe8 26.Rxe8+ Qxe8 27.Nf6+ Kf8 28.Nxe8 Kxe8 29.f4 {It is not often that we get to see a couple of GM’s play a simple endgame like this.}
f5 30.Kf2 b5 31.b4 Kf7 32.h3 h6 33.h4 h5 {This was a beautiful example of two top chess players playing flawless chess.}
1/2-1/2