World Chess Championship 2013: Anand Stops the Bleeding in Round 7

 

After two difficult losses in game 5 and game 6, Viswanathan Anand was able to regain his form and create a draw in round 7. To his fans, this was seen as a disappointing result. Anand’s many critics seem unable to comprehend that, “Sometimes, in order to win the war, you must first stop the bleeding.”

Below are my notes on round 7:

 

[Event “World Chess Championship”]
[Site “Chennai”]
[Date “2013.11.18”]
[Round “7”]
[White “Viswanathan Anand”]
[Black “Magnus Carlsen”]
[Result “1/2-1/2”]
[Eco “C65”]
[Annotator “Chris Torres”]

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 {Another Ruy Lopez, Berlin. If you are a regular reader of my blog you may just have a new line in your repertoir.}

4.d3 Bc5 5.Bxc6 {Anand has castled here in the past.}

( 5.O-O Nd4 6.Nxd4 Bxd4 7.c3 Bb6 8.Nd2 c6 9.Ba4 O-O 10.Nc4 Bc7
11.Ne3 d5 12.Qf3 d4 13.cxd4 Qxd4 14.Bc2 Be6 15.Rd1 Bb6 16.h3
Rad8 17.Bb3 Bxb3 18.axb3 Qb4 19.Nc4 Nd7 20.Bd2 Qxb3 21.Bc3 Bc5
22.Nxe5 Nxe5 23.Bxe5 Bd4 24.Bxd4 Rxd4 {…1/2-1/2, Anand Viswanathan (IND) 2817 – Kramnik Vladimir (RUS) 2781 , Moscow 9/ 2/2011 Memorial M.Botvinnik (active)}
)

dxc6

6.Nbd2 {“I chose a line that both of us had played quite a bit in the past. 6.Nbd2.”-Viswanathan Anand}
Bg4 {“He went for Bg4 instead. Then you get a slow kind of manoeuvring game after
the next three moves. White has two plans, which is, one is to play f4 and the
other like in the game which is to play on the h-file.”-Viswanathan Anand Perhaps Anand was hoping for one of these lines:}
( 6…Be6 7.O-O Bd6 8.b3 Nd7 9.Nc4 Bxc4 10.bxc4 O-O 11.Rb1 b6
12.g3 f5 13.exf5 Rxf5 14.Qe2 Nc5 15.Be3 Ne6 16.Nd2 Qf6 17.Qg4
Rf8 18.Ne4 Qf7 19.a4 h5 20.Qe2 Be7 21.a5 Qg6 22.axb6 axb6 23.Kh1
Rf3 24.Rbe1 Bb4 25.Ra1 Qg4 26.Qd1 {…1/2-1/2, Carlsen Magnus (NOR) 2843 – Aronian Levon (ARM) 2821 , Sao Paulo 9/28/2012 It “Final Masters” (cat.22)}
) ( 6…Nd7 7.O-O O-O 8.Nc4 Re8 9.Be3 Bxe3 10.fxe3 a5 11.a4 b6
12.Qe1 Ba6 13.Ncd2 Re6 14.Nh4 g6 15.Qg3 Qf8 16.Rf2 Qg7 17.Qh3
Rd8 18.g4 Rf6 19.Ndf3 Bc8 20.Kh1 Nc5 21.Qg3 Re8 22.b3 Re7 23.h3
Rd6 24.Kh2 h6 25.g5 h5 26.Nd2 {…1/2-1/2, Zvjaginsev Vadim (RUS) 2664 – Petrosian Tigran L (ARM) 2613 , Plovdiv 10/19/2010 Cup European Club}
)

7.h3 {Nc4 was tried with success here.} ( 7.Nc4 Nd7 8.Be3 Bxe3
9.Nxe3 Bxf3 10.Qxf3 Qf6 11.Qxf6 Nxf6 12.Nc4 Nd7 13.O-O-O c5 14.Rdf1
Ke7 15.f4 f6 16.fxe5 fxe5 17.Ne3 Ke6 18.Nd5 Rac8 19.Rf5 c6 20.Ne3
Rcf8 21.Rhf1 g6 22.Rxf8 Rxf8 23.Rxf8 Nxf8 24.Kd2 Nd7 25.Ke2 Nf6
26.Kf3 b6 {…1-0, Libiszewski Fabien (FRA) 2509 – Michalczak Thomas (GER) 2320 , Reykjavik 3/11/2012 It (open)}
)

Bh5 {Magnus Carlsen’s move seems the most logical. If black captures he gets rid of
a good pin and helps white develop. Below is a game where white won after the bishop captures on f3:}
( 7…Bxf3 8.Qxf3 Nd7 9.Qg3 Qf6 10.Nc4 O-O 11.O-O Rfe8 12.a4
Nf8 13.Bg5 Qe6 14.Bd2 Ng6 15.b4 Bf8 16.Qg4 b6 17.g3 f6 18.Bc3
Bd6 19.Ne3 Kh8 20.Kg2 a6 21.Qf3 Ne7 22.h4 b5 23.Rfb1 Qd7 24.h5
h6 25.Qg4 Qxg4 26.Nxg4 Nc8 27.Bd2 {…1-0, Adams Michael (ENG) 2724 – Fressinet Laurent (FRA) 2693 , Germany 3/17/2012 Bundesliga 2011/12}
)

8.Nf1 {This is an innovation that has never been played at a high level before.
Amazing that on move 8, Anand introduces a new move to the world.}

Nd7

9.Ng3 {Viswanathan Anand faced a lot of criticism for his play in this game and the
match. I, for one, enjoy the fact that he has given white a new knight placement in the oldest of chess openings.}
Bxf3 10.Qxf3 {Anand has better development and a better pawn structure.}
g6 {Magnus Carlsen plays a slow move but one that takes key squares away from Anand’s knight.}
11.Be3 Qe7 12.O-O-O O-O-O 13.Ne2 {So far the only result from Anand’s new knight placement was causing black to
play g6. Since the knight has no future on g3, Anand will attempt to find a better location to justify his earlier innovation.}

Rhe8 {Other than his knight on d7, Magnus Carlsen has pretty good piece placement.}
14.Kb1 {Anand takes a moment to improve king safety a little. However, Carlsen wasn’t
threatening anything in particular. This is where his fans would like to see
him be a little more aggressive. Perhaps something like this:}
( 14.g4 Qe6 15.Kb1 Kb8 16.Bxc5 Nxc5 17.Qe3 b6 18.Rhf1 f5 19.exf5
gxf5 20.d4 {and white has a small advantage in a complex situation.} )
b6 {This move doesn’t look right. However, if the “Mozart of Chess” thinks his king should be on b7, who am I to argue?}
15.h4 {Anand honestly thought this would put pressure on his opponent.}

Kb7

16.h5 {I really see no reason to believe that this plan should cause black any problems.}
Bxe3

17.Qxe3 {Anand is playing simply to stop the bleeding from his last two losses. If he
had been playing for a win, Anand would have taken with the f-pawn.}
Nc5

18.hxg6 hxg6 19.g3 {Viswanathan Anand just wants a draw to break his losing streak.}
a5 {!?} {Magnus Carlsen signals that he is willing to try and make it three wins in a
row. Safer and should I say more proper would be to challenge Anand for the h-file by playing rook to h8.}
20.Rh7 Rh8 21.Rdh1 Rxh7 22.Rxh7 Qf6 23.f4 Rh8 24.Rxh8 Qxh8 {With the rooks off the board, the drawing chances are much higher. Anand must not blunder and then he will have achieved his unstated goal of a draw.}

25.fxe5 Qxe5 26.Qf3 f5 {Now Anand can trade away his pawn center as Carlsen allows Anand’s queen to become an equal to his own. ;-)}
27.exf5 gxf5 28.c3 {There is a 0% chance that Carlsen would allow Anand to fork his knight and queen with pawn to d4.}
Ne6 29.Kc2 Ng5 30.Qf2 Ne6 31.Qf3 Ng5 32.Qf2 Ne6 {The game is drawn by the threat of repitition. Magnus Carlsen showed a lot of maturity in this game while Anand showed very little fight.} 1/2-1/2

 

Fide World Chess Championship 2013:

Game 1 Analysis

Game 2 Analysis

Game 3 Analysis

Game 4 Analysis

Game 5 Analysis

Game 6 Analysis