Saturday, November 16, 2013

World Championship 2013: Anand - Carlsen, round 6

Another decisive game! after a long fought endgame.

In the last World Championship, Gelfand won the first decisive game, and Anand came right back with a novelty and a quick win. Anand plays a novelty this game, but no quick win.

Anand chose a d3 line against Carlsen's Berlin this time, and springs an early novelty. Carlsen plays d3 lines as white in the Ruy Lopez. 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.d3 Bc5 5.c3 O-O 6.O-O Re8 7.Re1 this is a rare line, White may miss the support of f2. a6 8.Ba4  b5 9.Bb3 d6 10.Bg5 is a novelty, but still a thematic move when the black dark square bishop is outside the pawn chain. Carlsen takes a long think.


10...Be6 11.Nbd2 h6 12.Bh4 Bxb3 13.axb3 Nb8 redeploying this knight to d7 to relieve the queen of the defense of the f6-knight. 14.h3 Nbd7 15.Nh2 Bb6 17.Ne3 Qe6 18.b4 a5 19.bxa5 Bxa5 20.Nhg4 Bb6 21.Bxf6 Nxf6 22.Nxf6+ Qxf6 23.Qg4 Bxe3 24.fxe3 Qe7 


An equal and fairly balanced major piece endgame. Carlsen may play on for quite a while. He will rely on being able to play more exactly than Anand.

25.Rf1 c5 26.Kh2 c4 27.d4 Rxa1 28.Rxa1 



(28...exd4 does not quite work 29. exd4 Qxe4 30.Qxe4 Rxe4 31.Ra8+ Kh7 32.Rb8 gathers in black's b-pawn and equalizes.)

28...Qb7 threatens the e4 pawn 29.Rd1 Qc6 30.Qf5 exd4 31.Rxd4 Re5 32.Qf3 Qc7


black looks slightly better now 33.Kh1 Qe7 34.Qg4 Kh7 35.Qf4 g6 36.Kh2 Kg7 37.Qf3 Re6 38.Qg3?! Carlsen now trade in his positional advantage for a pawn, but Anand's rook will be more active. Carlsen takes a long time evaluating the resulting R+P ending. 38...Rxe4 39.Qxd6 Rxe3 40.Qxe7 Rxe7 41.Rd5 Rb7

Anand takes a long think. Carlsen needs to preserve some queenside pawns, because 3v2 pawns in a rook endgame is an easy draw. Anand should be able to get a slightly better king position as well as his more active rook for good drawing chances. Anand takes a long think here to decide the best way to play this. 42.Rd6 Anand makes it difficult for Carlsen to activate his king. 42...f6 43.h4 Kf7



44.h5 Anand plays a surprise by offering up another pawn to break up Carlsen's pawns and keep black's king passive. 44...gxh5 45.Rd5 Kg6 46.Kg3 Rb6 47.Rc5 f5 48.Kh4


Carlsen returns a pawn to activate his rook. 48...Re6 49.Rxb5 Re4+



50.Kh3 Kg5 51. Rb8 h4 52.Rg8+ Kh5 53.Rf8 Rf4 54.Rc8 Rg4 55.Rf8 Rg3+ 56.Kh2 Kg5 57.Rg8+ Kf4 

Carlsen gives up another pawn to activate his king 58.Rc8 Ke3 59.Rxc4 f4 60.Ra4? h3


and a third pawn to get a passed f-pawn. Carlsen looks very good here. 61.gxh3 Rg6 62.c4 f3 63.Ra3+ Ke2 64.b4 f2 65.Ra2+ Kf3 66.Ra3+ Kf4 67.Ra8 Rg1 0-1 Carlsen is up two games! The next few games, Anand will go tactical.

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