Cover Story / World Championship 54. Rh7!
Played with a flourish— Carlsen knew he was going to win now.
54. ... Kd5 55. a6 c4+ 56. Kc3 Ra2 57. a7 (0.18) Kc5 (0.11) 58. h4, Black resigned.
The handshake was greeted
by a smat tering of applause from the 350 spectators, a few of whom had mistakenly thought that the game had been agreed drawn. They were put straight by their neighbors and, eventually, 1-0 going up on the dis play board.
A poor game by Anand in
game six left him two points behind and Anand then took two games to steady himself. He knew he needed to throw everything at Carlsen in game nine, and, with Carlsen already ready to fight, the most dra - mat ic game of the match ensued.
Nimzo-Indian Defense, Saemisch Variation (E25) GM Viswanathan Anand (FIDE 2775, IND) GM Magnus Carlsen (FIDE 2870, NOR)
Chennai World Championship (Game 9)
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4
“I’ve been ranked number one in the world for some time, but it has been a bit of a burden not having the world title; to have finally won it is a dream come true.” ~CARLSEN
48. ... Kd7?! (0.27) Played very quickly, but, if he
had not already mentally given up, Anand would have realized that this was another moment where he has some very serious choices. The active 48. ... Kb5 only
just fails to 49. Bxb3 axb3 50. Kxb3 Rxg2 51. a4+ Ka5 52. Rxh4 Re2 53. Kc4! Rxe5 54. Rh8! when Black is probably lost.
However the unlikely 48. ... Kc7! might just hold. After 49.
30 February 2014 | Chess Life
Bxb3 axb3 50. Kxb3 Rxg2 51. Rxh4 Black can continue 51. ... Re2! when it seems that White has nothing better than 52. a4 (52. Rh5 Kc6! 53. a4 Re3+ offers White nothing.) 52. ... Rxe5 53. Kc4 Kb6 54. Rh6+ Kc7 when even if White wins the c-pawn as he probably will, there are plenty of theoretically drawn positions where the superior side has two extra rook pawns.
49. Bxb3 (0.28) axb3 50. Kxb3 Rxg2 51. Rxh4 Ke6?
“The rook endgame is very,
very difficult for Black,” said Carlsen, “and now when I play a4-a5 it is definitely lost.” 51. ... Kc6 was stronger, but probably not good enough after 52. a4 Re2 53. Kc4 Rc2+ 54. Kd3 Ra2 55. Re4 Kd7 56. h4. However 51. ... Re2!? would keep the game alive and make Carlsen’s technical task very difficult.
52. a4! (0.22) Kxe5 53. a5 Kd6 4. f3 The Saemisch Variation
served Anand well in a 2011 game against Hao Wang but he has not used it since then. “It is a very complicated line but I needed to change the course of the match rather drastically,” explained Anand.
4. ... d5 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 c5 7. cxd5 (1.59) exd5 (1.53)
This leads to a pawn struc -
ture that gained a poor reputation based on a single
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