Cover Story / World Championship
memorable game—Botvinnik- Capablanca, 1938. GM Hao Wang played the modern preference 7. ... Nxd5 after which theore ticians are unde - cided whether or not 8. dxc5 leads to an edge for White.
8. e3
b3-knight for the dark-squared bishop. The immediate 16. ... Ra6 may have been stronger.
17. Qxc1 Ra6 (1.14) 18. e5! (1.25)
A highly committal move
which took Carlsen and the watching crowd by surprise. Kasparov later suggested that White’s plan could have been made even stronger by in - serting 18. Rb2!?.
18. ... Nc7 (0.53) “In general I would like to
8. ... c4!? (1.53) A controversial choice, re -
cently revived by some strong players. Until then a 1997 GM Garry Kasparov-GM Judit Polgar game had seen the move dismissed as simply bad. Block - ing the position gives White a free hand on the center and kingside, but Carlsen’s former coach GM Simen Agdestein explained that the Norwegian team had recently been looking at the line.
9. Ne2 (1.54) Nc6 10. g4 0-0 (1.40)
In the aforementioned 1997
game, Polgar had wasted a move with 10. ... h6 and been punished severely by Kasparov.
11. Bg2 (1.51) Na5 (1.34) 12. 0-0 (1.51) Nb3 (1.31) 13. Ra2
block the pawns with 18. ... g6 19. f4 Ng7,” said Carlsen, “but then he has 20. Qb1! Rb6 21. Rb2 and the attack on the b- pawn is a bit inconvenient for me.”
19. f4 (1.22) 19. ... b4! (0.53)
23. Qf4! (0.22) “Here I spent a hell of a lot of
time essentially getting into this position,” said Anand explaining his 45-minute think over this subtle move, “but [such a use of time] was irresponsible, silly, whatever you want to call it. I was antici- pating 23. ... Kh8 when after 24. f6 g6 25. Qh4 I will play [Qh6 and Rf4] but with the extra resource Qxh7+ [in some lines]. It looks like it should be lost [for Black].”
23. ... Nc7! (0.33) 24. f6?! (0.21) Played quickly, but this may
have been the moment when the match definitively slipped away. GM Peter Svidler, later backed up by Kasparov, suggested that 24. Qh4! was a far stronger method of pros - ecuting the attack, with the idea that after 24. ... Ne8 White is not obliged to play 25. f6 at once but can improve his position first, though the move intended by Svidler, 25. Ne2!?, doesn’t give White much after 25. ... b2 26. Rb1 Bxf5 27. Rxb2 Nc7.
20. axb4 (1.10)
For hours after the game a discussion ensued between a number of grandmasters over whether this is the moment when Anand needed to strike immediately with 20. f5!? with the idea that the obvious 20. ... Nb5 may turn out to be too slow after 21. axb4 axb4 22. Rxa6 Bxa6 23. f6 g6 24. Qf4!— though even here there are some hairy variations. Black probably does better to keep the knight ready for defen sive duties on e8, so 20. ... bxc3 should be tried.
20. ... axb4 21. Rxa6 Nxa6 22. f5 (1.07) b3 (0.36)
13. ... b5 (1.28) A remarkable concept. Black
ignores White’s attacking ideas completely and starts his queen - side counterplay.
14. Ng3 (1.45) a5 (1.23) 15. g5 (1.37) Ne8 16. e4 (1.36) Nxc1 (1.14)
Always a tricky decision— whether or not to give up the
27. Rf4! (.1141) “Kind of forced,” said Anand.
“If I play 27. Rb1 he has 27. ... Qa5!.” However Kasparov sug - gested 27. Ne2!? “adding to the tension” giving the variation 27. ... Qa5 28. Nf4 Be6 Black cannot let the knight get to e7 via d5. 29. Nxe6 fxe6 30. Bh3
24. ... g6 (0.31) “If 24. ... gxf6 then 25. Nh5!?
looks dangerous here,” said Carlsen, “though I may be able to go 25. ... fxg5! 26. Nf6+ Kh8 27. Qxg5?! Rg8!,” and indeed this defense works so well for Black that White should prefer 25. gxf6.
25. Qh4 (0.20) Ne8 (0.31) 26. Qh6 (.1413) b2 (0.31)
though Kasparov believed Black should survive even this.
27. ... b1=Q+ (0.31) 28. Nf1?? (.1111)
A losing blunder, though
Anand thought it might be a winning move. Anand analyzed 28. Bf1 Qd1 29. Rh4 (Anand saw that 29. Ne2 was refuted by 29. ... Qd3 30. Rh4 Qe3+ but admitted that if he had also seen the simpler refutation 29. ... Qe1!, pointed out by Carlsen, he might never have made the blunder which lost the game.) 29. ... Qh5 30. Nxh5 gxh5 31. Bh3 Bxh3 32. Rxh3 Qd7 33. Rxh5 Qf5 34. g6 ...
... “and I thought that this was a draw,” said Anand, “but then I saw 32. ... Qb6! when 33. ... Qb1+ and 34. ... Qg6 follows. Once I had found 32. ... Qb6 (while thinking about 23. Qf4) I couldn’t see a way forward. “When I got to the position
[after 27. ... b1=Q+], I suddenly saw 28. Nf1 Qd1 29. Rh4 Qh5 30. Rxh5 gxh5 31. Ne3! and the knight is [headed] to e7 and for a second I got excited, thinking Black might have to play 31. ... Be6 32. Bxd5 Qxd5!. “The problem is, I missed the
knight which was on g3 has just moved [and that 28. ... Qe1 was possible. As soon as I put the knight on f1 I knew what I had done. What can I say?” After the game Carlsen
showed Anand what he should have played—31. Rxh5 Bf5 32. Bh3 Bg6 33. e6 Nxf6 34. gxf6 Qxf6 35. Re5 fxe6 36. Qe3!. “This is what we discussed after the game,” said Carlsen. “White should be able to hold.”
28. ... Qe1! (0.30), White resigned.
See Chess Life Online at
uschess.org, November archives, for more reporting and games from Chennai.
www.uschess.org 31
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