Anand -- Carlsen 2013, Game 4

Black has seemed better in every game of the World Championship Match taking place in Chennai, India. In the first two games, White was worse quickly and bailed from a bad position with a draw by repetition. In yesterday's game, Black gained a clear advantage in the middlegame. Viswanathan Anand might have pressed with a line different than he played, but he did not see a clear advantage.

Today, Magnus Carlsen adopted the Berlin Wall variation of the Spanish Opening. It had been Vladimir Kramnik's main drawing weapon as Black when he secured the World Chess Championship title from Garry Kasparov in 2001. During the years since, it has become quite popular at the top levels. It remains a solid drawing weapon, but both sides have chances to play for a win. The pawn structure is imbalanced and frequently a minor piece exchange will present a bishop vs. knight battle.

In today's game, Carlsen's bishop foray managed to gain a pawn, and then the bishop returned to its starting position. Anand's pieces had greater activity, but Carlsen retained a one-pawn advantage into the rook ending, and even to the end of the game. It was another exciting and instructive draw.


Anand,Viswanathan (2775) -- Carlsen,Magnus (2870) [C67]
FWCM 2013 Chennai (4), 13.11.2013

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.0–0 Nxe4 5.d4 Nd6 6.Bxc6 dxc6 7.dxe5 Nf5 8.Qxd8+ Kxd8

White to move

Both players have been in this position before. Anand has had the White side more often than Black; Carlsen has had the Black side more often. But, Carlsen has had White and Anand has had Black. It is a theoretically important position. Indeed, no chess player's education is complete before he or she has played out a game from this position. My own chess education, for example, is inadequate because I have been here only in online play. Perhaps my best game was a win on time from the Black side after I had won a pawn late in the middlegame.

Anand and Carlsen have played this position against one another once, as far as I know. It seems reasonable to assume that both players would have included the Berlin Wall in their match preparation.

Reference Game:

Anand,Viswanathan (2817) -- Carlsen,Magnus (2823) [C67]
Grand Slam Final 4th Sao Paulo/Bilbao (1), 26.09.2011

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.0–0 Nxe4 5.d4 Nd6 6.Bxc6 dxc6 7.dxe5 Nf5 8.Qxd8+ Kxd8 9.Nc3 h6 10.h3 Ne7 11.Be3 Ke8 12.Rad1 Bd7 13.a3 Rd8 14.Rfe1 a6 15.Ne4 Bf5 16.Nc5 Rxd1 17.Rxd1 Bc8 18.Nd3 Ng6 19.Nf4 Nxf4 20.Bxf4 Be7 21.Nd4 Bc5 22.Be3 Bxd4 23.Rxd4 Ke7 24.f3 Rd8 25.Rxd8 Kxd8 26.g4 h5 27.Kf2 g6 28.Bg5+ Ke8 ½–½

9.h3

The fourth most popular move made its first appearance, as near as I can discern from ChessBase Online database, in 1978 when played by Nona Gaprindashvili. In that year, she became the first woman awarded the Grandmaster title and also lost the Women's World Championship. She earned the WWCC title in 1962, and defended it successfully several times.

Fabiano Caruana played 9.h3 against Levon Aronian in the final round of the Tata Steel tournament in January, a game that I blogged as it occurred. It finished with many moves of torture in a theoretically drawn ending of rook and bishop vs. rook.

9.Nc3 is overwhelmingly the most popular move, and has usually been Anand's choice. Both Anand and Carlsen have played 9.Rd1+, however, which is the second most popular move. I have neither found games where Anand played 9.h3, nor located any where Carlsen faced this move. ChessBase Online has 169 games in the database with this position and nearly 5000 with 9.Nc3. Both moves are played often enough that changing the move order may transpose into a position that both players have played prior.

9...Bd7 10.Rd1 Be7 11.Nc3 Kc8 12.Bg5 h6 13.Bxe7 Nxe7 14.Rd2 c5

White to move

15.Rad1

Anand's move appears to be a novelty. Jakovenko -- Almasi, Khanty-Mansiysk 2007 continued with 15.Ne4 and White won in 102 moves.

15...Be6 16.Ne1

16.Ne2 is an alternative that appears to drop a pawn. However, 16...Bxa2? is unwise. The bishop does not become trapped, as may happen in similar structures without Black's advanced c-pawn. Rather, after some forcing moves, White gets excellent piece play and threats against a vulnerable Black king in exchange for the queenside pawns. 17.b3 c4 18.Nfd4 c5 19.Nb5 cxb3 20.cxb3 Bxb3

White to move

Theoretical Position

16...Ng6 17.Nd3 b6 18.Ne2

My computer likes Rf1.

18...Bxa2

Perhaps Anand's knight maneuvers were not the best way to build up pressure. The position is strategically complex with occasional tactics. As in my fantasy position above, White's a-pawn dropped, but there is no risk that the bishop becomes trapped. In this case, however, White's compensation for the pawn appears less clear.

White to move

19.b3 c4 20.Ndc1 cxb3 21.cxb3 Bb1 22.f4

Black to move

White has secured his vulnerable e-pawn. Black has a solid pawn majority on the queenside and his light-squared bishop has an escape.

22...Kb7 23.Nc3 

23.Nd3 was the computer's first choice and forces Black to exchange bishop for knight. Anand's plan forces the next few moves.

23...Bf5 24.g4 Bc8

Returning home is the bishop's best square. Does White have compensation for the pawn? From here to move 37, the computer sees an advantage for Black. However, the strategic complexities put the truth of the position beyond the horizon of the silicon beast.

White to move

25.Nd3 h5 26.f5 Ne7 27.Nb5 hxg4 28.hxg4 Rh4

Among my initial experiences of today's game (the game started at 1:30 am my time, and so was well underway when I awoke) was Judit Polgar's comment on Facebook that she did not like Carlsen's Rh4. "Vishy improved his position compared to a move ago," she offered.

29.Nf2

Black to move

29...Nc6

Polgar noted that 29...a6 makes 30.Nd6+ possible.

30.Rc2 a5 31.Rc4 g6 32.Rdc1

I correctly guessed this move as I was turning on my computer while following the game via the official iPad app, which had an update this morning to correct problems that some users experienced.

29...Bd7 33.e6 fxe6 34.fxe6 Be8 35.Ne4 Rxg4+ 36.Kf2

36...Rf4+

Was 36...Rd8 more accurate?

If it was not necessary to go to work today, I could spend many hours examining the purpose of every single move. Would any of my readers find comments on every single move (a la Logical Chess: Move by Move) worth reading? Would such annotations be useful teaching young players? Would such an investment into this game strengthen my own strategic understanding?

Alas, I will spend the afternoon teaching classrooms full of third graders how the queen and king move, and how they can efficiently checkmate a lone king through cooperation. Then, I have an after school club where a few elementary tactical possibilities that were avoided in game 2 forms the substance of the lesson.

37.Ke3 Rf8

Stockfish 4 prefers g5, and considers the game drawn after Carlsen's move.

38.Nd4 Nxd4 39.Rxc7+ Ka6 40.Kxd4 Rd8+

White to move

41.Kc3

As I was taking my first sips of morning coffee, the players were making the first time control on the other side of the planet.

I was able to enjoy the cute little blunder that Anand might have looked at for a second. 41.Ke5 Rf5#.

41...Rf3+ 42.Kb2

Black to move

42...Rdd3

I have not watched the official commentary as much as during previous WCC matches, but I did watch Susan Polgar explain one drawing line 42...Re3 43.Rc8 Rxc8 44.Rxc8 Rxe4 45.Rxe8=. By keeping two rooks each on the board, Carlsen increased the odds of finding advantage in the ending.

Of course, the World Champion knows how to play rook endings.

43.Rc8 Rde3 44.Ra8+ Kb7 45.Rxe8 Rxe4 46.e7 Rg3 47.Rc3 Re2+ 48.Rc2 Ree3 49.Ka2 g5 50.Rd2 Re5 51.Rd7+ Kc6 52.Red8 Rge3

White to move

53.Rd6+ appears to be the only move.

53...Kb7 54.R8d7+ Ka6 55.Rd5 Re2+ 56.Ka3 Re6 57.Rd8 g4 58.Rg5 Rxe7

White to move

59.Ra8+ Kb7 60.Rag8 a4 61.Rxg4 axb3 62.R8g7 Ka6 63.Rxe7 Rxe7 64.Kxb3 1/2-1/2

There was plenty of complex strategy, plenty of elementary tactics, and a nice example of how to play a rook ending in today's game. Tomorrow the players rest, or more likely, buckle down with more intense preparation for the next round of games on Friday and Saturday.

Tata Steel Chess, Final Round

Yesterday's win over Hikaru Nakamura assured Magnus Carlsen of first place. When Levon Aronian agreed to a draw with Anish Giri, Carlsen was assured that he would not be sharing first. What remained to determine today was whether Carlson would break Garry Kasparov's 1999 record of 10/13 in this event. Second place, too, remains to be determined.

The games today began at noon Central European Time. As that is 3:00 am in my part of the world, I cherished no illusions about watching these games while in progress. I told my wife, when we wake up, I will check the results. At 7:00 am, I checked the games. Carlsen found himself in some danger with the King's Indian Defense, but Anish Giri's could not find the way. In the end, Giri's king was under attack but had sufficient defense. Magnus Carlsen tied Kasparov's record of 10/13.

Viswanathan Anand got a playable endgame against Wang Hao, but was outplayed and lost. Levon Aronian needs a draw for clear second. Fabiano Caruana is ahead the exchange against Aronian, and both have passed pawns. Aronian has two pawns to Caruana's one.

After watching the game to its conclusion from the point illustrated above, I began to go back through the game from the beginning and make some notes.

Caruana,Fabiano (2781) - Aronian,Levon (2802) [C67]
75th Tata Steel Chess Group A Wijk aan Zee, 27.01.2013

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.0–0 Nxe4 5.d4 Nd6 6.Bxc6 dxc6 7.dxe5 Nf5 8.Qxd8+ Kxd8

White to move

This position in the Berlin Wall has become frequent when Black wants a draw. Indeed, the percentage of draws is quite high. But as this game and others have demonstrated, both sides have chances to play for an advantage.

9.h3

9.Nc3 is vastly more popular. 9.h3 appears to have been introduced into play by Women's World Champion Nona Gaprindashvili in 1978. The move had been suggested as interesting in Dragoljub Minic's annotations to Gulko -- Bisguier, Sombor 1974 (see Chess Informant 18/264). It may be no more than a move order nuance, but it has been growing in popularity, especially in the past three years.

Caruana has played 9.Nc3 in his previous game, but Aronian has played 9.h3 against Vladimir Kramnik.

Reference game:

Aronian,Levon (2820) - Kramnik,Vladimir (2801) [C67]
Zuerich m Zuerich (4), 25.04.2012

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.0–0 Nxe4 5.d4 Nd6 6.Bxc6 dxc6 7.dxe5 Nf5 8.Qxd8+ Kxd8 9.h3 Ke8 10.Nc3 h5 11.Bg5 Be6 12.b3 Be7 13.Rad1 h4 14.Rfe1 Rd8 15.Rxd8+ Kxd8 16.Ne4 b6 17.Bf4 Kc8 18.Neg5 Bxg5 19.Bxg5 Bd5 20.Nh2 c5 21.Rd1 Bc6 22.c3 a5 23.Ng4 Bd7 24.f3 a4 25.Kf2 ½–½

9...Bd7 10.Nc3 Kc8

10...h6 is more common.

11.b3

White scores an astonishing 73% after 11.g4, but drawing conclusions from a mere fifteen games would be foolishness. Clearly, 11.g4 is an aggressive try for action on the kingside, but Black's tenth move demonstrates thta his king seeks sanctuary on b7.

11...b6 12.Bb2

Black to move

12...Be7

12...h6 could have transposed into a more frequent position.

13.Rad1 Nh4

This position had been played twice before, and White won both games. Presumably, Aronian has done some preparation and developed some ideas.

14.Nd4 h5

White to move

This position is unique in the annals of chess history. Did Aronian prepare it? There are imbalances that allow both sides to struggle for advantage.

15.Kh2 Kb7 16.g3 Ng6 17.Rfe1 c5 18.Nf3 Bf5 19.Rd2 Rhd8 20.Rde2 Nf8 21.Ne4 Ne6

White to move

It appears to me that both players have sought to improve their pieces. My chess engine, Stockfish 2.3, considers this position as favoring Black.

22.Bc1 a5 23.Neg5 Bxg5 24.Bxg5 Rd5 25.Be3 a4

White to move

26.Nh4

The players are in a complicated positional struggle. What alterations of the pawn structure might be beneficial? What minor piece exchanges are worth pursuing?

My chess engine prefers 26.Ng5 and evaluates White's position as deteriorating after the move played by Caruana. Do engines understand this sort of position?

The text move allows Aronian to create a material imbalance, giving up a rook for a minor piece and two pawns.

26...Rxe5 27.f4 Rxe3 28.Rxe3 Bxc2 29.bxa4 Rxa4 30.a3 Nd4 31.Nf3 Bf5 32.Rc1 Be6 33.Nd2 c4 34.g4 hxg4 35.hxg4

Black to move

Black would seem to have a clear advantage. His queenside pawns are compact and mobile. White's a-pawn may be difficult to defend.

35...Nb3 36.Rc2 Nxd2 37.Rxd2 Bxg4 38.Rg2 Bh5 39.Rxg7 Ra5 40.Kg3 Bg6 41.Rc3 Rc5 42.Rg8 b5 43.Re8 Rd5 44.Kf2 Bd3 45.Ke3 c5 46.Rc1

Black to move

46...Rh5

My engine favors the immediate 46...b4 here. It's evaluation suggests that here Black is letting the advantage slip away. In the final press conference, Magnus Carlsen said that he got the most from each game throughout the tournament. Aronian, who finished 1 1/2 points behind, with a score that has often been good enough to win the event, had two draws in games where at one point he had a decisive advantage.

Had he been able to solve over the board problems that Anand and his team prepared for the World Chess Championship match with Gelfand, but that was used in Wijk aan Zee instead, Aronian might have avoided his one loss. Carlsen called that loss the best game of the event.

47.Re7+ Kb6 48.Rxf7 Rh3+ 49.Kf2 b4 50.Re1 Rh2+ 51.Kf3 Rh6 52.axb4 cxb4 53.f5 b3 54.Rf8 Kc5 55.f6 Kd4 56.Kf4 Kc3 57.Ke5

Black to move 

It was from this position that I began watching the game more or less continuously. Both players, it seems to me, have problems to solve. Neither faces problems that strike me as insurmountable. The key positions, I now realize, occurred while I slept. Aronian managed to create an apparently winning position, and then let the win slip from his grasp.

57...Rh5+ 58.Ke6 Kd2 59.Rg1 Rh6 60.Rd8 b2 61.Ke7 Rh7+ 62.f7 c3 63.Rg2+ Ke3 64.Rb8 Bc4

White to move

Looking at this position on the Tata Steel Chess website during the game, I told my beloved wife that Caruana could trade a rook for two pawns, losing his pawn in the process. The result would be a theoretically drawn endgame of rook and bishop against rook.

Almost as soon as I subjected my poor wife to my patzer commentary, the website showed that three rapid moves had been played, and my fantasy position appeared on the board.

65.Rbxb2 Rxf7+ 66.Kd6 cxb2 67.Rxb2 Kd4

White to move

Inasmuch as I thought it was well-known that rook and bishop vs. rook is drawn, I cannot comprehend why an additional 36 moves were played. It may be because the theoretical draw was not without checkmate threats, and Caruana appeared to be playing with approximately three minutes on his clock, with thirty seconds added per move. Perhaps Aronian wanted to test his opponent's tactics in blitz mode. Perhaps Aronian was frustrated at having let the win slip away.

68.Rd2+ Bd3 69.Rd1 Rf6+ 70.Ke7 Ra6 71.Kd7 Ke4 72.Ke7 Bb5 73.Rc1 Kd5 74.Rd1+ Ke5 75.Re1+ Kf5 76.Re3 Bc6 77.Re1 Be4 78.Rf1+ Ke5 79.Re1 Ra7+ 80.Ke8 Kd5 81.Kf8 Bf5 82.Re7 Ra6 83.Re1 Be4 84.Re2 Re6 85.Ra2 Ke5 86.Ra7 Rb6 87.Re7+ Kf4 88.Ra7 Bd5 89.Rc7 Ke5 90.Ke7 Rh6 91.Kd8 Bc6 92.Re7+ Kd5 93.Rg7 Re6 94.Kc7 Kc5 95.Rg5+ Bd5 96.Rg7 Ra6 97.Kd8 Kd6 98.Rd7+ Ke5 99.Rc7 Ra5 100.Re7+ Be6 101.Rb7 Rc5 102.Ke7 Rc1 103.Ra7 Bc8 104.Ra5+ ½–½

I knew that rook and bishop against rook is a theoretical draw while watching the game, but in fact there are many positions that are not drawn. None of these positions occurred in this game, but a few were threatened. Moreover, the weaker side's defense can prove difficult. In practice, these ending frequently are won. I expect that I will offer another post on this ending in the coming days.