Today Magnus Carlsen won “a look a like” drawn rook endgame in the Fide World Chess Championship against the current World Chess Champion Vishy Anand. Magnus play is in general that of a true World Chess Champion. It seems that Magnus took good advantage of the win yesterday by pressing Vishy. Magnus is now in the lead with 4 points against 2 with only 6 more games to go!
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[Event “Fide World Chess Championship 2013”]
[Site “Chenai, India”]
[Date “2013.11.16”]
[Round “6”]
[White “Vishy Anand”]
[Black “Magnus Carlsen”]
[Result “0-1”]
[BlackElo “2870”]
[ECO “C65”]
[EventDate “2013.11.16”]
[WhiteElo “2775”]
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.d3 Bc5 5.c3 O-O 6.O-O Re8 7.Re1 a6 8.Ba4 b5 9.Bb3 d6 10.Bg5 Be6 11.Nbd2 h6 12.Bh4 Bxb3 13.axb3 Nb8 14.h3 Nbd7 15.Nh2 Qe7 16.Ndf1 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 25.Rf1 c5 26.Kh2 c4 27.d4 Rxa1 28.Rxa1 Qb7 29.Rd1 Qc6 ( 29…exd4 { -0.26/30 } 30.Rxd4 Qc6 31.Rd5 Re5 32.Rxe5 dxe5 33.Qf5 f6 34.Kg3 Qe8 35.Qg4 Kf8 36.Kf2 Qa8 37.Qf5 Qb7 38.Kf3 Qc6 39.Qg4 Kf7 40.Qh5+ Kg8 41.Qf5 Kf8 ) 30.Qf5 exd4 31.Rxd4 Re5 32.Qf3 Qc7 33.Kh1 Qe7 34.Qg4 Kh7 35.Qf4 g6 36.Kh2 Kg7 37.Qf3 Re6 38.Qg3 $6 { Deep HIARCS:-0.83/28 } ( 38.Kg1 { Deep HIARCS:-0.50/23 } 38…h5 39.Qf4 Re5 40.Kh2 Kf8 41.Qh6+ Kg8 42.Qf4 Kg7 43.Kg1 ) 38…Rxe4 39.Qxd6 Rxe3 40.Qxe7 Rxe7 41.Rd5 Rb7 42.Rd6 f6 43.h4 Kf7 44.h5 gxh5 45.Rd5 Kg6 46.Kg3 Rb6 47.Rc5 f5 48.Kh4 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 58.Rc8 Ke3 59.Rxc4 f4 60.Ra4 $2 { Deep HIARCS:-2.78/30 } ( 60.b4 { Deep HIARCS:-0.07/25 } 60…h3 61.gxh3 Kf3 62.h4 Rg2+ 63.Kh3 Rg1 64.Kh2 Rb1 65.Rc6 h5 66.Rh6 Rc1 67.Rxh5 Rc2+ 68.Kh3 Rxc3 69.Re5 Re3 70.Rc5 Ke4+ 71.Kg2 Re2+ 72.Kg1 f3 73.h5 Rb2 74.h6 Rg2+ 75.Kf1 ) 60…h3 61.gxh3 Rg6 62.c4 $2 { Deep HIARCS:-7.46/31 } ( 62.Ra7 { Deep HIARCS:-2.27/25 } 62…f3 63.Re7+ Kf2 64.Ra7 Rg2+ 65.Kh1 Rg1+ 66.Kh2 Re1 67.Ra6 Ke2 68.Re6+ Kf1 69.Rxh6 f2 70.Rf6 Ke2 71.Kg3 Rg1+ 72.Kh4 Ke3 73.c4 f1=Q 74.Rxf1 Rxf1 75.Kg5 Rg1+ 76.Kf5 Kd4 77.h4 Rh1 78.Kg5 Rg1+ 79.Kf6 Rh1 80.Kg5 ) 62…f3 63.Ra3+ $6 { Deep HIARCS:-10.78/27 } ( 63.Ra7 { Deep HIARCS:-7.46/30 } 63…Rg2+ 64.Kh1 Re2 65.Re7+ Kd2 66.Rd7+ Ke1 67.Ra7 Re8 68.Kh2 f2 69.Kg3 f1=Q 70.Ra1+ ) 63…Ke2 64.b4 f2 65.Ra2+ Kf3 66.Ra3+ Kf4 67.Ra8 Rg1 0-1
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In move 29. Magnus could have gone straight ahead with exd4 to pressure the pawn on e4!
Vishy’s decision with 38. Qg3 to trade a pawn for piece activity in a difficult rook ending for withe seems inaccurate in retrospect. Deep HIARCS also suggest to stay put with 38. Kg1!
Vishy’s plan with 43. h4 and 44. h5 to create a double pawn to slow down the movement of blacks pawns was good idea! And Magnus apparently did’t see this he said on the press conference in Chenai after the game.
The decisive mistake is properly 60. Ra4? 60. b4! apparently creates the necessary counter play for the withe pawns and should at least be equal! A tough decision to make in the heat of the moment. “The best way to defend, is to attack”!
62. But Anand’s plan with 62. c4 and 63. Ra3+ is to slow an antidote against the ambitious black pawns. White cannot prevent the queening of the black pawn without losing his precious rook.
And the withe King from India most rest his case in this battle of minds.
A game like this shows the unbelievably high standard of chess from both sides. Even computers will testify to this fact. But against the Mozart of Chess even the slightest inaccuracy is punished mercilessly!
Analysis by GM Daniel King:
Excellent in depth analysis by IM Christof Sielecki:
Let me hear what you have to say