Expressly annotated by Grandmaster Peter V. Svidler
Viswanathan Anand – Magnus Carlsen
World Chess Championship; match game 1; Sochi, November 8, 2014
Grünfeld Defence D85
World Chess Championship; match game 1; Sochi, November 8, 2014
Grünfeld Defence D85
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. Bd2. The long-awaited 1st game of the World Championship Match between Magnus Carlsen and Viswanathan Anand ended in a draw after an exciting, but somewhat uneven, play. The early running belonged to Anand, who came well-prepared to a somewhat rare sideline of the 5. Bd2 Grünfeld (an opening Magnus has not played too much before the match). 5. ... Bg7 6. e4 Nxc3 7. Bxc3 0-0 8. Qd2 Nc6 9. Nf3!?, played instantly, and followed up by a very forcing sequence leading up to 13. 0-0-0, resulted in a very sharp position which seemed to favour White. 9. ... Bg4 10. d5 Bxf3 11. Bxg7 Kxg7 12. gxf3 Ne5 13. 0-0-0 c6 14. Qc3 f6 15. Bh3 cxd5 16. exd5 Nf7 17. f4 Qd6 18. Qd4 Rad8 19. Be6 Qb6 20. Qd2 Rd6 21. Rhe1. The value of White’s idea might depend on whether 21. h4 is an improvement on the conservative option of 21. Rhe1 that Anand opted for. 21. ... Nd8 22. f5 Nxe6 23. Rxe6 Qc7+ 24. Kb1 Rc8 25. Rde1 Rxe6. However, the World Champion handled the position very well – the plan of luring the Bishop to e6 and then exchanging it off by playing ... Rd8-d6 and ... Nf7-d8 neutralized White’s initiative quite effectively, and by move 25 the position became very level. 26. Rxe6. After the slightly optimistic 26. ... Rd8 (I feel 26. ... gxf5 was a better try, although White should hold there as well) White had a very comfortable position, and could play 28. fxg6 hxg6 29. h4, when he has no problems whatsoever. The forced simplification 27. Qe3 Rd7 28. d6!? chosen by Vishy was fine as well, but after two pairs of Pawns came off, Black’s position was slightly easier to play, and after a series of somewhat careless moves in mild time-trouble White’s position deteriorated to the point where, after the 1st time-control, Black had real winning chances. 28. ... exd6 29. Qd4 Rf7 30. fxg6 hxg6 31. Rxd6 a6 32. a3 Qa5 33. f4 Qh5 34. Qd2 Qc5 35. Rd5 Qc4 36. Rd7 Qc6 37. Rd6 Qe4+ 38. Ka2 Re7 39. Qc1 a5 40. Qf1 a4 41. Rd1 Qc2. Black’s best chance came on move 42, when 42. Rd4 could have been met by 42. ... Re3!?, which would leave White with a difficult choice between an unpleasant Rook endgame after 43. Qd1 and a similarly difficult Queen ending after 43. Rd7 Kh6 44. Rb7 Rb3! 45. Rxb3 axb3 46. Ka1 Qxh2. Instead Magnus chose 42. ... Re2, which looked very promising but allowed White to escape with a brilliant 43. Rb4 b5
44. Qh1!! Once the Queen became active, Black’s edge disappeared, and the game ended in a perpetual 5 moves later. 44. ... Re7 45. Qd5 Re1 46. Qd7+ Kh6 47. Qh3+ Kg7 48. Qd7+ ½ : ½.
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