The White Tiger

Magnus Carlsen – Viswanathan Anand
World Chess Championship; match game 7; Sochi, November 17, 2014
Spanish Game C67

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. Bf4 Be7 12. Rad1 Be6 13. Ng5 Rh6 14. g3 Bxg5 15. Bxg5 Rg6 16. h4 f6 17. exf6 gxf6 18. Bf4 Nxh4 19. f3 Rd8 20. Kf2 Rxd1 21. Nxd1 Nf5 22. Rh1 Bxa2 23. Rxh5 Be6 24. g4. Another try is 24. Bxc7 Rh6 25. Rxh6 Nxh6 26. g4 Nf7 27. Ke3 Kd7 28. Bb8 a5 29. Nc3 b5 30. Ne4 Ke7 31. Bc7 a4 32. Ba5 Ne5 33. Bc3 Nd7 34. Kd4 c5+ 35. Nxc5 Nxc5 36. Kxc5 Bc4 37. b3 axb3 38. cxb3 Bxb3 39. Bxf6+ Kxf6 40. g5+ Kxg5 41. f4+ Kxf4 42. Kxb5 Ke5 ½ : ½ Solak – Bacrot, 15th European Individual Chess Championship, Yerevan 2014. 24. ... Nd6 25. Rh7 Nf7. Possibly an improvement over 25. ... f5 26. g5 (much more to the point is 26. Rxc7! Nb5 27. gxf5 Bxf5 28. Rxb7 Bxc2 29. Ne3 Bb3 30. Ng4 with advantage to White) 26. ... Nf7 27. Rh5 Rg8 28. Kg3 Rh8 29. Rxh8+ Nxh8 30. Bxc7 Ng6 31. Nc3 Kd7 32. Bb8 a5 33. Na4 Kc8 34. Bf4 b5 35. Nc5 Ba2 36. c3 a4 37. Bd6 Bd5 38. f4 Kd8 39. Kf2 Nh4 40. Ke3 Ke8 41. Nd3 Be4 42. Nf2 Bd5 43. Ba3 Kf7 44. Kd4 Ke6 45. Nd3 Ng6 46. Nc5+ Kf7 47. Na6 Nxf4 48. Ke5 Nd3+ 49. Kxf5 c5 50. g6+ Kg8 51. Nxc5 Nxc5 52. Bxc5 ½ : ½ Giri – Radjabov, FIDE Grand Prix, Tashkent 2014. 26. Ne3 Kd8 27. Nf5 c5 28. Ng3. “Magnus is playing safe and solid – slight edge and a bit of suffering for Black, but usually this ends in a draw”, Fabiano Caruana tweeted. 28. ... Ne5. “28. ... Ne5 is a bold solution from Vishy. After 29. Bxe5 fxe5 30. Rh5 his idea might be 30. ... Bxg4 drawing, but 30. Ne4!? looks unpleasant”, Jonathan Rowson tweeted. 29. Rh8+ Rg8 30. Bxe5 fxe5 31. Rh5. The Climax.

31. ... Bxg4! “I called the piece sacrifice correctly about 20 mins. ago. Now I don’t know whether a win for Magnus or draw is more likely”, Nigel Short tweeted. 32. fxg4 Rxg4 33. Rxe5 b6 34. Ne4. “Interesting option for Magnus was to play 34. Re4 where 34. ... Rxe4 is dangerous, otherwise White plays Re4-a4 forcing a7-a5 wich is very good for White”, Sergey Karjakin tweeted. 34. ... Rh4 35. Ke2 Rh6 36. b3 Kd7 37. Kd2 Kc6 38. Nc3 a6 39. Re4 Rh2+ 40. Kc1 Rh1+ 41. Kb2 Rh6 42. Nd1 Rg6 43. Ne3 Rh6 44. Re7 Rh2 45. Re6+ Kb7 46. Kc3 Rh4 47. Kb2 Rh2 48. Nd5 Rd2 49. Nf6 Rf2 50. Kc3 Rf4. “White has made no progress at all, but at any moment he may set up a disguised threat. Black must not be lulled into sleeping”, Short said. 51. Ne4 Rh4 52. Nf2 Rh2 53. Rf6 Rh7 54. Nd3 Rh3 55. Kd2 Rh2+ 56. Rf2 Rh4 57. c4 Rh3 58. Kc2 Rh7 59. Nb2 Rh5 60. Re2 Rg5 61. Nd1 b5 62. Nc3 c6 63. Ne4 Rh5 64. Nf6. “I am also expecting Magnus will eventually play on with R+N v. R. It is pretty drawn, but why not go for the 5% chance?”, asked Short. 64. ... Rg5 65. Re7+ Kb6 66. Nd7+ Ka5 67. Re4 Rg2+ 68. Kc1. Perhaps Vishy was hoping for 68. Kc3 b4+ 69. Kd3 Rd2+! 70. Kxd2 stalemate. The text doesn’t look better. 68. ... Rg1+. A way even more direct is 68. ... Kb4! 69. cxb5+ Kc3! 70. Re3+ Kd4 71. Re5 cxb5 72. Rxc5 a5 73. Rxb5 Kc3! with a draw in sight. 69. Kd2 Rg2+ 70. Ke1 bxc4! 71. Rxc4 (71. bxc4 Kb4=) 71. ... Rg3! 72. Nxc5 Kb5! 73. Rc2 a5 74. Kf2 Rh3 75. Rc1 Kb4 76. Ke2 Rc3 77. Nd3+ Kxb3 78. Ra1 Kc4 79. Nf2 Kb5 80. Rb1+ Kc4 81. Ne4 Ra3 82. Nd2+ Kd5 83. Rh1 a4 84. Rh5+ Kd4 85. Rh4+ Kc5 86. Kd1 Kb5 87. Kc2 Rg3 88. Ne4 Rg2+ 89. Kd3 a3 90. Nc3+ Kb6 91. Ra4 a2 92. Nxa2 Rg3+ 93. Kc2 Rg2+ 94. Kb3 Rg3+ 95. Nc3 Rh3 96. Rb4+ Kc7 97. Rg4 Rh7 98. Kc4 Rf7 99. Rg5 Kb6 100. Na4+ Kc7 101. Kc5 Kd7 102. Kb6 Rf1 103. Nc5+ Ke7 104. Kxc6 Rd1 105. Rg6 Kf7 106. Rh6 Rg1 107. Kd5 Rg5+ 108. Kd4 Rg6 109. Rh1 Rg2 110. Ne4 Ra2 111. Rf1+ Ke7 112. Nc3 Rh2 113. Nd5+ Kd6 114. Rf6+ Kd7 115. Nf4 Rh1 116. Rg6 Rd1+ 117. Nd3 Ke7 118. Ra6 Kd7 119. Ke4 Ke7 120. Rc6 Kd7 121. Rc1 Rxc1 122. Nxc1 ½ : ½. A monumental defence by Anand!

Zsuzsa Polgár (@SusanPolgar)