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Viswanathan Anand – Magnus Carlsen
2nd Vugar Gashimov Memorial; Shamkir, April 17, 2015
Spanish C89

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. 0-0 Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 0-0 8. c3 d5!? The Marshall Counter-Gambit. 9. exd5 Nxd5 10. Nxe5 Nxe5 11. Rxe5 c6 12. d3 Bd6 13. Re1 Bf5 14. Qf3 Bg6!? This move is a novelty. If 14. ... Qh4 then 15. g3 Qh3 16. Be3 Bxd3 17. Nd2 Qf5 18. Bd4 Rfe8 19. a4 with a very slight edge for White, Caruana – Aronian, 3th Zürich Chess Challenge, Zürich 2014. If, instead, 14... Qf6 then 15. Nd2 Qg6 16. Bd1 Bxd3 17. Ne4 Bxe4 18. Qxe4 Qxe4 19. Rxe4 Rae8 as in the game Anand – Svidler, World Chess Championship Candidates, Khanty-Mansiysk 2014. In both games White didn’t achieve anything special. 15. Bxd5. “Vishy clearly feeling uncomfortable after Carlsen’s TN 14. ... Bg6 spent over 30 minutes on this move. Marshall never ceases to impress”, International Master Lawrence Trent said. 15. ... cxd5 16. Bf4 d4 17. cxd4 Bb4 18. Nc3 Qxd4 19. Be5 Qd7? “Carlsen refuses to take back the Pawn. He prefers to avoid the unpleasant pressure and to postpone winning of the weak d3 Pawn for a better time. He has a Bishop pair and no weaknesses. Even in the endgame, with Pawn up on d-file, there are many theoretical draw positions. But how he is planning to meet 20. Nd5, which attacks the Bishop and at the same time - the deadly threat is 21. Nf6+ with mate in two? It was safe enough to take the Pawn: 19. ... Qxd3 20. Re3 Qc4 21. Nd5 Rad8 and if 22. Nf6+ (22. Rd1 f6) 22. ... Kh8”, Grandmaster Aleksander Delchev said.

20. Nd5! Threatening both Nd5-f6+ and Nd5xb4. 20. ... f6! The only defence. Obviously, 20. ... Bxe1?? 21. Nf6+! gxf6 22. Qxf6 leads to mate. 21. Nxb4 fxe5 22. Qd5+ Qxd5 23. Nxd5 Bxd3 24. Rxe5. “Mathematically the position is winning for Vishy, so if he does everything right he doesn’t need to worry who he’s playing”, Grandmaster Evgeny Miroshnichenko said. 24. ... Rfe8 25. Rxe8+ Rxe8 26. Ne3?! In the press conference right after the game, both Vishy and Magnus agreed that if White had played 26. Nb4! Bc4 27. b3 a5 28. bxc4! axb4 29. cxb5 Rb8 30. Rb1 Rxb5 31. a3! b3 32. Rb2! Black’s endgame would have been nearly hopeless. 26. ... Rc8 27. a3 a5 28. h4 Bg6 29. Rd1 b4 30. axb4 axb4 31. g4 b3 32. h5 Bf7 33. Kg2 Kf8 34. Kg3 Ra8 35. Rd2 h6 36. Nf5 Be6 37. Nd4 Bf7 38. f3 Rc8 39. Kf4 Rc1 40. Nf5 Kg8 41. Rd8+ Kh7 42. Rd7 Kg8 43. Rd8+. “43. Nh4! Maybe this. The idea is to play Nh4-g6, threatening Rd7-d8+ followed by Rd8-h8 mate. 43. ... Rc2 44. Ng6 Be8 [44. ... Bxg6 45. hxg6 Kf8 46. Rf7+ Kg8 47. Rb7+-; 44. ... Re2 45. Ne5 Be8 46. Re7 Ba4 47. Rb7 Kf8 (47. ... Rxb2?? 48. Rb8+ Kh7 49. Ng6 Re2 50. Rh8 mate) 48. Rb4 Be8 49. Rxb3+-] 45. Re7 Ba4 46. Re4 Bb5 47. Rb4 Rc4+ $8 48. Rxc4 Bxc4 49. Ne5 must be winning”, Dennis Monokroussos said. 43. ... Kh7 44. Rd7 Kg8 45. Nd6 Be6 46. Re7 Bd5 47. Kf5?! This move exposes the valuable f3-Pawn to attack. With 47. Re5 Rd1 48. Re2 White would have retained both his extra Pawn and significant winning chances. 47. ... Rc6!= 48. Ke5 Bxf3 49. Nf5 g5! 50. Rg7+ Kh8 51. Rg6 Kh7! 52. Rg7+ Kh8 53. Rg6 Kh7 ½ : ½. “I’m not 100% sure the endgame in Anand – Carlsen was winning for White at all. At first glance, Anand should have won, but...” Grandmaster Andrey Deviatkin said.

Viswanathan Anand vs. Magnus Carlsen
Photo: Shamkir Chess 2015

Magnus Carlsen (‏@MagnusCarlsen)