Last Lectures

Sergey Alexandrovich Karjakin – Viswanathan Anand
Candidates Tournament; Moscow, March 15, 2016
English Opening A34

1. Nf3 d5 2. e3 Nf6 3. c4 e6 4. b3 Be7 5. Bb2 0-0 6. Nc3 c5 7. cxd5 Nxd5 8. Qc2 Nc6 9. h4!? A novelty. The old try was 9. a3 b6 10. Nxd5 Qxd5 11. Bd3 h6 12. Bh7+ Kh8 13. Be4 Qd6 14. d4 Bb7 15. Rc1 Rac8 16. dxc5 Qxc5 17. Qxc5 bxc5 18. 0-0 ½ : ½ Hort – Smejkal, Banja Luka 1976. 9. ... b6 10. a3 f5 11. Bb5 Bb7 12. Nxd5 exd5. As suggested by most commentators, here 12. ... Qxd5 seems more to the point. 13. d4 Rc8 14. dxc5 bxc5 15. 0-0 Bf6 16. Rfd1. The obvious threat is Rd1xd5. 16. ... Ne7 17. Bxf6 Rxf6 18. g3. “Typical Karjakin, he stops ... f5-f4 and preparing the maneuvre Bb5-f1-g2. The question is: can Black play ... d5-d4 or not. For the moment this seems quite risky”, Grandmaster Petar G. Arnaudov said. 18. ... Ba6. “Very strange move, why not 18. ... Qb6?”, wonders Arnaudov. 19. Bxa6 Rxa6 20. Qc3 Rb6 21. Rac1 Qd6

22. Ne5. That’s all: Anand must defend a typical hanging Pawns bad position. 22. ... Rb7 23. Nd3 c4 24. bxc4 Rxc4 25. Qe5 Qxe5 26. Nxe5 Rxc1 27. Rxc1. “I would have thought two matches against Carlsen would have convinced Vishy to try anything but passive defence”, Grandmaster Jonathan David Tisdall said. 27. ... g6 28. Rc5 Kg7 29. Ra5 Kf6 30. Nd3 Rc7 31. Ra6+ Kg7 32. Nf4 Rd7 33. Kf1 Ng8 34. Ne6+ Kf7 35. Nd4 Ne7 36. Nb5 Nc8 37. a4 Rb7 38. Rc6 Ne7 39. Ra6 Nc8 40. Rc6 Ne7 41. Rd6 Rb6 42. Rd7 a6 43. Nc3 1 : 0. Vishy resigns in absolute desperation, literally strangled by Zugzwang. An impressive display of strength by Karjakin!

Sergey Alexandrovich Karjakin
Photo: GQ Russia