Squaring the circle

Magnus Carlsen – Radosław Wojtaszek
79th Tata Steel Chess Tournament; Wijk aan Zee, January 15, 2017
Sicilian Defence B90

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. a3!? Curiously enough, Carlsen shares Karjakin’s theoretical paradoxes. 7. ... e5 7. Nf5!? Yesterday we saw 7. Nf3 Be7 8. Bc4 Be6 9. Ba2 0-0 10. 0-0 b5 11. Re1 Re8 12. Bg5 Nbd7 13. Nd2 Rb8 14. Bxf6 Nxf6 15. Nf1 b4 16. Nd5 bxa3 17. bxa3 Nxd5 18. Bxd5 Bg5 19. g3 Qd7 20. Qd3 Rb6 21. h4 Bh6 22. Reb1 Reb8 23. Rb3 Bxd5 24. Qxd5 g6 25. Rab1 Rxb3 26. Rxb3 Qc7 27. a4 Bc1 28. Kg2 h5 29. Nh2 Rxb3 30. cxb3 Qc2 31. Nf1 a5 32. Kf3 Qc3+ 33. Ke2 Qc2+ 34. Kf3 Qc3+ 35. Ke2 ½ : ½ Karjakin – Giri, 79th Tata Steel Chess Tournament, Wijk aan Zee 2017. 7. ... d5. Thematic. 8. Bg5 d4 9. Bxf6 Qxf6? Quite an unfortunate (possibly new) idea. Correct was 9. ... gxf6(!) which seems to offer Black a perfectly playable game – even if a bit unbalanced. 10. Nd5 Qd8 11. Qg4 Bxf5. On 11. ... g6 12. Qg3! may be very unpleasant. 12. Qxf5 Bd6 13. h4. White has a clear initiative. 13. ... Nc6 14. Bc4! Carlsen is in no hurry to castle. 14. ... b5. 14. ... Qa5+ 15. Kf1 doesn’t make much difference with the actual game. 15. Bb3 Ne7. After long thought Black decides to remove the Knight from d5. 16. Qg4 0-0 17. Rh3 Nxd5 18. Bxd5. But now the d5-Bishop dominates the board. 18. ... Ra7 19. Rg3 Qf6 20. a4! If 20. 0-0-0 then 20. ... a5 eventually followed by ... a5-a4 and ... b5-b4 could offer some counterplay. 20. ... Bb4+ 21. Kf1! bxa4 22. Rxa4 a5

23. Ra1! The Rook is eventually heading for f3 via d1 and d3. 23. ... Rc7 24. Bb3 Ra8 25. Kg1. White has finally castled! 25. ... Bf8 26. Qh5 g6 27. Qg4 Ra6 28. h5 Qf4. With less than 5 minutes left, it’s no wonder that sooner or later Wojtaszek will fall down. 29. Qe2 Qf6 30. Qb5 Qc6? That’s the crisis: Black trivially drops a Pawn. Here 30. ... Rc5 31. hxg6 hxg6 (31. ... Rxb5?? 32. gxf7++ Kh8 33. Rg8 mate) 32. Qe2±/+- appeared to be the lesser worst. 31. Qxe5. Down a Pawn and with no time left, Black is hopeless. 31. ... Re7 32. Qf4 a4 33. Bd5 Qc7. If 33. ... Qxc2 then 34. Rc1 Qxb2 35. Rc8 winning easily. 34. Qd2 Qb6 35. Ra2 Rc7 36. Rf3 Qb4 37. Qe2 Rb6 38. hxg6 hxg6 39. g3 Kg7 40. Kg2 Rd7. The time control is finally reached, but just for celebrating an unhappy ending. 41. Qd1! Rf6 42. Rxf6 Kxf6 43. c3! dxc3 44. Rxa4 1 : 0. Faced with the loss of a second Pawn (at least), Black resigned.

Magnus Carlsen
Photo: Tata Steel Chess (Facebook)