Goodnight Tonight

Levon Grigori Aronian – Magnus Carlsen
6th Sinquefield Cup; Saint Louis, August 20, 2018
Giuoco Piano C54

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. d3 Nf6 5. 0-0 d6 6. c3 a6 7. Re1 h6 8. b4 Ba7 9. a4 0-0 10. Nbd2 Re8 11. Nf1 Be6 12. Bxe6 Rxe6. If 12. ... fxe6 then 13. Be3 Qd7 14. Qc2 Bxe3 15. Nxe3 Nh5 16. b5 Na5 17. d4 with an edge, Galinsky – Mihajlov, 4th Fagernes Chess International, Fagernes 2014. 13. Ng3. The reference game — from a theoretical viewpoint — is 13. Be3 Qd7 14. b5 Ne7 15. bxa6 bxa6 16. Bxa7 Rxa7 17. Qb3 c6 18. Rab1 Ng6 19. g3 a5 20. Ne3 a5 20. Ne3 Re8 21. Nc4 Kh7 22. Qc2 Qe6 23. Ne3 d5 24. Kg2 Kg8 25. h4 Rd7 26. c4! with a plus for White, Kramnik – Adams, 4th Gashimov Memorial, Şəmkir 2017. 13. ... Ne7. The alternative is 13. ... d5 14. Qc2 b5 (14. ... Qd7 15. h3 Rae8 16. b5 Ne7 17. c4 d4 18. c5 doesn’t seem convincing for Black, Aronian – Anand, 6th Norway Blitz, Stavanger 2018) 15. Be3 Bxe3 16. Rxe3 d4 17. Ree1 dxc3 18. Qxc3 with a pull for White, Anand – 韦奕 (Wéi Yì), 29th Torneo Magistral de Ajedrez “Ciudad de León”, León 2016, match game 1. 14. d4 Ng6 15. Qc2 c6 16. h3 Qc7 17. Be3 d5!? Finally the novelty, instead of 17. ... a5 18. dxe5 dxe5 19. Bxa7 Rxa7 20. Nf5 b5 21. g3 axb4 22. cxb4 bxa4 23. Rxa4 Rxa4 24. Qxa4 Kh7 25. Kg2 Re8 26. Qa2 Qd7 27. Qc2 Rd8 28. Rc1 Qb7 29. Qc4 Rd7 30. h4 Rd8 31. Rc2 Rd1 32. Rd2 Rxd2? (it would seem that after 32. ... Rb1 33. Nd6 Qd7 White has nothing better than repeating moves) 33. Nxd2 Kg8 34. Nb3 Qb5? (this further liquidation is the last thing Black should have done) 35. Qxb5 cxb5 36. Nd6 (the ending is just a suffering for Black) 36. ... Kf8 37. Nc5 Ne7 38. f3 Nc6 39. Nd3 Nd4 40. Nxe5 Ke7 41. Nb7 Nc2 42. Nd3 Nd7 43. f4 Nb8 44. e5 Nc6 45. Kf3 Ke6 46. Nd6 f6 47. Nxb5 fxe5 48. Nc7+ Kd6 49. Na6 exf4 50. Kxf4 g6 51. Ke4 N2d4 52. Nb8 Nf5 53. Nxc6 Kxc6 54. Kf4 Kb5 55. Ne5 Ne7 56. Nf7 Nf5 57. Nxh6 Nxh6 58. Kg5 Nf5 59. h5 Nxg3 60. h6 Nf5 61. h7 Nd6 62. Kxg6 1 : 0 Shankland – Sevian, 3rd Millionaire Chess Open, Atlantic City 2016. 18. Nxe5 Nxe5 19. dxe5 Qxe5!? Black seems to want to provoke emotional conflict and turmoil in his opponent. After 19. ... Bxe3 20. exf6 (20. Rxe3 Rxe5 21. f4 Rxe4! appears to offer Black excellent compensation for the Exchange) 20. ... Ba7 21. Nf5 Rxf6 22. Re7 Qf4 Black seems to get a comfortable equality. 20. exd5 cxd5. 20. ... Qxd5? 21. Rad1 appears to be a far worsened version of the game.

21. Rad1. After this, Black has no difficulty in getting what he wanted, a draw in the hours before midnight and a long sleeping night — and that’s probably good for his fans, too. Objectively speaking, however, it is daring enough to guess that 21. Bxa7 Qxe1+ 22. Rxe1 Rxe1+ 23. Kh2 Rxa7 could have produced a different result, but dreaming doesn’t cost anything, do you? Now Stockfish continues 24. Qd2 Re6 25. Qf4 Ra8 26. Qc7 b5 27. Qb7 Ree8 27. a5(!) — just to make White’s battery of Queen and Knight quite impressive. Who knows... 21. ... Bxe3 22. Rxe3 Qc7 23. Nf5 Rae8 24. Qd3 Qf4! (Δ ... Re6-e4) 25. g3 Qc7 26. a5 Rxe3 27. Nxe3 Qc6 28. Nxd5 Nxd5 29. Qxd5 Re1+! 30. Kh2 Rxd1 31. Qxd1 Qxc3 32. Qd8+ Kh7 33. Qd5 Qxb4 34. Qf5+ Kg8 35. Qc8+ Kh7 36. Qf5+ Kg8 37. Qc8+ Kh7 ½ : ½.