Halfway to Midnight

Shakhriyar Hamid oglu Mamedyarov – Magnus Carlsen
6th Sinquefield Cup; Saint Louis, August 26, 2018
Neo-Grünfeld Defence D78

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nf3 Bg7 4. g3 c6 5. Bg2 d5 6. Nbd2 a5 7. b3 a4 8. Ba3 axb3 9. axb3 0-0 10. 0-0 Re8. Carlsen departs from one of his challenger’s best known games: 10. ... Bf5 11. Nh4 Be6 12. Re1 Ne4 13. Bxe4!? (13. Nxe4 dxe4 14. Bxe4 Qxd4 15. Qxd4 Bxd4 16. Bb2! Rxa1 17. Bxa1 Bg7=) 13. ... dxe4 14. Nxe4? (14. e3=) 14. ... Qxd4 (14. ... Bxd4? 15. Bxe7!±) 15. Qc2? (15. Qxd4 Bxd4 16. Bb2 Rxa1 17. Bxa1 Bb6⩱) 15. ... Bf5!∓ Kramnik – Caruana, 43rd Sparkassen Chess Meeting, Dortmund 2015. 11. e3 Bf5 12. Qe2 Na6!? A novelty — instead of 12. ... Nbd7 13. cxd5 cxd5 14. h3 e6!? (Ivanchuk goes for an interesting Pawn sacrifice) 15. g4 Be4 16. g5 Bxf3 17. Bxf3 Nh5 18. Bxh5 gxh5 19. f4 (19. Qxh5 e5) 19. ... Qb6 20. Bb2 Nf8 21. Qxh5 Ng6 22. Qe2 Ne7 23. Qd3 Nf5 24. Rxa8 (the exchange of the four Rooks will leave Black with very good compensation for the Pawn, due to White’s bad Bishop) 24. ... Rxa8 25. Ra1 Rxa1+ 26. Bxa1 h6 27. gxh6 Bxh6 28. Kf2 Bf8 29. Bb2 Be7 30. Ke2 Qa5 31. Bc3 Qa2 32. Qb1 Qa6+ 33. Qd3?? (33. Kf3 was a must, White being still able to go on playing) 33. ... Ng3+ 0 : 1 Wojtaszek – Ivanchuk, 4th World Rapid Chess Championship, Berlin 2015. 13. Ne5 Ne4 14. cxd5 cxd5 15. Nxe4 Bxe4 16. Bxe4. If 16. f3 then 16. ... Bf5 17. g4 Bd7 18. f4 Nc7 with equality. 16. ... dxe4 17. Qb5 Rb8 18. Qc4 Bxe5 19. dxe5 Qd3. Black equalised quite comfortably. 20. Rac1 Qxc4 21. Rxc4 b5 22. Rc6. Not 22. Rxe4(?) on account of 22. ... b4 23. Bb2 Nc5 and Black regains his Pawn with interest. 22. ... Ra8 23. Rfc1. If 23. Rb6 Black would likely have answered 23. ... Kf8 24. Rxb5 Nc7 25. Rb7 Rxa3 26. Rxc7 Rxb3 27. Rc4 f5 with parity. 23. ... Nb8 24. Rc8 Kf8 25. Bb4 Na6 26. Rxa8 Rxa8 27. Ba5 Ke8 28. Rc6 Kd7 29. Rb6 Nc5 30. b4 (30. Rxb5 Nxb3=) 30. ... Nd3 31. e6+! fxe6 32. Rxb5 Rc8 33. Rb7+ Kd6 34. b5 Rc1+ 35. Kg2 Rc2

36. Kg1! g5! 36. ... Rxf2 37. Bb4+ Kd5 38. Rd7+ Kc4 39. Rxd3 exd3 40. Kxf2 Kxb4 41. b6 Kc3 42. b7 d2 only leads to a very drawish Queen ending. 37. Rb8 Rb2 38. Rd8+ Kc5 39. b6 Rb5 40. Kg2 g4! Black’s play comes just a little easier, but it’s not so easy to get something out of that. 41. h3 h5 42. hxg4 hxg4 43. Bc3 e5 44. Rg8 Kc4 45. Rc8+ Kd5 46. Rd8+ Kc5 47. Rc8+ Kxb6. Implicitly agreeing a draw. 48. Rb8+ Kc5 49. Rxb5+ Kxb5 50. Kf1 Ka4 51. Ke2 e6. A hymn to the tripled Pawns. 52. Kf1 Kb3 53. Ba5 Kc2 54. Ke2 Nc1+ 55. Ke1 Nd3+ 56. Ke2 Nc1+ 57. Ke1 Nd3+ 58. Ke2 Nc1+ ½ : ½.