Candidates Rd13: Anand-Carlsen rematch!

by Alejandro Ramirez
3/29/2014 – It's official. With 8.0/13 there is no way anyone in the big pack of 6.5/13 can catch Anand and the Indian player earns his right to fight for the World Championship title against Carlsen later this year. Today's round proved decisive as Karjakin had reasonable chances for a win against Anand, but it was to no avail, while Andreikin took down Aronian. Analysis and report.

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The FIDE Candidates Tournament is taking place in Khanty-Mansiysk (Russia). The first round will start on Thursday, March 13 at 3 p.m. local time, the final round is on Sunday, March 30, 2014. The event is a double round robin (14 rounds). The time control is 120 minutes for the first 40 moves, 60 minutes for the next 20 and 15 minutes for the rest of the game plus an additional 30 seconds per move starting from move 61.

The tournament will determine the challenger who will face the reigning World Champion Magnus Carlsen in a title match later this year. The prize fund is 600,000 Euros (= US $832,000), the first place 135,000 and last (8th) place 25,000 Euros.

Round Thirteen

Round thirteen – 29.03.2014, 15:00h (GMT+6)
Andreikin Dmitry
1-0
 Aronian Levon
Karjakin Sergey
½-½
 Anand Viswanathan
Svidler Peter
½-½
 Mamedyarov Shakhriyar
Kramnik Vladimir
1-0
 Topalov Veselin

Daniel King shows the games Karjakin vs Anand and Andreikin vs Aronian

Andreikin, Dmitry 1-0 Aronian, Levon

Had Aronian won this game he would have put real
pressure on Anand; but that was a big hypothetical

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MoveNResultEloPlayers
1.e41,162,86954%2421---
1.d4944,72655%2434---
1.Nf3280,65156%2441---
1.c4181,58656%2442---
1.g319,66356%2427---
1.b314,17554%2427---
1.f45,87148%2376---
1.Nc33,76751%2384---
1.b41,73748%2378---
1.a31,19354%2403---
1.e31,06448%2408---
1.d394550%2378---
1.g465846%2359---
1.h444453%2373---
1.c342251%2422---
1.h327856%2416---
1.a410860%2468---
1.Nh38866%2510---
1.f38745%2429---
1.Na34063%2477---
1.d4 Nf6 2.Bg5 The Trompowsky makes its appearance in the Candidates, and a successful one at that. g6 One of many possible moves. 3.Bxf6 exf6 4.c4 Bb4+!? Taking White out of theory (the little that there is in this position) while keeping the game unbalanced. The idea is of course that both knight blocks are not complete satisfactory for White, while the dark square weaknesses on the kingside are not much of an issue at the moment. 4...Bg7 is by far and away the normal move 5.Nd2 c5 6.a3 Bxd2+ 7.Qxd2 cxd4?! This is perhaps sharpening the game too much. Black is trying to develop quickly and use the fact that White isn't cloes to castling, but Andreikin will emerge with the better structure. 8.Nf3 Nc6 9.Nxd4 Nxd4 10.Qxd4 Qa5+ 11.b4 Qe5 12.0-0-0!? A fearless move. White's king lacks defenders, but it doesn't need them if Black cannot bring his pieces out to attack. 12.Qxe5+ fxe5 13.g3 d6 14.Bg2 Rb8 should be close to equal. 12...a5 13.b5 d6 14.Qxe5+ dxe5 White will be better if he can consolidate his position, since the pawn structure clearly favors him. However his c4 pawn is a big weakness and Aronian has a few tempi to develop. 15.g3 Be6 16.Bg2 Bxc4 16...Rc8 17.Bxb7 Rxc4+ 18.Kb2 Ke7 might be more prudent, considering what happened in the game. 19.Bd5 Bxd5 20.Rxd5 Rhc8= 17.Bxb7 Rb8 18.Bc6+ Kf8 19.a4! Perhaps Aronian underestimated this move. Bb3 20.Kb2! This is the point. White sacrifices a clean exchange, but Black's rook on h8 is not part of the game yet and he will have the powerful b-pawn to tie down Black's rooks. Bxa4? The exchange had to be taken. 20...Bxd1 21.Rxd1 Kg7 21...Ke7! 22.Rd7+ Ke6 23.Ra7 Rhd8 24.Kc2 Rd4 25.Rxa5 Kd6 White is the only one that can win, but its not clear how he is going to try to do so. 22.Kc3 Rbd8 23.Rxd8 Rxd8 24.Kc4 Kf8 25.b6 Ke7 26.Kb5 looks grim, but Black can maybe hold Kd6 27.Bg2 f5! This would be the point, to lock out the bishop. 28.Kxa5 e4 29.Kb5 Kd7 30.a5 Kc8 31.a6 Rd2 And White cannot make any more progress. However this line looked very scary. 21.Rd5 Now White's pieces dominate Blacks, but surprisingly the position is not as easy as I thought at first. Ke7 22.Ka3 Bc2 23.Rd7+ Kf8 23...Ke6 24.Rd2! Bf5 25.e4! Traps the bishop as it cannot go to g4. Bg4 26.Bd7++- 24.e4 Maybe necessary 24.Bd5 The pawn on b5 cannot really be taken. Rxb5 25.Rc1! Rxd5 26.Rxd5 Bf5 27.Rd8+ Kg7 28.Rxh8 Kxh8 29.Rc5 It's hard to say if Black's position is a fortress or not, but optically it looks hard to crack. 24...a4 25.Rc1 Bb3 The bishop is safe now, and Black has some hope of holding. 26.Bd5 Bxd5 27.Rxd5 Kg7 28.Rc7 Black is technically up a pawn, but with f7 being so weak and the b5 pawn being so strong it is clear that he is in a lot of trouble. Rb6 29.Rc6 Rb7 30.Kxa4?! Unnecessarily activating Black's pieces. 30.b6 Rhb8 30...Ra8 31.Rdd6 f5 31...Rbb8! May be a much better defensive move. 32.exf5 gxf5 33.Rc7+- 31.Rdd6+- 30...Ra8+ 31.Ra6 Rc8 32.b6 Rc2 33.Kb5 Rxf2? The losing mistake. 33...Rb8!= This move is important as now checks from behind are being threatened. 34.Rd1 Rxf2! 34...Rb2+ 35.Kc6 Rc2+ 36.Kd7 is ugly 35.Kc6 35.Rb1 Rxh2 36.Ra7 Rh3 37.b7 Rxg3 38.Kb6 Rc3 39.Ra8 Rxb7+ 40.Kxb7 Rc4= yes, White is up a rook, but that's four pawns that Black has and White isn't close to coordinating his rooks on the seventh rank. 35...Rc2+ 36.Kd7 f5 34.Kc6 Re7 35.Raa5! Very precise! Now White's rooks take care of the checks and Black is helpless. Re6+ 36.Rd6 Re7 37.Rdd5 Re6+ 38.Kc7 Re7+ 39.Kc8 Re8+ 40.Kd7 Kf8 41.b7 Re7+ 42.Kc6 Re6+ 43.Kc7 Re7+ 44.Kb6 A fascinating game, but one in which Aronian could have put up a better fight. 1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Andreikin,D2709Aronian,L28301–02014A45FIDE Candidates Tournament 201413

All that is left is to fight for the second place prize

Karjakin, Sergey ½-½ Anand, Viswanathan

Anand sacrificed to suffer down a pawn, but Karjakin never had anything concrete

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1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.e3 Karjakin for the second time with White chooses a relatively harmless variation to put pressure on his opponents. The first time he was successful agianst Kramnik; can he go for the repeat? Be7 5.b3 0-0 6.Bb2 c5 7.cxd5 Nxd5 8.dxc5 Nd7 8...Bxc5 9.Qc2 Be7 10.a3 is a little bit more pleasant for White. 9.c6 Shattering the opponent's structure at the cost of a tempo. It's really the only way to try to get an advantage at this point. bxc6 10.Nbd2 a5 11.e4 N5f6 12.Qc2 a4! 13.Qxc6!? Very ambitious. Again Karjakin accepts a sacrificed pawn, but this time Anand did not blunder it. Qa5? Playing it too safe. Now White can retain his extra pawn. 13...Ra5! This strange move would have given the Indian player a lot of compensation. 14.Qc2 Bb7 15.Be2 axb3 16.axb3 Rxa1+ 17.Bxa1 Qa8!= 14.Qxa4 Qxa4 15.bxa4 Nc5 16.Bb5 Nxa4 17.Bd4 Bd7 18.Bxd7 Nxd7 With Black's good piece placement and blockade it is hard for Karjakin to do anything with his extra pawn, but only White is playing for a win. 19.Ke2 Nac5 20.Rhc1 Ra4 21.Rc2 Rfa8 22.Rac1 Rxa2! A great practical decision. 22...Na6 23.Rc8+ Rxc8 24.Rxc8+ Bf8 is a long road of suffering. 23.Rxc5 23.Bxc5 Rxc2 24.Rxc2 Nxc5= is dead 23...Bxc5 24.Bxc5 Rc8! This move is key. If Karjakin retained his rook he would have had realistic winning chances. 25.Ba3 Rxc1 26.Bxc1 With all the pawns on the same side it is difficult to win, but the two pieces do retain the advantage. Nc5 27.Ke3 f6 28.Nd4 e5 29.Ne2 h5 30.h3 Kf7 31.Nc3 Rc2 32.Ne2 Ra2 The rook is very pesky and there is no way to get rid of it being on the second rank. 33.h4 g6 This pawn formation by Black keeps the knights away. Yes one can come to d5, but that's about it. 34.g3 Ke6 35.f3 Kf7 36.Nc3 Rc2 37.Ne2 Ra2 38.Nb1 Nb3 39.Nbc3 Ra1 The bishop is not as good as the knights at defense, so Anand has no interest in trading it off. 39...Nxc1 40.Nxc1 Ra3 41.N1e2 This is also close to a draw though. 40.Bb2 Rf1 41.Nd5 Na5 42.Nb6 Rb1 43.Bc3 Rxb6 44.Bxa5 Rb3+ The knights have been swapped. Now it will be very difficult for Karjakin to make progress. 45.Bc3 g5! Black creates some counterplay. 45...Rb1 46.f4 Ke6 47.fxe5 fxe5 was another defensive setup. 46.hxg5 fxg5 47.Kf2 Rb5 48.g4 h4 Precisely played. The pawn endgames resulting from taking on g5 are drawn, therefore this position is a draw. 49.Ng1 Rc5 50.Bd2 Rc2 51.Ke2 Ra2 52.Nh3 Kg6 53.Kd3 53.Nxg5 Rxd2+ 54.Kxd2 Kxg5 55.Ke3 Kf6 56.Kf2 56.f4 h3 57.fxe5+ Kxe5 58.Kf3 h2 59.Kg2 Kxe4= 56...Kg6 Black simply moves back and forth, not stepping into g5 until White plays Kh3. 53...Rb2 54.Ke3 Rb3+ 55.Ke2 Rb2 56.Kd1 Since taking on g5 is impossible, the rest of the game is really not necessary. Rb3 57.Ke2 Rb2 58.Kd3 Ra2 59.Nf2 Ra3+ 60.Bc3 Ra2 61.Ke3 Ra3 62.Kd2 Ra2+ 63.Ke1 Kf6 64.Kf1 Ra3 65.Nd1 Ke6 66.Kg2 Rb3 67.Ba5 Ra3 68.Bb6 Ra2+ 69.Nf2 Kf6 70.Kh3 Ra3 71.Kg2 Ra2 72.Bd8+ Kg6 73.Be7 Rb2 74.Bc5 Rc2 75.Bd6 Kf6 76.Kf1 Rc1+ 77.Kg2 Rc2 78.Bb4 Rb2 79.Ba5 Ra2 80.Bd8+ Kg6 81.Be7 Rb2 82.Bc5 Kf6 83.Kg1 Rb1+ 84.Kh2 Rb3 85.Kg2 Rb2 86.Ba3 Ra2 87.Bb4 Rb2 88.Be1 h3+ 89.Kf1 h2 90.Nh1 Rb1 91.Ke2 It is true that Anand was down a pawn, but it's hard to say if he was ever in any serious danger. The endgame with the two pieces vs. the rook was very comfortably held by him. ½–½
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Karjakin,S2766Anand,V2770½–½2014A13FIDE Candidates Tournament 201413

Svidler, Peter ½-½ Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar

Mamedyarov is tied for 2nd-6th (!) with 6.5/13

A Najdorf quickly turned into a dull double rook endgame that neither side had realistic winning chances in, depspite the fact that White's structure was much superior.

The players are tired, but there is one more round to play

Kramnik, Vladimir 1-0 Topalov, Veseiln

Kramnik got his revenge on Topalov from the first half

Kramnik tried to put pressure on Topalov from early on after getting a slightly better position in a Moscow Variation of the Semi-Slav. It gave the impression that he overpressed at some point and Topalov's pieces were rampant, specially with his two bishops and a rook on b2; however White's knights perfectly contained the bishops and the passed pawn on h5 provided sufficient counterplay. It was actually Topalov that overplayed his position and White's knights on e3 and f5 held the position perfectly.

The Bulgarian player could have drawn the game with the precise 45...Bc4! a difficult move to find but one that was sufficient for equality. Instead he underestimated the power of White's passed pawns and he soon had to sacrifice a bishop without even gaining the important passed h-pawn. Some simple calculation led to Kramnik having an extra queen and winning the game.

Topalov cannot be happy with his last place position....

But what can you do?

Date Round English commentary German commentary
March 30 Round 14 Daniel King/Yasser Seirawan Klaus Bischoff

Commentary will continue tomorrow as the final tournament standings are far from defined.

Games of the round:

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1.d4 Nf6 2.Bg5 g6 3.Bxf6 exf6 4.c4 Bb4+ 5.Nd2 c5 6.a3 Bxd2+ 7.Qxd2 cxd4 8.Nf3 Nc6 9.Nxd4 Nxd4 10.Qxd4 Qa5+ 11.b4 Qe5 12.0-0-0 a5 13.b5 d6 14.Qxe5+ dxe5 15.g3 Be6 16.Bg2 Bxc4 17.Bxb7 Rb8 18.Bc6+ Kf8 19.a4 Bb3 20.Kb2 Bxa4 21.Rd5 Ke7 22.Ka3 Bc2 23.Rd7+ Kf8 24.e4 a4 25.Rc1 Bb3 26.Bd5 Bxd5 27.Rxd5 Kg7 28.Rc7 Rb6 29.Rc6 Rb7 30.Kxa4 Ra8+ 31.Ra6 Rc8 32.b6 Rc2 33.Kb5 Rxf2 34.Kc6 Re7 35.Raa5 Re6+ 36.Rd6 Re7 37.Rdd5 Re6+ 38.Kc7 Re7+ 39.Kc8 Re8+ 40.Kd7 Kf8 41.b7 Re7+ 42.Kc6 Re6+ 43.Kc7 Re7+ 44.Kb6 1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Andreikin,D2709Aronian,L28301–02014A45FIDE Candidates 201413.1
Karjakin,S2766Anand,V2770½–½2014D30FIDE Candidates 201413.2
Svidler,P2758Mamedyarov,S2757½–½2014B90FIDE Candidates 201413.3
Kramnik,V2787Topalov,V27851–02014D43FIDE Candidates 201413.4

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Standings after thirteen rounds

Photos from the official website

Schedule and results

Note: the games are played at 3 PM local time, which is 10 a.m. CET (Paris) and 5 a.m. EST (New York). Click here if you are uncertain what that means for your local time.

Round one – 13.03.2014, 15:00h (GMT+6)
Andreikin Dmitry
½-½
 Kramnik Vladimir
Karjakin Sergey
½-½
 Svidler Peter
Mamedyarov Shakhriyar
½-½
 Topalov Veselin
Anand Viswanathan
1-0
 Aronian Levon
Round two – 14.03.2014, 15:00h (GMT+6)
Kramnik Vladimir
1-0
 Karjakin Sergey
Svidler Peter
1-0
 Andreikin Dmitry
Topalov Veselin
½-½
 Anand Viswanathan
Aronian Levon
1-0
 Mamedyarov Shakhriyar
Round three – 15.03.2014, 15:00h (GMT+6)
Andreikin Dmitry
½-½
 Karjakin Sergey
Svidler Peter
½-½
 Kramnik Vladimir
Topalov Veselin
½-½
 Aronian Levon
Mamedyarov Shakhriyar
0-1
 Anand Viswanathan
Round four – 17.03.2014, 15:00h (GMT+6)
Mamedyarov Shakhriyar
1-0
 Andreikin Dmitry
Karjakin Sergey
½-½
 Topalov Veselin
Aronian Levon
1-0
 Svidler Peter
Anand Viswanathan
½-½
 Kramnik Vladimir
Round five – 18.03.2014, 15:00h (GMT+6)
Andreikin Dmitry
½-½
 Anand Viswanathan
Karjakin Sergey
½-½
 Mamedyarov Shakhriyar
Svidler Peter
1-0
 Topalov Veselin
Kramnik Vladimir
½-½
 Aronian Levon
Round six – 19.03.2014, 15:00h (GMT+6)
Aronian Levon
½-½
 Andreikin Dmitry
Anand Viswanathan
½-½
 Karjakin Sergey
Mamedyarov Shakhriyar
1-0
 Svidler Peter
Topalov Veselin
1-0
 Kramnik Vladimir
Round seven – 21.03.2014, 15:00h (GMT+6)
Karjakin Sergey
0-1
 Aronian Levon
Svidler Peter
½-½
 Anand Viswanathan
Kramnik Vladimir
1-0
 Mamedyarov Shakhriyar
Andreikin Dmitry
1-0
 Topalov Veselin
Round eight – 22.03.2014, 15:00h (GMT+6)
Kramnik Vladimir
½-½
 Andreikin Dmitry
Svidler Peter
0-1
 Karjakin Sergey
Topalov Veselin
½-½
 Mamedyarov Shakhriyar
Aronian Levon
½-½
 Anand Viswanathan
Round nine – 23.03.2014, 15:00h (GMT+6)
Karjakin Sergey
1-0
 Kramnik Vladimir
Andreikin Dmitry
½-½
 Svidler Peter
Anand Viswanathan
1-0
 Topalov Veselin
Mamedyarov Shakhriyar
1-0
 Aronian Levon
Round ten – 25.03.2014, 15:00h (GMT+6)
Karjakin Sergey
½-½
 Andreikin Dmitry
Kramnik Vladimir
0-1
 Svidler Peter
Aronian Levon
½-½
 Topalov Veselin
Anand Viswanathan
½-½
 Mamedyarov Shakhriyar
Round eleven – 26.03.2014, 15:00h (GMT+6)
Andreikin Dmitry
½-½
 Mamedyarov Shakhriyar
Topalov Veselin
½-½
 Karjakin Sergey
Svidler Peter
½-½
 Aronian Levon
Kramnik Vladimir
½-½
 Anand Viswanathan
Round twelve – 27.03.2014, 15:00h (GMT+6)
Anand Viswanathan
½-½
 Andreikin Dmitry
Mamedyarov Shakhriyar
½-½
 Karjakin Sergey
Topalov Veselin
1-0
 Svidler Peter
Aronian Levon
½-½
 Kramnik Vladimir
Round thirteen – 29.03.2014, 15:00h (GMT+6)
Andreikin Dmitry
1-0
 Aronian Levon
Karjakin Sergey
½-½
 Anand Viswanathan
Svidler Peter
½-½
 Mamedyarov Shakhriyar
Kramnik Vladimir
1-0
 Topalov Veselin
Round fourteen – 30.03.2014, 15:00h (GMT+6)
Aronian Levon
-
 Karjakin Sergey
Anand Viswanathan
-
 Svidler Peter
Mamedyarov Shakhriyar
-
 Kramnik Vladimir
Topalov Veselin
-
 Andreikin Dmitry

Playchess commentary

Date Round English commentary German commentary
March 30 Round 14 Daniel King/Yasser Seirawan Klaus Bischoff

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Grandmaster Alejandro Ramirez has been playing tournament chess since 1998. His accomplishments include qualifying for the 2004 and 2013 World Cups as well as playing for Costa Rica in the 2002, 2004 and 2008 Olympiads. He currently has a rating of 2583 and is author of a number of popular and critically acclaimed ChessBase-DVDs.

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