Candidates Rd13: Anand-Carlsen rematch!

[Event "FIDE Candidates Tournament 2014"] [Site "Khanty-Mansiysk"] [Date "2014.03.29"] [Round "13"] [White "Andreikin, Dmitry"] [Black "Aronian, Levon"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "A45"] [WhiteElo "2709"] [BlackElo "2830"] [Annotator "Ramirez Alvarez, Alejandro"] [PlyCount "87"] [EventDate "2014.??.??"] [EventCountry "RUS"] 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+ $5 {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 $6 { 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. O-O-O $5 {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 $11) 17. Bxb7 Rb8 18. Bc6+ Kf8 19. a4 $1 {Perhaps Aronian underestimated this move.} Bb3 20. Kb2 $1 {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 $2 {The exchange had to be taken.} (20... Bxd1 21. Rxd1 Kg7 (21... Ke7 $1 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 $1 {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 $1 Bf5 25. e4 $1 {Traps the bishop as it cannot go to g4.} Bg4 26. Bd7+ $18) 24. e4 {Maybe necessary} (24. Bd5 {The pawn on b5 cannot really be taken.} Rxb5 25. Rc1 $1 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 $6 {Unnecessarily activating Black's pieces.} (30. b6 Rhb8 (30... Ra8 31. Rdd6 f5 (31... Rbb8 $1 {May be a much better defensive move.}) 32. exf5 gxf5 33. Rc7 $18) 31. Rdd6 $18) 30... Ra8+ 31. Ra6 Rc8 32. b6 Rc2 33. Kb5 Rxf2 $2 {The losing mistake.} (33... Rb8 $1 $11 {This move is important as now checks from behind are being threatened.} 34. Rd1 Rxf2 $1 ( 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 $11 {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 $132) 34. Kc6 Re7 35. Raa5 $1 {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

[Event "FIDE Candidates Tournament 2014"] [Site "Khanty-Mansiysk"] [Date "2014.03.29"] [Round "13"] [White "Karjakin, Sergey"] [Black "Anand, Viswanathan"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "A13"] [WhiteElo "2766"] [BlackElo "2770"] [Annotator "Ramirez Alvarez,Alejandro"] [PlyCount "181"] [EventDate "2014.??.??"] [EventCountry "RUS"] 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 O-O 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 $1 13. Qxc6 $5 {Very ambitious. Again Karjakin accepts a sacrificed pawn, but this time Anand did not blunder it.} Qa5 $2 {Playing it too safe. Now White can retain his extra pawn.} (13... Ra5 $1 {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 $1 $11) 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 $1 {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 $11 {is dead}) 23... Bxc5 24. Bxc5 Rc8 $1 {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 $14 { 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 $1 {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 $11) 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.} 1/2-1/2