Candidates R3 – Three decisive games

[Event "London"] [Site "London"] [Date "2013.03.17"] [Round "3"] [White "Ivanchuk, Vassily"] [Black "Aronian, Levon"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "A47"] [WhiteElo "2757"] [BlackElo "2809"] [Annotator "Albert Silver"] [PlyCount "69"] [EventDate "2013.??.??"] [EventCountry "ENG"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. Bg5 e6 3. Nd2 c5 4. e3 b6 5. Ngf3 Bb7 6. c3 Be7 7. Bd3 O-O 8. Bxf6 Bxf6 9. h4 {In many ways, this not only announces Ivanchuk's intentions, but also his state of mind. There can be no question he could not have been happy for the way he lost the day before, and one wondered how he would respond. The Ukrainian is notoriously unpredictable in such situations. This choice might make sense in a 'win at all costs' situation, but in just the third round of a 14-round tournament, the attitude is unwarranted.} Nc6 10. Ng5 g6 11. f4 Ne7 12. Qg4 h5 13. Qh3 cxd4 14. exd4 b5 15. a3 ({The refutation of} 15. Bxb5 {is more positional than tactical. Taking the pawn will cost White a lot of tempi and would allow Black to position his rooks and pieces to take over the queenside and center. White is already completely invested in his kingside operations, and has nothing else going for him at the moment.} Rb8 16. Be2 Bd5 17. b3 Qa5 18. b4 (18. O-O $2 {is not possible due to} Bxd4+ $1 19. cxd4 Qxd2) 18... Qa3) 15... Qb6 16. Rg1 Nd5 {targetting f4 and not letting Ivanchuk make any progress. Notice how the Qh3 and Rg1, two of White's most powerful pieces, are essentially positioned for one thing only: g4. If it does not happen, then their contributions are nil.} 17. Nge4 Bg7 (17... Nxf4 18. Nxf6+ Kg7 19. Nxh5+ (19. Nxd7 {is playable too, but not as strong.}) 19... Nxh5 20. Qh2 $1 { followed by g4-h5 and suddenly the attack would rise from the ashes.}) 18. Qf3 b4 $1 {Energetic counterplay by Aronian!} 19. axb4 Nxb4 $1 20. Nc4 (20. cxb4 f5 {wins back the material and White's pawns are all sitting ducks.}) 20... Qb5 { Black misses the strongest continuation.} (20... Qc7 {was crushing.} 21. cxb4 Bxd4 {There is no hurry with both f5 and d5 to win back the piece if necessary. }) 21. Ne5 Nxd3+ 22. Nxd3 Qf5 23. Ndc5 {Ivanchuk was down to five minutes on the clock at this point. It is worth noting that there is no increment before move 40, so the five minutes were exactly that.} Bc6 24. b4 {In spite of having only five minutes left, the Ukrainian spent over two minutes here, leaving himself with three minutes for the next sixteen moves.} Rfb8 25. Ra5 $2 a6 $2 ({Black misses another opportunity to shorten the game with} 25... Bxd4 $1 26. cxd4 Rxb4 {but he was no doubt very aware of Black's dwindling time.}) 26. Qe3 Qg4 27. g3 Rb5 28. Rxa6 Rxa6 29. Nxa6 e5 30. dxe5 Bxe4 31. c4 {At this point, the times left for both players were five SECONDS for White, and 40 minutes for Black.} Rb6 {In blitz and bullet games it is not unheard of to play nonsense moves to simply kill the opponent's time, and this rook sacrifice might seem like that, but it is actually the best move, and Aronian spent nearly five minutes before playing it.} 32. Qxb6 Qf3 33. Qf2 Qa3 34. Nc5 Qxb4+ 35. Kd1 {White's flag fell.} 0-1