GRENKE Rd5: Carlsen back in the lead

[Event "3rd GRENKE Chess Classic"] [Site "Baden Baden GER"] [Date "2015.02.07"] [Round "5"] [White "Aronian, L."] [Black "Anand, V."] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "D38"] [WhiteElo "2777"] [BlackElo "2797"] [PlyCount "67"] [EventDate "2015.02.02"] 1. c4 e6 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Nf3 d5 4. d4 Bb4 5. cxd5 exd5 6. Qa4+ Nc6 7. Bg5 h6 8. Bxf6 Qxf6 9. e3 O-O 10. Be2 a6 11. O-O Be6 12. Rfc1 Bd6 13. a3 {Talk about learning from your defeats! This is the line that Carlsen used with White to beat Aronian in Wijk aan Zee just a few weeks ago.} Ne7 14. b4 {A new twist to the same idea: In that game Carlsen played 14.Qd1.} c6 15. Qb3 g5 $5 {And a whole different idea from Anand! He decides to expand on the kingside instead of passively waiting for Aronian to make some kind of progress on the queenside. How effective this approach is will require many practical tests.} 16. Qb2 Qg7 (16... g4 17. Nd2 {is natural, but also it is unclear what exactly Black gains from pushing this pawn.}) 17. Na4 Rae8 18. Nc5 Bc8 19. g3 Nf5 20. Bd3 Qf6 21. Rf1 h5 22. Rac1 h4 23. Qd2 {Even though Black's plan was actually rather slow, it is also clear he has made some clear progress, while Aronian is not close to destroying the queenside pawn structure at all.} Nh6 $2 { Giving White a breath of fresh air he did not deserve.} (23... hxg3 24. hxg3 ( 24. fxg3 {even though this loses a pawn, its necessary to give White counterplay.} Nxe3 25. Rf2 Ng4 26. Rff1 Re3 $1 $17) 24... Kg7 $36 {White is hard pressed to find a move in this position.}) 24. e4 $1 {White attacks the g5 pawn and can ignore the threat on his knight on f3. A bolt from the blue!} Bxc5 (24... dxe4 25. Nxe4 $18) (24... Qxf3 25. Qxg5+ Kh7 26. e5+ Bf5 (26... Nf5 27. Bxf5+ $18) 27. Bxf5+ Qxf5 (27... Nxf5 28. Rc3 $1 Nxd4 (28... Qxc3 29. Qxf5+ Kh6 30. Qf6+ Kh7 31. Qxh4+ Kg6 32. Qf6+ Kh7 33. exd6 $18) 29. Qxh4+ $1 Kg7 30. Qxd4 $16) 28. Qxf5+ Nxf5 29. exd6 {and the pawn on d6 is, unfortunately for Black, untouchable.} Nxd6 30. Nd7 $18 {White wins an exchange!}) 25. e5 Qg7 ( 25... Bxb4 {was perhaps a little better.}) 26. bxc5 {Suddenly black is in serious problems. The pawn e5 is restricting all of black pieces, essentially stopping the attack. g5 is currently hanging, and there is no easy way to defend it.} f6 (26... hxg3 27. fxg3 g4 28. Nh4 {are too many concessions: Black is just full of weaknesses and no activity.}) 27. exf6 Rxf6 28. Nxg5 Bf5 29. Rce1 Rff8 30. Rxe8 Rxe8 31. Nf3 {White's up a clear pawn at the moment.} Bxd3 32. Qxd3 Re4 33. Re1 hxg3 34. hxg3 {Black is strategically lost: he is down a pawn, his b-pawn is worthless in most endgames and White has two passed pawns. Perhaps a little early to lose, but not too far off from it.} 1-0

[Event "3rd GRENKE Chess Classic"] [Site "Baden Baden GER"] [Date "2015.02.07"] [Round "5.2"] [White "Adams, Michael"] [Black "Bacrot, Etienne"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "A15"] [WhiteElo "2738"] [BlackElo "2711"] [SetUp "1"] [FEN "8/5pbk/6p1/4P2p/3p3P/P2Q1PPK/3B1R2/q6r w - - 0 55"] [PlyCount "21"] [EventDate "2015.02.02"] 55. Rh2 Qg1 $2 (55... Qd1 $1 {The move is actually quite cheeky: White cannot move his pieces, the threat is Bh6.} 56. f4 Bh6 $1 {And now the threat is Bxf4! There is no good way of preventing this, so White is lost.} 57. Qxd4 (57. a4 Bxf4 (57... Qg4+) 58. gxf4 Qg4#) 57... Qf1#) 56. Qe2 Bxe5 57. f4 Bd6 58. a4 d3 $6 (58... Bc7 $1) 59. Qg2 Rxh2+ 60. Qxh2 Qd1 61. Qg2 {Suddenly it is clear that White survived, and more importantly there is no good way of pushing the d-pawn forward. The a-pawn creates enough counterplay to distract Black.} Ba3 62. a5 Bc1 63. Qd5 Qf1+ 64. Kh2 Qe2+ 65. Kh3 1/2-1/2

[Event "3rd GRENKE Chess Classic"] [Site "Baden Baden GER"] [Date "2015.02.07"] [Round "5"] [White "Carlsen, M."] [Black "Baramidze, D."] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C95"] [WhiteElo "2865"] [BlackElo "2594"] [PlyCount "97"] [EventDate "2015.02.02"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. c3 O-O 9. h3 Nb8 10. d4 Nbd7 11. Nbd2 Bb7 12. Bc2 Re8 13. Nf1 Bf8 14. Ng3 g6 {One of the tabiya's (starting position) of chess. The Breyer has been considered to be a very solid, albeit a little passive, way of handling the Spanish as Black.} 15. a4 Bg7 (15... c5 {is considered to be the main line, trying to exploit the weakness of the b3 square with the continuation} 16. d5 c4 {which has been seen many, many times.}) 16. Bd3 c6 17. Bg5 Nf8 18. Qd2 Ne6 19. Bh6 Nd7 20. Bc2 Bxh6 21. Qxh6 Qf6 22. Rad1 Rad8 (22... exd4 23. cxd4 Qf4 24. Qxf4 Nxf4 25. e5 $5) 23. d5 cxd5 24. exd5 Qf4 25. Qxf4 Nxf4 26. Ne4 Bxd5 27. axb5 axb5 28. Nxd6 {So far Baramidze has done a fantastic job defending and cdreating counterplay at the same time. His well placed pieces give him compensation even if he loses the b5 pawn.} Re6 $2 {This, unfortunately for the German player, is quite the mistake.} (28... Bxf3 29. gxf3 Re7 30. Nxb5 Rb8 31. c4 Nxh3+ $13) (28... Rf8 29. Ne4 (29. Nxb5 Rb8 $11 {the pawn is regained on b2.}) 29... f5 {doesn't leave the rook vulnerable to an attack on e6.}) 29. Ne4 $1 f5 30. Nfg5 $1 Re7 31. g3 $1 {What a sequence! The knight on f4 cannot move as the bishop on d5 is hanging, and because of the awkward positions of Black's rooks and the pinned knight on d7 his structure will be compromised.} Bxe4 32. Bxe4 fxe4 (32... Nxh3+ 33. Nxh3 fxe4 34. Ng5 $16) 33. gxf4 Rf8 34. Nxe4 Rxf4 35. b4 {Material is still even, but White's knight on e4 is monstrous and the b5 pawn will soon come under attack.} Nf6 36. Nd6 Rf3 37. Nxb5 Rxh3 38. c4 {Material is still even, but clearly Black's pawns are less threatening than White's. The position is very hard to play.} Rh4 (38... Rb3 39. Nd4 $1 {is a nice trick to keep the pawns alive. Taking on b4 fails to the fork on c6.}) 39. Nd6 (39. Nd6) 39... Nh5 40. b5 Nf4 41. b6 Rg4+ 42. Kf1 Rh4 { Black tries to create some counterplay against White's king, but it is insufficient. It can fend off for itself against a lone rook and knight.} 43. f3 Rh1+ 44. Kf2 Rh2+ 45. Kg1 Rc2 46. Kh1 Nh3 47. Ne4 {The knight comes back to defend against Nf2+. There were other winning moves, but this is the easiest.} Rxc4 48. Rd8+ $1 Kg7 49. Rb1 {And now there is nothing to do against the advance of the b-pawn. Blockading is not possible due to Nd6, forking the rook. One mistake is all it took for Carlsen to win a very Carlsen-like position.} 1-0