
Magnus Carlsen plays Vishy Anand for the World Chess title
By GM Lubomir Kavalek

Before the last round, Norwegian grandmaster Magnus Carlsen shared first
place with Vladimir Kramnik of Russia before the last round. Having a better
tiebreak, Carlsen could qualify by matching Kramnik's result in the crucial
last game. That night Carlsen had a terrible dream: he drew his last game
and Vladimir Kramnik won, qualifying for the world championship match against
Anand. The reality was even worse: Carlsen lost to Peter Svidler of Russia.
But Kramnik lost, too. Although both players shared first place, Carlsen
became the challenger for the world crown having won more games than the
Russian.
The double-round robin Candidates tournament featured most of the world's
best players.

Standing from the left: Teimour Radjabov, Magnus
Carlsen, Alexander Grischuk, Levon Aronian, Vassily Ivanchuk; Seated: Peter
Svidler, Vladimir Kramnik, Boris Gelfand
Here is the final crosstable:

The table displays Kramnik ahead on traditional tiebreak points, but
the Candidates Tournament rules counts the number of wins – Carlsen
five, Kramnik four – to break the tie, after the first tiebreaker,
score against each other, was even.
Two players were singled out to win the Candidates before the tournament
began and the first half went as predicted: Carlsen and Levon Aronian of
Armenia won three games each, drew the rest and took the lead. Nobody else
crossed the 50 percent mark.
The two leaders were on track to repeat the score in the second half. Who
would blink first? Aronian usually takes more risks, often pushing his luck.
He tripped first, losing to Svidler. With five rounds to go, Carlsen was
in the lead. It prompted the chess historian Richard Forster to call him
"chess player without mistakes." Did Forster jinx him?
When two quarrel, the third may laugh and all of a sudden Kramnik entered
the scene. The Russian bear, as if hibernating, hardly moved in the first
half, drawing all his games. But he was happy with his good level of play.
If he continued to play well without blunders, he was convinced the points
would come. And they did. A sudden burst of four wins catapulted him into
first place with two rounds to go. Kramnik was leading Carlsen by a half
point.

The most dramatic finish in the history of the Candidates tournaments began
on Friday, March 30, with three rounds left. The players with the black
pieces triumphed and unexpected things happened. Aronian played Kramnik
and on move 17 both of them thought they were winning, so complicated was
the position, so difficult to solve over the board. Kramnik emerged with
a piece up, but misplayed it and Aronian could have forced a draw. He missed
it and lost.
Kramnik usually turns questions and answers press conferences into monologues,
but not this day. He was so exhausted, he could not think. He wanted to
go away and rest.
Carlsen was playing Ivanchuk and up to this game the Norwegian thought
he played decent chess in the tournament with very few mistakes. This is
an understatement, of course, since stringing games with good moves is not
easy. Vassily Smyslov knew how to do it: in his prime he won two Candidates
tournaments in 1953 and 1956. Bobby Fischer was another one: at his best,
he didn't give his opponents many chances. "As soon as Fischer gains
even a slightest advantage, he begins playing like a machine. You cannot
even hope for some mistake," said Tigran Petrosian after he lost to
Fischer in the final Candidates match in 1971. Carlsen spikes good positional
moves with little tactical sequences and does not mind increasing his advantage
gradually. He is patient and can wait to claim victories in long sessions.
Vassily Ivanchuk is a dangerous player. In the last 20 years he defeated
all the world's best players at least once. Sometimes he is moody and his
nerves play tricks on him. Otherwise, he could have been the world champion
long time ago. He lost five games on time in London, but his game against
Carlsen went on and on. It turned out to be the longest game of the tournament,
90 moves long. It was not going well for the Norwegian most of the time.
"I was ridiculously impractical," Carlsen said afterwards. He
had a draw at hand after 70 moves, but blundered on his next move.
Replay and check the LiveBook here |
Please, wait...
71.Rh6? 71.c6! Ke6 72.Rb5! Kd6 73.Rxe5! h4 73...Kxe5? 74.c7! Ra1 75.Kb2 74.Kb3 Ra1 75.Kb2 Rh1 76.Rxa5 Kxc6 77.Ra4 h3 77...Kd5 78.Ka2 Ke5 79.Rb4 h3 80.Rb3 Kf4 81.Rc3 Kg4 82.Rc4+ Kg5 83.Rc3= 78.Ra3 h2 79.Rh3 Kd5 80.Rh8 71...Ke4 72.Rd6 72.c6 Kd5 73.Rxh5 Rc4+ 74.Kd3 Rxc6 72...Rd4! 73.Ra6 73.Rxd4+ exd4+ 74.Kc4 d3+- 73...Kd5 74.Rxa5 Rc4+ 75.Kd3 Rxc5 76.Ra4 Rc7 77.Rh4 Rh7 78.Ke3 Ke6 79.Ke4 Rh8 80.Ke3 Kf5 81.Ke2 Kg5 82.Re4 Re8 83.Ke3 h4 84.Ke2 h3 85.Kf2 h2 86.Kg2 h1Q+ 87.Kxh1 Kf5 88.Re1 Rg8 89.Kh2 Kf4 90.Rf1+ Ke3 0–1
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Carlsen,M | 2872 | Ivanchuk,V | 2757 | 0–1 | 2013 | B48 | FIDE Candidates, London | 12 |
Please, wait...
"It was a reckless move," Carlsen said about his last blunder
on turn 71. One move and chess humbles you. You make a mistake early and
the suffering goes on and on, and you lose at the end anyway, and they drag
you in front of the cameras for a press conference. Be careful what you
say, it will be repeated in newspapers all over the world and every burst
of anger will be played on YouTube. Even after a decade people will quote
you and watch how you sat dejected, sliding down in your chair, hoping to
disappear under the table. Finally, you make it to your hotel room, but
you are unable to sleep, your brain doesn't let you rest, still working,
still spinning out one variation after another.
– Part two to follow soon –
Original
column here – Copyright
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