6/20/2015 – Perhaps it is the Norway Curse. Perhaps it is the psychological destabilization from his first round loss. Perhaps he is sick. Perhaps Armageddon is upon us. Whatever the reason is, Carlsen, the obvious #1 player in the World and the reigning World Champion, lost again, today to Anand, and sits with only 0.5/4. Topalov beat Aronian and it is the lucky Bulgarian who leads.
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The third edition of the Norway Chess tournament runs from June 15th to June 26th, and will mostly be played in Stavanger, Norway. As in previous years, the drawing of lots was determined by the blitz tournament taking place the day before the official start. Not only one of the strongest tournaments in the World, Norway 2015 is also part of the 2015 Grand Chess Tour, which includes the Sinquefield Cup and the London Chess Classic later this year.
Round 4 - 19.06.2015
Name
Rtg
Res.
Name
Rtg
Grischuk Alexander
2781
1-0
Hammer Jon Ludvig
2677
Topalov Veselin
2798
1-0
Aronian Levon
2780
Caruana Fabiano
2805
½-½
Vachier-Lagrave Maxime
2723
Giri Anish
2773
½-½
Nakamura Hikaru
2802
Anand Viswanathan
2804
1-0
Carlsen Magnus
2876
Daniel King on Anand-Carlsen
Grischuk, Alexander 1-0 Hammer, Jon Ludvig
A mysterious game. White's cheeky move Nh3!? was met with the interesting g5!?... and Grischuk undeveloped his knight immediately! The Russian player felt that the Norwegian was over-aggressive with h5, and he liked his position after that. The structure certainly favored White. Hammer was unable to defend against the strong pressure against all of his pawns, and despite his resourceful tricks he ended falling in a long endgame.
A nice win for the Russian player, who returns to 50%
Topalov, Veselin 1-0 Aronian, Levon
A tough game for the Armenian. He purposefully chose a variation of the Ragozin that was very solid, but extremely passive. Topalov enjoyed putting pressure on Black's position throughout the entire game, and Aronian was never fully out of danger. However, just when things were looking somewhat manageable, Aronian blundered:
Topalov becomes the sole leader with a fabulous (and somewhat lucky) 3.5/4
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37.axb3Kd7?After playing a tough and passive defense, Aronian seemed to be finally be heading towards a draw. The position seems even as White can only win the c5 pawn by losing his own b3 pawn, but disaster strikes... out of nowhere!37...Rab538.Nxc5Rxc539.Rxc5Nxc540.Rxc5Rxb340...Rb7! with good chances to hold the endgame.41.Rc7+Ke842.Rc8+Ke743.Rg8±38.b4!Strangely this pawn is poisoned due to a mating attack.cxb439.Rc8The immediate threat is R1c7 mate, not an easy move to parry!Nd840.R1c7+Ke841.Nc5This is the point of Topalov's combination - which Aronian clearly missed. Rd7 is unstoppable next move, creating a deadly Rxd8 mating threat. The Armenian gave up the exchange and put up a valiant fight, but the material difference was too big.Rxc542.Rxc5b343.Rc1Kd744.R8c7+Ke845.Rc8Kd746.R8c3Ke747.Rd3Nb748.Rdc3Nd849.f4f650.Rc7+Ke851.Rxg7fxe552.Rcc7Kf853.Rh7Kg854.Rcg7+Kf855.Rd7Kg856.Rxh6Nf757.Rg6+Kh858.Rf61–0
Caruana, Fabiano ½-½ Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime
Caruana repeated the variation that they played in Wijk aan Zee earlier this year. MVL was the first to deviate with a quick b5, but it was not terribly successful. Caruan probably had a an edge with a kingside initiative. When the Frenchman took a pawn on f4, Caruana had two ways of taking back. One led to a strong initiative while the other allowed a nice combination that equalized the game. Caruana underestimated this continuation, MVL took full advantage of it and forced an opposite colored situation that drew the game, despite being down a pawn.
Giri, Anish ½-½ Nakamura, Hikaru
Giri repeated an opening preparation that Sam Shankland used against his compatriot, Sam Sevian, in Tata Steel earlier this year. Perhaps he obtained a small advantage from the opening, but with his strange moves it seemed that he lost most of it - his bishops ended up in rather awkward squares. Nakamura tried to force the issue and equalize via tactics, but he was not 100% precise and Giri was allowed a very slight edge with a passed pawn in an opposite colored bishop position.
At the end of the day Nakamura defended resourcefully and Giri was not even close to creating real problems to Black.
Anand, Viswanathan 1-0 Carlsen, Magnus
A fantastic game from Anand, and another subpar performance from the World Champion:
The opening transposed into known paths, but the route there was strange
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1.e4e52.Nf3Nc63.Bb5a64.Ba4Nf65.0-0Be76.d3d67.c30-08.Nbd2Re89.Re1b510.Bc2Bf811.Nf1g612.h3Bb713.Ng3Nb814.d4Notice that White has wasted a tempo with d3-d4, but has recovered it by putting his bishop on c2 without first stopping on b3. This direct transposition into the Breyer System of the Closed Spanish cost the players 30 minutes on the clock.Nbd715.a4c516.d5c417.Bg5Bg717...h6is massively more popular, but the idea of playing Bg7 without h6 has also been seen.18.Qd2It's difficult to kick out this bishop from g5 now, which is why most players prefer to put the pawn on h6 before White can do this.Rb8A novelty, and not a very impressive one.18...Nc5was seen in the old game Kuzmin-Spassky, 1973!19.Nh2!A very classical idea. Anand swings the knight to g4 to exploit the weakness of the dark squares around Black's king.Bc820.Ng4"I was kicking myself for not taking on b5 first!" was Anand's reaction after the game. That being said, it is possible that there is no need to take on b5 just yet.20.axb5axb521.Ng420...Nc521.Nh6+21.axb5Bxg4is not clear as Black gets rid of a generally useless bishop for an attacking knight.21...Bxh621...Kf822.Re3with Rf3 next move is too dangerous. Black cannot afford to play like this, so he must give up the bishop. Grischuk mentioned that something went wrong in Black's game if he was forced to give up the darksquared bishop.22.Bxh6bxa4Black's counterplay on the b-file is not terribly threatening. White has several ideas on how to proceed, but Anand chooses a very direct and aggressive way - but first he must close the hole on b2.23.Ra2a324.bxa3Nfd725.f4All-in. White desires to attack on the kingside, specifically by launching his f-pawn forward and backing it with his rooks on the f-file.a5?!Carlsen believes he has some counterplay based on the activity of the bishop on a6 and the weakness of d3, but this is not the case.25...exf426.Qxf4Qf627.Qe3Ne5is still a very complicated game.26.Rf1f6As Anand said after the game, this is already a concession.26...exf427.Qxf4Ne528.Bg5and it looks very dangerous to be so weak on the darksquares, but Black's position already looks to be bad.27.f5!Excellent. This binds Black's pieces on the kingside and White will transfer his queen to the g4 square.Nd3!Trying to create counterplay. Carlsen will be happy to give up this pawn if it means that he will have play on the queenside and if it slows down the attack on the kingside.28.Bxd3cxd329.Qd1!A nice move, perfect in Anand's style. The queen will swing over to g4 to put pressure on g6, not bothering to take on d3 just yet.Re730.Raf2Rf731.Qxd331.h4was more precise, and some engiens give it as a decisive advantage already! However there is nothing wrong with first taking the pawn.31...Nc532.Qf3Ba633.Qg4!An important move. Now White does not slow down and the attack on the kingside cannot be resisted. Black could try to move Bc8, pinning the f-pawn, but that is just sad.g534.h4Bxf135.Rxf1Qd7Anand was running low on time, so he decides to take a very pragmatic route.36.hxg5fxg537.Qh537.Bxg5 was also good.37...Kh838.f6Whtie will at the very least regain his exchange with a bishop check on g7.Rg839.Bg7+Rfxg740.fxg7+Qxg741.Nf5!After this Black's position is absolutely hopeless.Qg6otherwise Nh6 followed by mate.42.Qxg6Rxg642...hxg643.Nxd6is kaput.43.Ne7Kg7desperation.43...Rh644.Rf8+Kg745.Rc8!Kf746.Nf5Rg647.Nxd6+Rxd648.Rxc5is a totally lost rook endgame.44.Nxg6Kxg645.Rf8a445...Nxe446.Ra8Nxc347.Rxa5is hopeless, Black cannot stop the a-pawn with just a knight.46.c4h546...Nxe447.Ra8Nc548.Kf2also wins easily.47.Kf247.Kf2Nxe4+48.Ke3Nc549.Rd8and the d-pawn falls.1–0
The Norwegian Curse seems to be in full force here against Carlsen. The Norwegian has had bad performances in all of his tournaments in Norway in the past. Neither of his 2013 or 2014 performances in this tournament was impressive, and his Tromso result was mediocre at best. This disaster, however, is simply unprecedented. It seems hard to believe that Carlsen can bounce back from this and win the tournament (even winning the next five games in a row might be insufficient), but there is the entire Grand Chess Tour to think about, and Carlsen needs to win games quickly if he wants to obtain some Grand Chess Tour points.
Grischuk checking out how busted Carlsen is
After the game the World Champion mentioned that he wanted to play tomorrow instead of having a rest day, but I suspect that team Carlsen will be happy about the break, something must change before this spirals even further out of control!
Things are already beyond repair in this endgame
VG, one of Norway's main newspapers. The title translates
along the lines of "Carlsen loses again. Badly. It is embarassing."
The Norwegian press is, as Yasser Seirawan puts it, "in a tizzy". Carlsen has not had such a bad start in a tournament in 10 years, since he was a teenager back in Gausdall Classic 2005.
Anand gave a nice interview after the game for the grandchesstour.com broadcast. He mentioned how this must be a consequence of the mental destabilization caused by the freak occurence in the first round, in which Carlsen lost on time.
Standings
Round Four Games
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1.e4
1,184,215
54%
2421
---
1.d4
958,932
55%
2434
---
1.Nf3
286,327
56%
2441
---
1.c4
184,722
56%
2443
---
1.g3
19,884
56%
2427
---
1.b3
14,598
54%
2428
---
1.f4
5,953
48%
2377
---
1.Nc3
3,906
50%
2384
---
1.b4
1,790
48%
2378
---
1.a3
1,250
54%
2406
---
1.e3
1,081
49%
2409
---
1.d3
969
50%
2378
---
1.g4
670
46%
2361
---
1.h4
466
54%
2382
---
1.c3
439
51%
2425
---
1.h3
289
56%
2420
---
1.a4
118
60%
2461
---
1.f3
100
47%
2427
---
1.Nh3
92
67%
2511
---
1.Na3
47
62%
2476
---
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1.d4Nf62.c4e63.Nf3d54.Nc3Bb45.Bg5h66.Bxf6Qxf67.Qa4+Nc68.e30-09.Be2dxc410.0-0Bd711.Bxc4Bxc312.bxc3Rfd813.Be2Be814.Qa3Qe715.Qb2Na516.Qb4Qxb417.cxb4Nc618.Rab1a519.bxa5Nxa520.Rfc1Rdc821.Ne1Ra722.Nd3Nc623.Bf3Nd824.Nb4Ra525.h4Kf826.Rc3c627.Bd1Ke728.Bb3c529.Nd3b630.dxc5bxc531.f3Rc732.e4Nb733.Rbc1Ba434.e5Rc635.Kh2Rb636.h5Bxb337.axb3Kd7?After playing a tough and
passive defense, Aronian seemed to be finally be heading towards a draw. The
position seems even as White can only win the c5 pawn by losing his own b3
pawn, but disaster strikes... out of nowhere!37...Rab538.Nxc5Rxc539.Rxc5Nxc540.Rxc5Rxb340...Rb7!with good chances to hold the endgame.41.Rc7+Ke842.Rc8+Ke743.Rg8±38.b4!Strangely this pawn is
poisoned due to a mating attack.cxb439.Rc8The immediate threat is R1c7
mate, not an easy move to parry!Nd840.R1c7+Ke841.Nc5This is the point
of Topalov's combination - which Aronian clearly missed. Rd7 is unstoppable
next move, creating a deadly Rxd8 mating threat. The Armenian gave up the
exchange and put up a valiant fight, but the material difference was too big.Rxc542.Rxc5b343.Rc1Kd744.R8c7+Ke845.Rc8Kd746.R8c3Ke747.Rd3Nb748.Rdc3Nd849.f4f650.Rc7+Ke851.Rxg7fxe552.Rcc7Kf853.Rh7Kg854.Rcg7+Kf855.Rd7Kg856.Rxh6Nf757.Rg6+Kh858.Rf61–0
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