Norway 04: 0.5/4 – Anand the executioner

[Event "3rd Norway Chess 2015"] [Site "Stavanger NOR"] [Date "2015.06.19"] [Round "4.1"] [White "Topalov, Veselin"] [Black "Aronian, Levon"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "D38"] [WhiteElo "2798"] [BlackElo "2780"] [Annotator "Ramirez Alvarez,Alejandro"] [SetUp "1"] [FEN "8/1n2kpp1/1r2p2p/r1p1P2P/8/1bRN1P2/P5PK/2R5 w - - 0 37"] [PlyCount "43"] [EventDate "2015.06.16"] [SourceDate "2015.02.07"] 37. axb3 Kd7 $2 {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... Rab5 38. Nxc5 Rxc5 39. Rxc5 Nxc5 40. Rxc5 Rxb3 (40... Rb7 $1 { with good chances to hold the endgame.}) 41. Rc7+ Ke8 42. Rc8+ Ke7 43. Rg8 $16) 38. b4 $1 {Strangely this pawn is poisoned due to a mating attack.} cxb4 39. Rc8 {The immediate threat is R1c7 mate, not an easy move to parry!} Nd8 40. R1c7+ Ke8 41. Nc5 {This 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.} Rxc5 42. Rxc5 b3 43. Rc1 Kd7 44. R8c7+ Ke8 45. Rc8 Kd7 46. R8c3 Ke7 47. Rd3 Nb7 48. Rdc3 Nd8 49. f4 f6 50. Rc7+ Ke8 51. Rxg7 fxe5 52. Rcc7 Kf8 53. Rh7 Kg8 54. Rcg7+ Kf8 55. Rd7 Kg8 56. Rxh6 Nf7 57. Rg6+ Kh8 58. Rf6 1-0

[Event "3rd Norway Chess 2015"] [Site "Stavanger NOR"] [Date "2015.06.19"] [Round "4.3"] [White "Anand, Viswanathan"] [Black "Carlsen, Magnus"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C84"] [WhiteElo "2804"] [BlackElo "2876"] [Annotator "Ramirez Alvarez,Alejandro"] [PlyCount "93"] [EventDate "2015.06.16"] [SourceDate "2015.02.07"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. d3 d6 7. c3 O-O 8. Nbd2 Re8 9. Re1 b5 10. Bc2 Bf8 11. Nf1 g6 12. h3 Bb7 13. Ng3 Nb8 14. d4 {Notice 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.} Nbd7 15. a4 c5 16. d5 c4 17. Bg5 Bg7 (17... h6 {is massively more popular, but the idea of playing Bg7 without h6 has also been seen.}) 18. Qd2 {It'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.} Rb8 {A novelty, and not a very impressive one.} (18... Nc5 {was seen in the old game Kuzmin-Spassky, 1973!}) 19. Nh2 $1 {A very classical idea. Anand swings the knight to g4 to exploit the weakness of the dark squares around Black's king.} Bc8 20. 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. axb5 axb5 21. Ng4 $14) 20... Nc5 21. Nh6+ (21. axb5 Bxg4 {is not clear as Black gets rid of a generally useless bishop for an attacking knight.}) 21... Bxh6 (21... Kf8 22. Re3 {with 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. Bxh6 bxa4 {Black'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. Ra2 a3 24. bxa3 Nfd7 25. f4 {All-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 $6 {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... exf4 26. Qxf4 Qf6 27. Qe3 Ne5 {is still a very complicated game.}) 26. Rf1 f6 {As Anand said after the game, this is already a concession.} (26... exf4 27. Qxf4 Ne5 28. Bg5 {and it looks very dangerous to be so weak on the darksquares, but Black's position already looks to be bad.}) 27. f5 $1 {Excellent. This binds Black's pieces on the kingside and White will transfer his queen to the g4 square.} Nd3 $1 {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. Bxd3 cxd3 29. Qd1 $1 {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.} Re7 30. Raf2 Rf7 31. Qxd3 (31. h4 {was more precise, and some engiens give it as a decisive advantage already! However there is nothing wrong with first taking the pawn.}) 31... Nc5 32. Qf3 Ba6 33. Qg4 $1 {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.} g5 34. h4 Bxf1 35. Rxf1 Qd7 {Anand was running low on time, so he decides to take a very pragmatic route.} 36. hxg5 fxg5 37. Qh5 (37. Bxg5 { was also good.}) 37... Kh8 38. f6 {Whtie will at the very least regain his exchange with a bishop check on g7.} Rg8 39. Bg7+ Rfxg7 40. fxg7+ Qxg7 41. Nf5 $1 {After this Black's position is absolutely hopeless.} Qg6 {otherwise Nh6 followed by mate.} 42. Qxg6 Rxg6 (42... hxg6 43. Nxd6 {is kaput.}) 43. Ne7 Kg7 {desperation.} (43... Rh6 44. Rf8+ Kg7 45. Rc8 $1 Kf7 46. Nf5 Rg6 47. Nxd6+ Rxd6 48. Rxc5 {is a totally lost rook endgame.}) 44. Nxg6 Kxg6 45. Rf8 a4 ( 45... Nxe4 46. Ra8 Nxc3 47. Rxa5 {is hopeless, Black cannot stop the a-pawn with just a knight.}) 46. c4 h5 (46... Nxe4 47. Ra8 Nc5 48. Kf2 {also wins easily.}) 47. Kf2 (47. Kf2 Nxe4+ 48. Ke3 Nc5 49. Rd8 {and the d-pawn falls.}) 1-0