Norway 08: Topalov-Anand defines all

[Event "3rd Norway Chess 2015"] [Site "Stavanger NOR"] [Date "2015.06.24"] [Round "8"] [White "Giri, A."] [Black "Topalov, V."] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "E10"] [WhiteElo "2773"] [BlackElo "2798"] [Annotator "Ramirez Alvarez,Alejandro"] [SetUp "1"] [FEN "3r2k1/1R1Nbppp/4p3/1p6/8/1P4P1/4PPKP/8 b - - 0 33"] [PlyCount "46"] [EventDate "2015.06.17"] [SourceDate "2015.02.07"] 33... Bd6 34. g4 {Giri has some pressure: his knight on d7 controls Black's position and b5 is weak. However it is difficult to make progress as the d7 knight is hanging whenever the rook stops protecting it, and there is no obvious way to retreat it.} h5 $2 {Too frisky. Passive defense is uncomfortable, but it was what the position called for.} (34... h6 35. h4 Kh7 36. h5 g6 {White keeps some pressure, but Black is in no immediate danger.}) 35. gxh5 Kh7 36. b4 {Topalov probably missed this move. Now there are serious issues in the position.} Bxb4 (36... Kh6 37. Nc5 Bxc5 38. bxc5 Rd2 39. Kf3 Rc2 40. Rxb5 {is of course unpleasant, but perhaps a better chance than what Topalov played in the game.}) 37. Ne5 Rd5 38. Nxf7 {Black's shattered pawn structure on the kingside now gives Giri many targets.} Rxh5 39. f4 Kg6 40. Ne5+ Kh7 41. Nf7 Kg6 42. Ne5+ Kh7 43. Nf3 $1 Rf5 (43... Kg6 {was still bad for Black.}) 44. Ng5+ $1 Kh6 (44... Kg6 45. Nxe6 Rf6 (45... Kf6 46. Nxg7 Rxf4 47. Nh5+) 46. e4 $18 {taking advantage of the king on g6.}) 45. Kf3 {Now Black is out of moves. The pawn on e6 will be taken next and his position is collapsing. On top of everything, the position of the king on h6 is dubious.} Bd2 (45... e5 46. Nf7+ Kh7 47. Nxe5 $18) 46. e3 b4 47. Nxe6 Rh5 48. Nxg7 Rxh2 49. Nf5+ Kg6 50. Ne7+ Kf6 51. Nd5+ Ke6 52. Ke4 {White is completely winning.} Rh3 53. Rb6+ Kd7 54. Kd3 Bc1 55. Rxb4 Kd6 56. Kd4 1-0

[Event "3rd Norway Chess 2015"] [Site "Stavanger NOR"] [Date "2015.06.24"] [Round "8"] [White "Anand, V."] [Black "Hammer, J."] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "A20"] [WhiteElo "2804"] [BlackElo "2677"] [Annotator "Ramirez Alvarez,Alejandro"] [SetUp "1"] [FEN "r4r1k/1pp1nqp1/3b3p/pP2pbB1/8/P1QP1NP1/5PBP/2R2RK1 w - - 0 23"] [PlyCount "27"] [EventDate "2015.06.17"] [SourceDate "2015.02.07"] 23. Bxe7 $5 Qxe7 24. Nh4 Bxa3 25. Bxb7 Bxc1 $2 (25... Rab8 26. Nxf5 Rxf5 27. Be4 Rf6 $14) 26. Nxf5 Rxf5 27. Bxa8 Ba3 28. Qxa5 Bc5 29. Be4 {White's advantage is very strong. He has an extra pawn and can hope to improve his position slowly. Hammer makes it easy for Anand.} Rf8 30. Kg2 Qd6 31. h4 h5 $6 32. Qd2 Qf6 33. Qe2 g6 $2 (33... Qf7 $16) 34. Bxg6 {A simple tactic.} Qxg6 35. Qxe5+ Kg8 36. Qxc5 {White's up too many pawns.} 1-0

[Event "3rd Norway Chess 2015"] [Site "Stavanger NOR"] [Date "2015.06.24"] [Round "8"] [White "Carlsen, M."] [Black "Aronian, L."] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C90"] [WhiteElo "2876"] [BlackElo "2780"] [Annotator "Ramirez Alvarez,Alejandro"] [SetUp "1"] [FEN "3r2k1/5pp1/1q2P2p/p2r4/1n6/1Q2RN1P/1P3PP1/R5K1 b - - 0 29"] [PlyCount "22"] [EventDate "2015.06.17"] [SourceDate "2015.02.07"] 29... fxe6 30. Rae1 R8d6 31. Rc1 Nd3 $2 (31... Rd3 $1 $11) 32. Rc8+ Kh7 33. Qa4 $1 {A nice repositioning of the queen. From here the queen can threaten the king with Qe8, and it also has access to e4 with lethal checks.} Qxb2 34. Qe4+ Rf5 35. Kh2 $1 {A key and excellent move. White prepares the moves g4 and Nh4, but Black still has some resources.} (35. Nh4 Qxf2+ 36. Kh2 Qf4+ $19) 35... Nf4 36. Rc2 $4 {Based on a strong miscalculation - due to the fact that Carlsen only had about a minute and a half in this position!} Qa1 $4 {This move, however, is completely based on an oversight. Aronian had plenty of time to think and he clearly went wrong.} (36... Qb8 $1 {Is fancy} 37. g3 (37. g4 Ng6 $1 38. gxf5 exf5 $1 {A hard move to find, but the point is that no matter where the queen goes, the rook will give a deadly discovered attack winning the White queen, giving Black a decisive advantage.}) 37... Nd5 $15) (36... Qb4 37. Rc4 {would still force Aronian to find the Qb8 resource.}) 37. g4 Qf1 { Perhaps here Aronian forgot about White's next move} 38. Ne1 {Everything is defended and Black is helpless against gxf5.} (38. Nh4 Rd1 $19) 38... Nh5 39. gxf5 exf5 40. Qc4 1-0

[Event "3rd Norway Chess 2015"] [Site "Stavanger NOR"] [Date "2015.06.24"] [Round "8"] [White "Nakamura, Hi"] [Black "Vachier Lagrave, M."] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "B92"] [WhiteElo "2802"] [BlackElo "2723"] [Annotator "Ramirez Alvarez,Alejandro"] [PlyCount "93"] [EventDate "2015.06.17"] [SourceDate "2015.02.07"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be2 e5 7. Nb3 Be7 8. Qd3 b5 9. a4 b4 10. Nd5 Bb7 11. Nxf6+ Bxf6 12. Bd2 a5 13. c3 bxc3 14. Bxc3 O-O 15. O-O Nc6 16. Rfd1 Re8 $2 {This move was simply bad. It is the source of all of Black's problems.} (16... Qb6 17. Qb5 Qc7 $11 {Chances are about even in this complicated position.}) 17. Bf3 Be7 18. Qb5 {Now the rook on e8 is a tactical target. For example:} Qc8 (18... Qc7 19. Nxa5 $1 Nxa5 20. Bxa5 Qxa5 (20... Rxa5 $2 21. Qxe8+ $18) 21. Qxb7 $16) 19. Bg4 $1 Qxg4 20. Qxb7 Rec8 21. Nxa5 Nxa5 22. Qxe7 Nb3 23. f3 Qf4 {White has managed to win a pawn, and he is close to winning with his passed pawns on the queenside. However, he still hast to be careful.} 24. Ra3 $2 (24. Rab1 $1 Nd4 25. Bd2 Ne2+ 26. Kh1 {and White is simply winning. We can compare this to the same variation but with 24.Ra3?}) 24... Nd4 25. Raa1 {"I spent all my time calculating 25.Bd2, but I could not see anything clear. Raa1 was also Stupid" - Nakamura.} (25. Bd2 Ne2+ 26. Kh1 ( 26. Kf2 Qxh2 27. Kxe2 Qxg2+ 28. Ke3 d5 $1 29. exd5 e4 $1 {And the computers with sufficient depth seem to think that this game is only a draw. The complications are very wild, but White is not winning.}) 26... Qxd2 {even loses for White due to the back rank checkmate.}) 25... Ne2+ (25... Nb3 26. Rab1 {is not what MVL wanted.}) 26. Kh1 Nxc3 27. bxc3 h5 {Black has some definite counterplay now. Winning the position is not easy.} 28. Qxd6 Rxc3 29. Qd5 Ra6 30. Qb5 Rac6 {Black is planning on attacking White's king. White might be able to win with precise play, but Nakamura's time was running too low for him to do anything.} 31. Qf1 (31. a5 Rc2 32. Rg1 {would still leave MVL struggling against the a-pawn, though with plenty of fight ahead.} (32. a6 Rxg2 $1 $19)) 31... h4 32. h3 Rc2 33. Re1 Qd2 {Now it is impossible to make progress. The winning threat is Rg6.} 34. Red1 Qg5 35. Re1 Qd2 36. Rad1 Qb4 37. Qd3 Kh7 38. Qd8 Rf6 39. Rc1 Qxa4 {By this point it is obvious the game is a dead draw.} 40. Rxc2 Qxc2 41. Qd1 Qf2 42. Rf1 Qg3 43. Qd7 Rg6 44. Rg1 Rf6 45. Rf1 Rg6 46. Rg1 Rf6 47. Rf1 1/2-1/2