Reliving the World Championship 2013 – Part two

by Sagar Shah
11/3/2014 – Just four more days to the World Championship in Sochi, the second match between Magnus Carlsen and Viswanathan Anand. In our review of the previous encounter we got to round five, where Anand faltered badly after a promising start. Once again Sagar Shah provides us with a wealth of analysis in his report on how last November Magnus Carlsen became the 16th world champion.
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Reliving the World Championship 2013

By Sagar Shah

After a promising start that had Indian chess fans shivering in excitement, reigning World Champion Viswanathan Anand came under intense pressure in game five. He missed a draw and dropped the first point in what was probably the crutial game of the match. How did the World Championship 2013 in Chennai continue?

Game 6: What a grind!

Anand,V (2775) - Carlsen,M (2870) [C65]
FWCM2013 (6), 16.11.2013

Position after 41....Rb7

Anand played 1.e4 which gave him no advantage. He reached the above rook endgame after 41 moves. I think in 9 out of 10 games Anand would draw this endgame with White. But the pressure of playing Magnus was so much that he was unable to hold it. Credit should also go to Carlsen for pressing in the best possible fashion. The match looked effectively over. The most disheartening thing for Anand was that he was being outplayed from positions he would have relatively no problems holding against any other opposition. 4.0-2.0.

The match was played on a stage which was separated from the viewers by a glass wall

Games 7 and 8: Dull draws

Anand,V (2775) - Carlsen,M (2870) [C65]
FWCM2013 (7), 18.11.2013

Final position after 32...Ne6 ½-½

Carlsen,M (2870) - Anand,V (2775) [C67]
FWCM2013 (8), 19.11.2013

Position after 28....Kxe8

The above two positions best describe game seven and eight. Symmetrical structures, one open file and all the pieces getting exchanged periodically. In game six and seven, Anand had the white pieces consecutively. After repeatedly failing to get an advantage with 1.e4 in the match, people expected Anand to go 1.d4 in game seven. But it was not to be. Once again Magnus’s symmetrical King Pawn Opening gave him a very safe and secure position. In game eight, reaching a pawn endgame in just 28 moves was just what the doctor ordered. The challenger had now cemented his lead. 5.0-3.0.

Tremendous media interest for the match Not only was it covered by
the leading Indian periodicals, the match was actually shown live on television.

A video by Vijay Kumar and Susan Polgar takes you behind the scenes of the playing venue.

Game 9: final nail in the coffin

Huge excitement for fans all over the world as Anand finally opened with 1.d4. It seemed as if he had delayed this obvious switch for too long. But all was not lost. If Vishy could win this, he would reduce the gap by just one point. The game was wild and complicated – it saw Magnus promoting his pawn to a queen and Vishy launching a mad attack on Black’s king. But Anand’s confidence seemed to be on the decline as he could not find a forced win. Carlsen defended accurately and there occurred the biggest blunder of the match.

Anand,V (2775) - Carlsen,M (2870) [E25]
FWCM2013 (9), 21.11.2013

Position after 28.Nf1

In the above positon, Anand played the fateful 28.Nf1?? and after 28…Qe1 had to throw in the towel. It was all over. 6.0-3.0.

Better late than never: 1.d4 by Vishy Anand

Magnus Carlsen mobbed by the media as he inched closer to the title

Game 10: A new World Champion is crowned

Carlsen,M (2870) - Anand,V (2775) [B51]
FWCM2013 (10), 22.11.2013

Position after 22.a4

The thing that stands out for me in the match is this position. Carlsen had a chance to repeat the position with 22.Qd2 and make a draw. With that he would win the match and be the undisputed World Champion. But he declined the tacit draw offer and instead continued playing. Such hunger for victory is the reason why Magnus is way ahead of others. He was close to winning the tenth game too. After a mistake he had to agree for a draw. But it was only after 65 moves of fighting chess! 6.5-3.5.

Magnus Carlsen: Sixteenth World Chess Champion

Guess what the newly crowned World Champion did after winning the match? Basketball!

Conclusion: In the first half of the match, Anand had his chances. Magnus was jittery and was not his usual flawless self. But Vishy didn’t grab them. That gave Carlsen time to settle down. Once he started to feel at home in the World Championship environment, he simply dominated the match. Anand sticking to 1.e4 for too long led to his doom. And lastly Magnus was able to steer the game into the positions he liked more often than Anand could do it. That’s the reason why Vishy could not win a single game in the match.

Trivia: Who are the players in the history of world championship matches who have not been able to win a single game in a match? The answer is given at the end of the article.

Replay the annotated games from rounds 6-10

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1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.d3 Bc5 5.c3 0-0 6.0-0 Re8 7.Re1 a6 8.Ba4 b5 9.Bb3 d6 10.Bg5 Be6 11.Nbd2 h6 12.Bh4 Bxb3 13.axb3 Nb8 14.h3 Nbd7 15.Nh2 Qe7 16.Ndf1 Bb6 17.Ne3 Qe6 18.b4 a5 19.bxa5 Bxa5 20.Nhg4 Bb6 21.Bxf6 Nxf6 22.Nxf6+ Qxf6 23.Qg4 Bxe3 24.fxe3 Qe7 25.Rf1 c5 26.Kh2 c4 27.d4 Rxa1 28.Rxa1 Qb7 29.Rd1 Qc6 30.Qf5 exd4 31.Rxd4 Re5 32.Qf3 Qc7 33.Kh1 Qe7 34.Qg4 Kh7 35.Qf4 g6 36.Kh2 Kg7 37.Qf3 Re6 The opening phase of the 6th game wasnt really very interesting. Anand had lost the 5th game and hence it was expected of him to play more fighting chess. However Anand was not in his best form as he exchanged pieces at regular intervals. It seemed as if he just wanted to draw the game. However once he made a few inaccuracies, the Norwegian wonderkid became ambitious! He started to push in the position and he got the following position where he has pressure on the e pawn. Anand can keep on defending it and I think black cannot make much headway but Anand chose for an active defense by giving up a pawn. This seemed like not a good decision against Carlsen who once has a material advantage really makes use of each and every opportunity. 38.Qg3?! Rxe4 39.Qxd6 Rxe3 40.Qxe7 Rxe7 So black has won a pawn but now white forces the black rook into a passive position. 41.Rd5 Rb7 So what do we have here? Black is a pawn down and he really cannot do much. He cannot move his rook from b7 because then the b5 pawn will hang. On the other hand he cannot push b4 as then after Rc6 he will lose his pawn. All he can do is to bring his king towards the center that is on e6. But really white shouldnt be worrying too much over here. He has excellent drawing chances. 42.Rd6 f6! an interesting move by Carlsen. He would like to plonk his rook on e5 square and hence he plays this move f6. 43.h4! Anand also is very alert. He sense that if it is possible he can play h5 and break blacks structure and have excellent drawing chances inspite of being 2 pawns down because the pawns will be very weak. Kf7 43...h5 in the press conference Carlsen suggested that he should have gone for his move as he completely underestimated the strength of the move h4-h5. 43...Re7 44.Rb6 Re5 could be blacks idea but now white will push the black king to the 8th rank. 45.Rb7+ Kf8 with the king cut off on the 8th and the rook stuck to defending b5, black doesnt have much chances here. 44.h5! very brave play by Vishy Anand who being a pawn down sacrifices another pawn. But the world champion has seen that he can defend the resulting position. gxh5 45.Rd5 Kg6 46.Kg3 after this position is reached I think black has only 1 plan now. i.e to play f5. In order to play f5 black will need his rook to be on b6. As soon as black plays f5, white will have to prevent Kg5 and hence he will play either Kf4 or Kh4. Now the only way to make progress would be to give up the b pawn and continue with Re6 followed by Re4+ and pushing the white king behind and then coming in with black king to g5. All of this happens in the game but white is still very much within the drawing zone. Rb6 47.Rc5 just waiting. f5 threatening Kg5 48.Kh4 48.Kf4 I was wondering if this move made any sense. Now we are attacking the f5 pawn. Re6 48...h4!? Might also be an excellent move! 49.Rd5 b4!? requires some accurate calculation 50.Rc5 Rd6 51.Rxc4 Rd2! 52.Rxb4 Rxg2 53.Kf3 Rg3+ 54.Kf2 Kg5 just an illustrative line to show that black sill has chances to win as his pawn on h4 is close to the queening square. 49.Rxb5 49.Rxf5 Rf6! the rooks will have to be exchanged. 50.Rxf6+ Kxf6 51.g3 Kg6 52.Ke4 Kg5 53.Kf3 h4-+ and black wins. 49...Re4+ 50.Kf3 would transpose to something like the game continuation but the king is better placed on f3 than on h3. 48...Re6! carlsen sees that the only way to make progress is to give up the b pawn. 49.Rxb5 Re4+ 50.Kh3?! But why not bring the king to a better square on g3? 50.Kg3 would have surely reduced Anand's woes. Kg5 51.Rb8 h4+ 52.Kf3 Rf4+ 53.Ke2 Kg4 54.Rg8+ Kh5 and we get a similar position as in the game just that the white king is better placed on e2 than on h3 as in the game. 50...Kg5 51.Rb8 51.b3 Re3+ 52.Kh2 Rxc3 53.bxc4 Rxc4 this should still be within a draw because black will be left with f and h pawns which is a draw in rook endgames. But of course as a defender why would you like to give up another pawn? But then why to give up e4 and h5 you may ask!! I have no answer for that! :) 51...h4 52.Rg8+ Kh5 53.Rf8 Making moves from white side is easy here. He just has to keep attacking whichever pawn is undefended and whenever the black king comes outside, he must start checking. Rf4 54.Rc8 Rg4 55.Rf8 Rg3+ 56.Kh2 Kg5 57.Rg8+ everyone condemned this move saying, why to give black the chance to go to f4. Well it doesnt matter really because it still is a draw. However instead of this check, direct Rc8 would have been much easier. 57.Rc8 would have been simpler of course Rg4 58.Kh3 and now to make progress black must try to get his king to f4 so he can try Re4 59.Rg8+ Kf4 60.Rc8 Ke3 61.Rh8 Kd3 62.Rxh6 Kc2 63.Rb6 Rg4 64.Rb4 Kd3 65.b3 Kxc3 66.Rxc4+ Rxc4 67.bxc4 Kxc4 68.Kxh4 Kd5 69.Kg5 Ke6= would be a way to draw the game 57...Kf4 58.Rc8 Now the c4 pawn cannot be saved but Carlsen has seen an interesting idea Ke3! 59.Rxc4 f4! The idea is now to play h3 and the f pawn will be a passed pawn. You can see that all theese problems would have happened if Anand would have kept his king on f3 instead of h3. 60.Ra4? The critical mistake of the game. Infact there is only 1 move in this position which draws the game. its not surprising that Anand missed it inspite having time on his clock because I think he hadnt anticipated this Kf4-e3 idea and when Carlsen played it he was simply astounded and submitted himself to defeat. However we must note the idea and keep it in mind as it will be useful in future. All the moves that leave the contact of f4 pawn are bad because black can play Kf2 60.Rc6? Kf2 61.Rf6 61.Rxh6 Rxg2+ 62.Kh3 f3-+ 61...Rxg2+ 62.Kh3 62.Kh1 f3 63.b4 Rg5 64.c4 Kg3 65.c5 f2 66.c6 Re5 and its game over. 62...f3 63.Kxh4 Rh2+ 64.Kg4 h5+ 65.Kg5 Kg2 66.b4 f2 67.b5 f1Q 68.Rxf1 Kxf1 69.c4 Rc2 and black just wins. 60.Rc8 meets a similar fate as Rc6 move 60.b4! was the very counterintuitive move to make. The point is that for the moment we keep an eye on f4 so that the king cannot go to f2 and at the same time he starts pushing the pawn. These white pawns will make it difficult for black rook to manoeuvre. Thus this is the right move! Of course to give an explanation after the move is made is easy. But you really are a good player if you can understand all of this and then make the right move! h3 61.gxh3 Rg6 62.Rc8 f3 63.Re8+! The neat point. Kd2 64.b5 64.Rf8 Rg2+ 65.Kh1 Ke3 allows black rook to be activated. 64...f2 65.Rf8 Ke2 66.Re8+ Kf1 and now you see that the black king cannot move out. 67.c4 the only winning plan for black is to play Rd6-d8-e8 but its very slow and in that time the white pawns will start to queen. Hence it makes sense to just accept the draw here with perpetual checks. Rg2+ 68.Kh1 Rg1+ 69.Kh2 Rg2+= 60...h3! 61.gxh3 Rg6 the position here would have been a dead draw if white didnt have the b2 and c3 pawns as then the white rook could have given a lot of horizontal checks. But here these pawns exist and they create the barriers from checking the black king. 62.c4 f3 63.Ra3+ Ke2 64.b4 f2 65.Ra2+ Ke3 66.Ra3+ Kf4 67.Ra8 67.Ra1 Re6! it could be possible that this is the idea that Anand missed. 68.Kg2 Re1-+ 67...Rg1! the queen cannot be stopped! Phenomenal endgame play by Carlsen and more than that look at his mindset. After winning game 5 any person would think about consolidating his lead with a draw with black pieces. But Carlsen played the game as per the position on the board. He had a small edge and decided to torture Anand. The point that he got was a reqard for his hardwork and perseverance! A lot that we can learn from this attitude! You can learn more about chess from my blog: www.sagarteacheschess.blogspot. com 0–1
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Anand,V2775Carlsen,M28700–12013C65FWCM20136
Anand,V2775Carlsen,M2870½–½2013C65FWCM20137
Carlsen,M2870Anand,V2775½–½2013C67FWCM20138
Anand,V2775Carlsen,M28700–12013E25FWCM20139
Carlsen,M2870Anand,V2775½–½2013B51FWCM201310

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Answer to the "Trivia" question: "Who are the players in the history of world championship matches who have not been able to win a single game in a match?"
 
1) Frank Marshall who lost the match against Emanuel Lasker with a score of 3.5-8.5 in 1907.
2) David Janowski who lost to Emanuel Lasker with a score of 9.5-1.5 in 1910.
3) Emanuel Lasker did not let two opponents win even a single game but it was now his turn to lose in similar fashion against the great Cuban Capablanca with a score of 5-9 in 1921.
4) And lastly, very surprisingly it was Garry Kasparov who lost his 2000 match against Vladimir Kramnik without a win and with a score of 6.5-8.5 in 2000.
Sagar is an International Master from India with two GM norms. He loves to cover chess tournaments, as that helps him understand and improve at the game he loves so much. He is the co-founder and CEO of ChessBase India, the biggest chess news portal in the country. His YouTube channel has over a million subscribers, and to date close to a billion views. ChessBase India is the sole distributor of ChessBase products in India and seven adjoining countries, where the software is available at a 60% discount. compared to International prices.

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