Sochi G5: A few palpitations, but no heart attack

[Event "WCh 2014"] [Site "Sochi RUS"] [Date "2014.11.14"] [Round "5"] [White "Anand, V."] [Black "Carlsen, M."] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "E15"] [WhiteElo "2792"] [BlackElo "2863"] [Annotator "Ramirez Alvarez,Alejandro"] [PlyCount "78"] [EventDate "2014.11.08"] [SourceDate "2014.01.04"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 {Carlsen switches out of the Orthodox lines of the QGD and chooses to go for the Queen's Indian Defense, a system that has stood the test of time.} 4. g3 Bb4+ {This finesse is becoming an increasingly popular alternative to the normal 4...Ba6 and 4...Bb7.} 5. Bd2 Be7 6. Nc3 Bb7 7. Bg2 c6 (7... O-O {this move order is more common, and more often than not Black plays the knight to a6, but one could argue it is an older and less flexible setup.}) 8. e4 {Anand took six minutes for his first think of the game, probably trying to remember the crucial lines in this off-beat position.} d5 9. exd5 cxd5 10. Ne5 O-O 11. O-O Nc6 12. cxd5 Nxe5 13. d6 Nc6 14. dxe7 Qxe7 15. Bg5 h6 16. d5 Na5 17. Bxf6 (17. d6 Qd8 18. Bxf6 Qxf6 { and the pawn on d6 looks weak, not strong.}) 17... Qxf6 18. dxe6 Qxe6 {This was Carlsen's first think, but it took only four minutes and a half. Up to this point he had confidently blitzed out all of his moves.} (18... Bxg2 19. exf7+ Qxf7 20. Kxg2 Nc4 {seems to give compensation in form of pressure on the f-file and well placed pieces, but I dont' see the need to give up a pawn.}) 19. Re1 Qf6 20. Nd5 $1 {Carlsen must have been unfamiliar with this move, which practically speaking is an interesting attempt to mix up things. White only has a few moves to play before the game is completely drawn due to the symmetrical pawn structure.} Bxd5 $1 (20... Qxb2 21. Re2 $1 {Surprisingly, the queen is in some trouble:} Qa3 22. Re3 Qb2 23. Rb1 Qxa2 24. Ra1 $1 Qc4 25. Rxa5 bxa5 26. Ne7+ {and White emerges with two pieces for a rook and two pawns - but with Black's shattered structure on the queenside and the lack of targets for Black's rooks White seems to be better.}) 21. Bxd5 Rad8 22. Qf3 $1 {The only way to keep pressure. Anand's play is very strong, and Carlsen has to decide if he wants to take the pawn on b2 or to play an inferior endgame.} Qxb2 (22... Qxf3 23. Bxf3 Nc4 24. b3 Nd6 25. Re7 {is without a doubt better for White. How much better is something that can be argued, but it is not a pleasant position to defend.}) 23. Rad1 Qf6 {A good practical decision! Carlsen sees that the pressure is mounting and decides to ruin his pawn structure in order to simplify matters on the queenside.} 24. Qxf6 gxf6 25. Re7 Kg7 26. Rxa7 {Natural, but perhaps with more patience Anand could have set up more problems.} (26. Rc7 $5 $14 {The point is that Black has no really useful move while the a-pawn will fall sooner or later. This will keep the White's a- and Black's b-pawn on the board.}) 26... Nc6 27. Rb7 Nb4 {The point. Now that the bishop must move and the rooks will be swapped, a2 is undefended.} 28. Bb3 Rxd1+ 29. Bxd1 Nxa2 30. Rxb6 Nc3 31. Bf3 {Black's pawn structure is ugly, but he has very little to worry about. The bishop is too clumsy to create real threats and although the knight is stranded for now, it won't be stranded forever.} f5 $1 {Anchoring the knight on e4. Even if Carlsen loses a pawn on e4 when minor pieces are traded the endgame will be easily drawn.} 32. Kg2 Rd8 33. Rc6 Ne4 34. Bxe4 {In this scenario White doesn't even get a pawn and the game is trivially drawn, but there wasn't much else to do anyway.} fxe4 35. Rc4 f5 36. g4 Rd2 37. gxf5 e3 38. Re4 Rxf2+ 39. Kg3 Rxf5 1/2-1/2