[Event "FWCM2013"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2013.11.09"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, M."]
[Black "Anand, V."]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D78"]
[WhiteElo "2870"]
[BlackElo "2775"]
[Annotator "Sagar Shah"]
[PlyCount "32"]
[EventDate "2013.10.26"]
[SourceDate "2013.11.09"]

{After all the initial drama of press conference, revealing the seconds, not
revealing the seconds, one of its kind of inauguration function, on 9th
November 2013 at 3pm IST, the two gladiators sat across each other and the
World Championships 2013 began! Anand looked his usual calm and composed self
in his jet blue shirt, while Magnus like always looked quite dashing in his
white coloured wear! It promised to be a superb inaugural game.} 1. Nf3 $5 {
Before the game, I had conducted a small survey, as to what Magnus would play
as his first move. The amateurs were all very keen that Magnus would come all
guns blazing with 1.e4 but the GMs and IMs whom I asked had a much sober
opinion about Magnus's choice. They all felt he wont go into forcing lines and
Magnus didn't disappoint, playing the Reti Opening which is considered as one
of the most flexible openings in the game of chess. After the game in the
press conference, Magnus did say he had some butterflies in his stomach! After
all he too is human!} d5 {Classical chess by Vishy Anand. He shows that he
doesn't mind playing some line of the Queens gambit, most probably his
reliable slav, after 2.d4. So a small point to note! Vishy is not giving up on
Slav, an opening which helped him win many a world championship matches!} 2. g3
{When I was young and playing my first tournament, my coach told me to play
this way. To build a home and to castle quickly! It was so that I wouldn't
falter in the game that was new to me! In some ways it is true for Magnus too.
He is in a new situation and figures out that building a home for his king is
a very safe and sound policy!} g6 {Is Anand also contemplating on playing the
Grunfeld Defense? Well he is mixing his openings pretty well!} 3. Bg2 Bg7 4. d4
$5 {Magnus decides that his house building expedition can wait for the moment.
He sees that he can convert into a symmetrical looking position and goes for
it. After all nothing really bad can happen in a symmetrical position in which
you are a tempo up!} c6 {Anand finally Clarifies the setup that he is aiming
for. The super solid Slav Grunfeld. As a White player who plays similar
systems, I think this is one of the toughest systems to crack. And Anand makes
a great decision to employ it in the 1st round of such a huge event.} 5. O-O
Nf6 6. b3 $5 {Extremely safe move by Magnus. He goes for a 2nd fianchetto! He
has decided on a very harmonious deployment of pieces with Bb2 followed by
Nbd2 and then c4.} (6. c4 {is definitely the most popular. But judging by
Magnus's opening choice I am sure he was afraid of the pawn grab} dxc4 7. Ne5
Ng4 $1 {Leads to some complex play in which White might not be able to recover
his pawn. Definitely not what Magnus's doctor had ordered.}) 6... O-O 7. Bb2
Bf5 $1 {Anand takes control of the e4 square and continues with his natural
play. One of the best things about the moves that Anand is making is that
there is absolutely no pretence in them. He makes natural moves and deploys
his pieces on the most active squares.} (7... a5 {could have been another
interesting move aiming at the white queen side.}) 8. c4 Nbd7 $1 {Now this
exclamation is definitely uncalled for, the reader might say! Yes its a very
normal move and even a beginner might make it, but Anand learnt from his
mistake that he had made in a similar position in Arctic Stars Final Rapid
2010. In that game Anand had developed his knight to the poor square on a6,
and Magnus had drubbed him badly! This time the knight is more centrally
oriented!} (8... Na6 9. Nbd2 Ne4 {The aforementioned Carlsen-Anand game in
Arctic finals 2010, had a different move order but reached this position after
9 moves. And Carlsen played the nice little move} 10. Nh4 $1 {when he could
claim an edge in the position.}) 9. Nc3 $6 {Though this move is popular, I
dare to give it a dubious mark because it just doesn't seem coherent. Yes,
first of all the knight blocks the bishop on b2 and more importantly it leaves
the c4 pawn a little loose. A fact that Anand makes use of in a perfect manner.
} (9. Nbd2 {is the more logical move according to me and after} Ne4 {white can
claim a small edge with} 10. Nh4 $1 Nxd2 11. Qxd2 Be6 12. cxd5 cxd5 13. Nf3 $14
{White position just looks healthier.}) 9... dxc4 $1 {I venture to say that
this was Anand's home preparation! Just 2 games have continued in this way and
none of them by very good players! What exactly is Anand trying to achieve? He
is speeding up the play. In the slow lines of Slav Grunfeld, he has suddenly
added the concrete element whereby Carlsen no longer feels on home turf.
Carlsen was most probably expecting a risk free edge which he loves to milk,
but with this move Anand dispels all his hopes for quiet play. Is Magnus ready
for the change in the character of play?} (9... Ne4 {was definitely what
Magnus was looking forward to} 10. cxd5 Nxc3 11. Bxc3 cxd5 12. Rc1 {The
position is quiet and white risks absolutely nothing.}) 10. bxc4 Nb6 $1 {This
is the correct follow up to the move dc4. The c4 pawn is attacked and how is
Magnus going to defend it. It seemed as if Magnus had already started to feel
a little uncomfortable. He had 2 options Qb3 and c5. He decided to go for the
latter.} 11. c5 (11. Qb3 {After the game Anand said he intended to meet this
move with} Be6 12. d5 {only move to save the c4 pawn.} cxd5 13. cxd5 Nfxd5 {
when black is a pawn up and has a decent position.}) 11... Nc4 $1 {Concrete
play. The Bishop on b2 is attacked but the knight on c4 has entered into the
territory with no retreat. In fact blacks active pieces guarantee him that his
knight on c4 wont be trapped.} 12. Bc1 {This seemed very natural to me, and
infact I felt this was the only move, but after the game Anand said that he
was surprised to see Magnus making this move. He had expected Qb3. My logic
was that if the b2 bishop is gone, the g7 bishop becomes really powerful, but
maybe World Champions do think very different than normal chess players!} (12.
Qb3 Be6 $5 {intending, Nd2 or Ne3} (12... Nxb2 13. Qxb2 Rb8 $11 {is also
possible.}) 13. Qc2 b6 $1 {a powerful underming move which should not be
underestimated. All of black pieces start getting activated.} 14. cxb6 axb6 $15
{With a clear edge to black.}) 12... Nd5 $5 (12... e5 $5 {Lawrence Trent and
Tania Sachdev in their live commentary were discussing this move. It seemed to
me unnecessary complications but there seemed a definite logic to this move.
The white pieces are unco-ordinate for this instant and it makes sense for
black to strike right in the heart of the position!} 13. Nxe5 (13. dxe5 Ng4 {
And black will recover the e5 pawn.}) 13... Nxe5 14. dxe5 Nd7 (14... Qxd1 15.
Rxd1 Nd7 16. f4 $14) 15. f4 Qa5 $15 {When black has an excellent position! I
do really think that e5 was a move worth considering only because White had
problems in his communication of pieces due to Bc1.}) 13. Qb3 (13. Nxd5 cxd5
$15 {Though the variation of Qd5 has some wonderful tactical ideas in it. It
is easy for Carlsen to refuse going for 13. Nd5 when he sees this position.
Black has a wonderful knight on c4 and will later go for b6, when he will have
an excellent position.} (13... Qxd5 $1 {seemed incorrect to me during the game
because of} 14. Ne5 {but black can play} Qe6 $1 15. e4 {doesn't really work
because of the nice tactic} Bxe4 $1 (15... Nxe5 $2 16. exf5 $16) 16. Bxe4 Nxe5
$1 17. dxe5 Qxe5 {with a nice double attack[%cal Ge5a1,Ge5e4]} 18. Rb1 Qxe4 19.
Rxb7 Bf6 $15 {When Black is a pawn up and has a wonderful position!})) (13. Qe1
{Carlsen after the game said he had intended this move but had missed blacks
reply of} Nb4 $1 {After which black has a pleasant position.}) 13... Na5 (13...
b5 {was one way to keep the game going. but maybe Anand didn't want to try too
much today} 14. cxb6 Na5 15. Qb2 axb6 16. e4 $1 Nxc3 17. exf5 Bxd4 18. Nxd4
Qxd4 19. Be3 $44 {Black has an extra pawn but White has the two bishops and
some very dangerous initiative.}) 14. Qa3 Nc4 (14... b6 $1 $15 {was suggested
by one of my students and I also tweeted it on twitter. It seems to me that
after this move, black really has white under pressure. Anand should have gone
for this I guess because such a golden opportunity of playing a better
position against Magnus after 14 moves in this championship with black pieces
might not occur again.}) 15. Qb3 (15. Qa4 $2 Nxc3 16. Qxc4 Bxd4 $1 {gives
black the better chances} 17. Nxd4 Qxd4 $19) 15... Na5 16. Qa3 {secretly in my
heart I still hoped for the b6 move but from the live video I could see that
Vishy was happy with a draw. He picked his knight off the rim to end the first
game of the match!} Nc4 {The players shook their hands, analysed a few
variations and convinced themselves that nothing really was going on in the
position! It seemed as if both were happy with the outcome! I think the
following things have happened because of the draw. 1. The ease with which
Vishy drew with black, will give him a good night's sleep. 2. Carlsen as a
favourite : this stock has just taken a huge fall! 3. Carlsen personally must
be happy to the extent that in his first game in match play he didn't botch it
up with a loss! 4. The spectators who spent 2000rs for the match must have
felt a little sad! :) 5. And last but not the least as Pentala Harikrishna 
(India no. 2) rightly tweeted, the seconds got only 1.5 hrs of sleep!! Lets
look forward to game 2 of the Match when Vishy Anand will hold the white
pieces! He is surely not going to let Magnus off the hook as easily as Magnus
did today!  You can learn more about World championship match and chess from
my blog: www.sagarteacheschess.blogspot.com} 1/2-1/2

[Event "FWCM2013"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2013.11.10"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Anand, V."]
[Black "Carlsen, M."]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B19"]
[WhiteElo "2775"]
[BlackElo "2870"]
[Annotator "Sagar Shah"]
[PlyCount "49"]
[EventDate "2013.10.26"]
[SourceDate "2013.11.10"]

{The game 2 between Vishy Anand and Magnus Carlsen! Vishy Anand had made it
clear to the world yesterday that he had come fully prepared for the World
Championship match. Magnus had to pull the emergency brakes yesterday to make
a draw. And today Vishy had the white pieces. That meant he was all raring to
press the challenger. Vishy arrived at the board today in his white t shirt.
He looked completely focussed as Magnus was not to be seen. For a few brief
moments it felt as if the zero tolerance rule might come into effect but its
highly unlikely that Magnus Carlsen would be asleep when the stakes were so
high! He arrived in the hall in a hurry. He did look like he was in a no
nonsense mode. The players shook hands and Vishy pushed the e pawn!} 1. e4 {It
seemed as if collective roar went up in the crowd as Vishy made the move e4!
It meant that the Madras Tiger was out to kill. A tactical battle was in the
offing! Vishy had calculated Magnus's response based on previously played
moves. The Breyer or the Petroff or maybe the Dragon! Not even in his wildest
dreams would he have imagined Magnus to touch his c pawn and not play the
sicilian!} c6 $5 {The Caro Kann Defense.The joke about this move is that in a
game with Fischer, when Tal was playing black he pushed his 'c' pawn and
Fischer's eyes glowed when he felt it would be a sicilian. But he stopped one
square too soon! And all of Fischer's enthusiasm died out!! Such is the
solidity of this opening! Known as one of the toughest defenses to crack, this
seemed to be the ideal choice by Carlsen. And how was Vishy to expect this
move? The last time Magnus had played this was against Karjakin in 2011 and in
2010 when he had employed it against a talented Chinese youngster Sjugirov,
Magnus had lost in 25 moves. Vishy must have prepared this line but definitely
Caro Kann was not one of the openings on his wish list.} 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 {The
Classical variation of the Caro kann, earlier know for its boring setup when
both the sides used to long castle. But through the efforts of many daring
players and authors like Lars Schandorff, players started to castle on the
opposite wings i.e white on the queenside and black on the kingside and the
games turned out to be sharp. Exactly what happened today.} dxe4 4. Nxe4 {Now
there are many options for black to choose from here. He can go for the very
sharp and double edged move Nf6 when after white takes Nf6 to play gf6!?. The
other option is to play smyslov's move Nd7. However the most popular move in
this position is definitely the natural developing move Bf5} Bf5 5. Ng3 (5. Nc5
{sometimes this move is played but i think its not very sound.}) 5... Bg6 6. h4
{the h pawn moves ahead to harass the bishop on g6. at the same time this move
gains space for white on the kingside. Now what should black play h6 or h5} h6
{I have made a simple rule for myself that can be of good use to Caro Kann
players. If white played the advance variation of the Caro Kann and then
played h4 later, then black must meet it with h5. As he cannot afford to give
up more space. But in Classical line when black has already exchanged his d
pawn for white's e pawn, then black doesnt have too many space issues and must
meet h4 with h6!} 7. Nf3 {Can you believe this position has been reached
almost 12000 times!! Its really a popular position. White now threatens to
harass the g6 bishop further with Ne5.} e6 $5 {And guess what out of those
12000 games only 1000 odd games have reached this position!! But why? And what
is the most popular move. Black players were so afraid earlier about the
knight jump to e5 that they always used to play Nd7 to stop it. No one ever
thought that Ne5 could be allowed, until the efforts of Alexey Dreev started
to bear fruit. In a way this move is more natural. Black retains the option of
maybe putting his knight on c6 later after the c5 break. The question is
should white play Ne5 now and gain a tempo?} 8. Ne5 $5 {Vishy accepts the
provocation. He moves the knight for the second time in the opening but only
because black will have to move his bishop for the third time.} Bh7 9. Bd3 (9.
Bc4 {is another option but leads to toally different type of play.}) 9... Bxd3
(9... Qxd4 10. Nxf7 $16) 10. Qxd3 Nd7 {A very natural move attacking the e5
knight. White now has to make an important choice. Would he like to play his
pawn upto f4 or Bf4?} 11. f4 $5 {Vishy makes his intentions totally clear! He
wants to crush black! The more conservative move would have been Bf4 as it
develops a piece. However f4 seems to be more aggressive as it gains space and
really cements the knight on e5} (11. Ng6 $6 {A dubious move for sure but an
idea which must not be underestimated.} fxg6 12. Qxg6+ Ke7 13. Bd2 {Black
pieces are unco-ordinated but a piece is just too huge investment to make.}
Ndf6 $1 $17 {and black will soon co-ordinate and white will be searching for
compensation which will not be so easy to find.}) 11... Bb4+ $5 {Doesnt this
seem like a patzer move. A young player who has just made his first strides in
chess would definitely make this move. And not only make this move but proudly
and loudly announce a check. But why would a 22 year old kid who is world no.
1 play this move when he knows he can be pushed back with c3?!! Infact magnus
wants Vishy to play c3. The point is that after the exchange of the light
squared bishop, Magnus wants to force as many pawns on to the dark squares as
possible. In this way, the light squares in the white position become weaker.
Yes it seems to be vague and too minute a detail, but at the top level, this
is how they play! Magnus found that it was in his favour to force c3.} (11...
Be7 12. Bd2 Ngf6 13. O-O-O O-O {would reach to the game position without white
having the extra move c3. The absence of the move c3 only helps white as his
bishop on d2 has more scope, his king on c1 can feel safer and his light
squares arent so weak. Thus you can understand the importance of inserting Bb4
and c3.}) 12. c3 (12. Bd2 {doesnt really make much sense to exchange more
pieces.} Bxd2+ 13. Qxd2 Ngf6 $11 {Black is fine.}) 12... Be7 13. Bd2 {Just as
in his game with Ding Liren, Anand plays his bishop to d2. He had won that
game and it was natural that Magnus must have come prepared for this line.So
maybe Vishy should have deviated around here.} (13. Nh5 {Definitely looked
like a possibility during the game. The g7 pawn is attacked and white does
have a dangerous initiative.} Bxh4+ 14. Kd1 $1 {The king will be safely placed
on c2} Bf6 15. Kc2 {it seems as though black is under some pressure. Any
attempts to shoo the h5 knight away is met with a deadly shot} g6 $6 16. Nxg6
$1 fxg6 17. Qxg6+ Kf8 18. Bd2 $44 {White has a very dangerous attack}) (13. Ng6
$2 {is a typical attacking idea. But I think here its useless.} fxg6 $1 14.
Qxg6+ Kf8 15. Nh5 Bf6 $19 {Black is safe and sound.}) 13... Ngf6 {completing
his development and not getting greedy to snatch the h4 pawn.} (13... Bxh4 $6 {
such pawns must not be taken when you are behind in development!} 14. O-O-O Bf6
15. Rde1 $14 {With move like Nh5 and g4 coming up, black can hardly move.}) 14.
O-O-O {This is the first deviation by Anand from his game against Ding Liren.
In that game Anand had played Qe2. But 0-0-0 looks like the most natural move.}
O-O $5 {This move requires some guts!! And lots of preparation! When this move
was played I think the pulse rate of the viewers increased! After all everyone
has heard the saying that opposite side castling often leads to very tense and
exciting struggle! And here white has so many trumps to start a kingside
attack! He has a strong knight on e5. The pawn is already on h4 and because
black has played h6, g4-g5 will be really a very dangerous idea. But how to
execute it? It surely requires some deep thought. Something which I am not
sure Vishy was ready to do at this point. Thats the reason why Carlsen played
this riskily. He was banking on the surprise value of his idea, more than its
objective merit.} 15. Ne4 $6 {Many people would call this a lazy move more
than anything. But more than Lazy move, its a very natural move. Imagine
yourself sitting against Magnus Carlsen. Rated 2870. Who has prepared this
line at home for many hours. And he is playing at some breathtaking speed. Now
Anand knows that he must not exchange pieces if he wants his attack to succeed
but he doesnt want to go into sharp play because he fears that Magnus has it
all worked out! I must say Vishy is a very objective player who makes a draw
very quickly if he has any doubts seeping into his mind about his position.} (
15. Ne2 $5 {Definitely this is a stronger move, avoiding piece trades and
preparing g4-g5. One of my friend from Nigeria also suggested this move and I
guess this will in a way its more prinicpled way to play this position. But I
do think that black has his resources here.} h5 $5 {looks like a way to stop
the white initiative on the kingside.} (15... c5 16. g4 $5 $40) (15... Qa5 16.
g4 $5 $40)) 15... Nxe4 $1 {Magnus is happy to exchange pieces. With every
trade, white's attack becomes an illusion!} 16. Qxe4 Nxe5 $1 {I didnt expect
this move from Magnus. But it is the strongest move! Mainly because it
exchanges one more pair of pieces and secondly it frees the black queen to
start using the d5 square.} (16... Nf6 {is what I felt was more natural and
after} 17. Qe2 Qd5 {I thought that white is forced to play Kb1 in order to
defend the a2 pawn. However this isnt true white has the extremely strong move}
18. g4 $3 Qe4 (18... Qxa2 $2 {is a very poor decision as after} 19. g5 $1 $18 {
white is close to winning!}) 19. Rde1 Qxe2 20. Rxe2 $14 {gives white a very
pleasant endgame and I think even without the queens he has a great chance of
launching a kingside attack with g5!}) 17. fxe5 {this is definitely the best
recapture. Now the f file is opened up and the f7 pawn can become a weakness.}
Qd5 {The most critical moment of the game! And infact after the game, every
Tom Dick and Harry was saying that Anand should have gone Qg4. Yes Anand had
two possibilities here. One was to take on d5 and the other and much more
principled aproach was to play Qg4. Now when we as spectators watch the game,
it is obvious that we want Vishy to play Qg4. But when Vishy is thinking over
the board, his main intention is to play the move which more than maximises
his winning chances, should minimise his losing chances. I say so because the
match has just started. No one likes to lose!} 18. Qxd5 {An excellent decision
by Vishy who judged not only the on the board factors but also the off the
board factors. If your opponent is so well prepared it doesnt really make
sense to play sharp chess. But essentially after this exchange the game is
drawn.} (18. Qg4 Kh7 $1 {this was the best move in the position and Vishy
mentioned that he didnt see any way to continue the attack. But maybe he
doesnt have to attack. He can just save the a2 pawn now and should definitely
be slightly better.} (18... Qxa2 $2 {is a horrible move as after} 19. Bxh6 g6
20. h5 $18 {its all over.}) (18... f5 {in the press conference Magnus
mentioned this to be a bad move due to} 19. Qg6 $1 f4 20. g3 $1 $16) 19. Kb1 c5
20. Be3 $14 {the position remains complex but I do prefer white.}) 18... cxd5
19. h5 {fixing the kingside pawns and Vishy had already noticed the drawing
idea I think. To put one rook on f1 and the other on g3, as he did in the game.
} b5 $1 {Magnus wants to launch a minority attack. i.e he wants to use the b
and a pawns to attack the three white queenside pawns. But as things stand the
position is so simplified that this strong positional plan of minority attack
will not really be dangerous.} 20. Rh3 {Vishy continues his plan of Rf1 and
Rg3.} a5 {Magnus keeps his idea going!} 21. Rf1 $1 {Vishy is now just one step
away from getting his desired result with Rg3. At this point I felt that
Magnus will somehow find a way to continue the game. But I guess this World
Championship has made him a little bit more careful! He didnt stop Vishy's
idea and was ready for the point split!} Rac8 22. Rg3 {This move threatens
taking on h6} Kh7 23. Rgf3 {attacks the f7 pawn!} Kg8 {Magnus brought his king
back and at that point everyone understood that its a draw.} (23... f6 $6 {
only a highly optimistic person can make this move. However it is playing with
fire as after} 24. exf6 Bxf6 $14 {The only thing that black received for his
bravery to play on, is the weakness on e6! Not a risk worth taking.}) 24. Rg3
Kh7 25. Rgf3 {Both the players shook hands and the game 2 also ended in a
draw! A great achievement for Magnus Carlsen who without even breaking a sweat
and not using more than 15 minutes of his time was able to hold the world
champion to a draw with the black pieces. It shows that Magnus too has done
his homework before the match. The game ended within an hour. However the
thing I didnt like was that after the game Vishy Anand sort of apologised to
the public for the lack of fighting games. It seems as if he is feeling the
pressure of the home crowd over here. This could only mean two things. He
could come out motivated and rejuvinated in game 3 to play an excellent game
or he will buckle under the pressure and make a mistake! What will happen?
Only time will tell but as for now, Magnus Carlsen should be happy with todays
result! Tomorrow is a rest day!! Take some rest as I feel that Game 3 is going
to be quite a lengthy affair!! You can always know more about me and chess
from my blog: www.sagarteacheschess.blogspot.com} 1/2-1/2

[Event "FWCM2013"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2013.11.12"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Carlsen, M."]
[Black "Anand, V."]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A09"]
[WhiteElo "2870"]
[BlackElo "2775"]
[Annotator "Sagar Shah"]
[PlyCount "102"]
[EventDate "2013.10.26"]
[SourceDate "2013.11.12"]

{Today I have my work cut out as both the players decided to go the distance.
But from todays game we can learn a lot because there were always decisions to
be made. And when there are tough decisions to be made then what better way to
learn than to observe what the top players are doing! So lets get it started!
2 short draws! The spectators wanted something more today! The pressure was on
both the players to deliver. Anand who had the black pieces arrived almost 5
minutes before the start. He adjusted his pieces and sat in silent meditation.
Wearing his jet blue shirt with NIIT logo on it, he seemed calm and composed.
As usual Magnus walked to the board when less than a minute was left. Arbiter
Vardapetyan, came to the board, pressed the clock and out came the knight
again!} 1. Nf3 $5 {Carlsen repeats the same first move from game one. But as
we know Nf3 is such a flexible move that it can transpose to any opening. One
thing is for sure, Carlsen wants to stay away from sharp lines with white.} d5
{Vishy repeats the move that he made in game 1. We already know that Vishy,
prepares very deeply with his team and is not afraid to try out the same line
again and again. In 2008 match against Vladimir Kramnik, he played the sharp
Meran variation with the black pieces over and over and Kramnik just couldnt
do anything with white. The deep preparation that I have been doing for months
cannot be challenged in a day's preparation is what is Anand's philosophy!} 2.
g3 {Carlsen again starts to build his house like in the first game.} g6 {All
the moves are same as the first game till now but Carlsen now deviates and
suddenly transforms the game from Reti opening to English with his next move!}
3. c4 $1 {This time Carlsen doesnt want Anand to setup his own position and
therefore counterattacks immediately in the center. The move c4 now takes the
game into English opening territory.} dxc4 $5 {This came as a surprise to many
people. First of all, after what we saw in the first game and also because
Anand is a huge adherent of the slav defence, everyone did expect him to play
c6. However once again if we see deeply, Anand tries to play concrete lines.
dc4 forces Carlsen to indulge into taking some action as to how he shall
regain the c4 pawn.} (3... c6 {was what was expected!}) 4. Qa4+ {The safest
way to regain the pawn.} Nc6 {Quite an unusual way to develop the queenside
for black. But i think Vishy had already planned the development beforehand.
He would like to play Bg7, e5, Nge7 when the knight is well placed on c6. As
we see in the game, Vishy makes very good use of this knight on c6} (4... c6 {
the idea of this move is that when white takes on c4 to play b5 and place the
bishop on b7} 5. Qxc4 Bg7 6. Bg2 b5 7. Qc2 Bb7 {is another way to play}) 5. Bg2
Bg7 6. Nc3 $5 {Why doesnt Carlsen take the pawn on c4? Well the point to note
here is that the Queen pins the c6 knight. Hence it makes sense to keep the
pin. This prevents black from developing his knight to f6.} (6. O-O {But i
think this is a more accurate move. Now the natural Nf6 fails to Ne5. and the
natural move e5 can be met with high concrete complications with the move Ne5.}
e5 (6... Nf6 $2 7. Ne5 $14) (6... Nh6 {seems like the best way to play} 7. Qxc4
Nf5 {The knights look at the d4 square and black looks fine.}) 7. Nxe5 $5 (7.
Qxc4 Nge7 {would transpose to the game.}) 7... Bxe5 8. Bxc6+ bxc6 9. Qxc6+ {
Now as the a8 rook is hanging, Bd7 becomes forced.} Bd7 10. Qe4 f6 11. f4 Bf5 (
11... Ne7 $2 {as after} 12. fxe5 $16 {the rook on f1 is opened and the
position is just better for white.}) 12. Qe3 Bh3 13. Rf3 (13. Rf2 Nh6 $17)
13... Nh6 14. fxe5 Ng4 15. Qc5 Nxe5 16. Rf4 {the position remains extremely
complicated. This is what we mean by modern theory I guess! Moves that make us
go crazy with their complexity!!}) 6... e5 $1 {Anand plays accurately not
fearing the Ne5 move. Now there is a huge difference and Ne5 is a blunder as
the rook still stands on h1.} 7. Qxc4 (7. Nxe5 $2 {Like in the last variation,
this doesnt work now because of} Bxe5 8. Bxc6+ bxc6 9. Qxc6+ Bd7 10. Qe4 f6 11.
f4 Ne7 12. fxe5 Bc6 $17 {thats the huge difference because white didnt 0-0 and
played Nc3, the rook on h1 now hangs.}) 7... Nge7 {developing coherently.
There is some nice things about the black setup. First his knight on c6
combined with e5 pawn and Bg7 control the dark squares in the position. While
the knight on e7 and bishop on e6 control the light squares. Of course such
things are not thought during the game, but if you look at it deeply it might
be the reason why blacks position is very well co-ordinated.} 8. O-O O-O 9. d3
{Instead of blitzing their moves upto this point, both players were making
their moves slowly. That meant that either they were trying to lure the other
person into their preparation or both were out of their preparation. I dont
think the latter can be true. However this position hasnt been reached many
times.} h6 {I ask myself this question. Why did Anand make this move if he
hadnt yet developed his bishop to e6. I mean the point is that h6 is played to
prevent Ng5 ideas but then why not first gain a tempo with Be6? and on the
next move play h6.I think we may never know!} (9... Be6 10. Qa4 (10. Qb5 {is
not correct as black can gain a free tempo with} a6 $1 11. Qxb7 $2 {Now there
are two ways to trap the black queen.} Ra7 {is quite an original way to trap
the queen!} (11... Qd7 {is also good enough as now the threat is Rfb8 which
cannot be parried.[%cal Gf8b8]})) 10... h6 {This could have been the normal
way to play in this position.}) (9... Nd4 {The move made my Anand in the game
could also be played directly without h6.} 10. Nxd4 exd4 11. Ne4 Be6 12. Qa4
Bd5 $1 $15 {we see that the move h6 has been avoided all together.}) 10. Bd2 {
A normal and natural way to develop the bishop on d2 and connecting the rooks.
If you see deeply, you shall find that this position is actually reversed
dragon. i.e instead of black, white has taken the dragon setup of the sicilian.
Now many times when white plays the black openings he gets a comfortable
position as he is a tempo up but its often good enough only for equality. In
this position too, black plays accurately and equalises the game with ease.}
Nd4 $5 {Maybe not the best move in the position but it certainly is forcing
white to make a decision. This is in general Vishy's strategy. He is trying to
make Carlsen to take decisions rather just let him develop his pieces. Inthat
respect this is an interesting move but maybe better would have been} (10...
Be6 11. Qa4 f5 {and black has an excellent position.}) 11. Nxd4 (11. Rfc1 Bg4
$1 {developing the bishop on the most active square and putting pressure on
the f3 knight forcing him to take on d4} 12. Nxd4 exd4 13. Ne4 c6 $11 {gives
black a good position.} (13... Bxe2 $2 14. Nc5 {gives black a lot of
initiative.})) 11... exd4 12. Ne4 {it would seem as if white has some pressure
on the position. Firstly because he has an excellent bishop on g2. The knight
looks menacingly at the black queenside with the idea of Nc5. The queen is
well placed on c4 and the rooks are connected. What about black. He lags
behind in developement and is in fact attacking nothing much in white's
position. Yet this position is close to being equal! why is it so? I think the
answer to this question is the d4 pawn. While white has the dynamic advantage
of lead in development, black has the static edge of space advantage. Hence if
black can develop his pieces in 2 moves then the advantage might even be
transferred to him. Hence every move for white from here on in has its weight
in gold.} c6 $1 {excellent move blunting the bishop on g2. A huge inaccuracy
would have been} (12... Be6 $2 13. Qc1 $1 $16 {a double attack. After this h6
is attacked and Nc5 is threatened. Black has a bad position.[%cal Gd2h6,Ge4c5]}
) 13. Bb4 $6 {Many people thought this was the start of all the worries for
Carlsen. As I previously said, Carlsen should have been careful. He is already
low on space, he doesnt want black to be developing freely. The point is very
subtle. White should have removed his queen from c4 with a tempo i.e Qc1
attacking h6, because if the white queen remains on c4 then black can gain a
tempo with Be6 and consolidate his position. So let me explain what i said in
words through the variation.} (13. Qc1 $1 {attacking h6} Kh7 14. Bb4 $1 $14 {
Now Be6 is not so good as Nc5 wins a tempo. You can see that White has an
excellent position and black has to play carefully here to finish his
development.}) 13... Be6 $1 {With this move, black develops his last piece and
things have been grim for Carlsen because his lead in development has vanished
and he remains with less space! Advantage has slowly started to shift in world
champions favour.} 14. Qc1 (14. Qc2 {i thought maybe this was better to keep
the rooks connected. But I think Carlsen wanted to keep an eye on the f4
square and hence decided to play Qc1.}) (14. Qc5 {was also possible but after}
Nd5 15. Ba3 f5 16. Nd2 Re8 $15 {Black looks extremely comfortable placed.})
14... Bd5 $1 {putting the bishop on a strong square and removing the sting out
of Nc5. At this point I was of the opinion that Anand has an advantage in this
position.} 15. a4 $5 {A very interesting move by Carlsen. He is trying to gain
space on the queenside. But I think now Anand has very strong way to increase
his advantage.} b6 $5 (15... f5 {looked like a natural way to play} 16. Nd6
Bxg2 (16... b6 $2 {is a mistake as now after} 17. Bxd5+ $1 Nxd5 18. Qxc6 $1
Nxb4 19. Qc4+ $1 {wins a pawn for white.}) 17. Kxg2 b6 $15 {with the idea of
c5, gives black an advantage!}) (15... a5 $1 {However I think this is the
strongest move. As in the game it doesnt allow white to gain space on the
queenside with a5, and now black threatens to play b6 and c5. Hence it would
make sense to part with the bishop} 16. Bxe7 Qxe7 $15 17. Qc5 Rfe8 {usually
such endgames favour white, but here black keeps up the pressure} 18. Qxe7 Rxe7
19. Rfe1 f5 20. Nd2 Bf7 $1 {retaining the two bishops and white faces an
unpleasant defensive task.}) 16. Bxe7 {Carlsen takes a practical decision and
parts away with his bishop before it becomes too passive.} Qxe7 17. a5 {played
immediately. Carlsen recognised that this was the only way in which he could
gain activity in the position.} Rab8 $5 {This is one move which I didnt really
understand. What was Vishy's point. Does he want to take back on b6 with the
rook? Well atleast he didnt take back with it when he had the opportunity. If
he didnt want to take back, then whats the point of playing the rook to b8 and
giving up the a file? I am still puzzled. Is it true that Vishy could foresee
the point of putting his rooks on b8 and c8 and then start pushing his b and c
pawns and try to create a passer?!! If he could then he truly deserves to be
the world champion![%cal Ga8b8]} (17... f5 {sould have been tempting to win
the e2 pawn but it loses control and keeping control is more importat than
material advantage.} 18. Nd2 Bxg2 19. Kxg2 Qxe2 $6 20. Re1 $1 Qxd3 21. axb6 {
white has sufficient counterplay for the pawn.} axb6 $2 (21... Qb5 {is better})
22. Rxa8 Rxa8 23. Qxc6 $16) 18. Re1 {now Carlsen gets on with the job of
slowly improving his position.Such little moves are what he is very good at.}
Rfc8 19. axb6 axb6 (19... Rxb6 {could also have been thought of, but i highly
doubt such a decision because in return for attacking the b2 pawn, white gets
to attack the a7 pawn and also the c5 square.} 20. Qc5 Rc7 {and black maybe
fine but I would prefer white slight here.}) 20. Qf4 {White threatens to
exchange the queens and also the light squared bishops. What then will be left
will be whites strong knight against black's poor g7 bishop. This is Carlsen's
dream and one that Anand will not let him fulfill.} (20. Nd2 {was an idea that
I was thinking of. Now the computer asks us to take the bishop on g2. However
I am sure that Anand and any strong player would play Be6! retaining the two
bishops} Be6 $1 $15) 20... Rd8 {preventing the queen exchange.} (20... f5 21.
Nd6 $14) 21. h4 $5 {Another one of those little Carlsen moves that doesnt
really seem to make much difference when made but after a few moves, all these
little moves start to fall in place.} Kh7 {why was this move made. Its not a
deep move or anything, Black just wants to defend his h6 pawn so that he can
play Be5.} (21... f5 {is not such a good idea as I already mentioned, the
bishop exchange is in whites favour.} 22. Nd2 Bxg2 23. Kxg2 $14) 22. Nd2 {
offering the bishop exchange.} (22. h5 {seemed like a move that pressed
against blacks position but after} g5 23. Qf5+ Kg8 24. Nd2 Be6 25. Qe4 Qb4 $1 {
with a lot of pressure on the white position.}) 22... Be5 $1 23. Qg4 h5 $3 {I
give this move two exclamations. One is because it is a strong move and the
best one in the position and the second one is because black avoided the
threefold repetition possibility that he had here. Truly great fighting spirit
by Anand.} (23... Be6 $6 24. Qe4 Bd5 25. Qg4 Be6 $6 $11 {would have been a
poor decision by Anand to make a draw with 3 fold repetition}) 24. Qh3 Be6 $1 {
As is usual in such positions and we already know that the bishop exchange is
not favourable for black, hence he avoids it.} 25. Qh1 $1 {The exclamation
mark is not for the reason that the move is strong but because aesthetically I
like the position of the white queen. It went from d1-a4-c4-c1-f4-g4-h3-h1!!
My God so many moves!! The position of the white queen reminded me immediately
of the game between Carlsen-Karjakin Tata Steel 2013. In that game too Carlsen
had played this way putting his queen on h1 and had won slowly in a similar
structure. Are we going to see Vishy getting the Magnus squeeze here? Lets
have a look.[%cal Gd1a4,Ga4c4,Gc4c1,Gc1f4,Gf4g4,Gg4h3,Gh3h1]} c5 $1 {The
commentators here began to prefer white. They thought the bishop on g2 backed
up by the queen on h1 and the rook on the open file on a1, gave white enough
reasons to claim an advantage. But the point they missed is what Anand foresaw,
his queenside pawns are extremely strong, and it was time to push them.} 26.
Ne4 {threatening Ng5} Kg7 27. Ng5 b5 $1 {A move made by a true chess genius.
He doesnt cling onto his bishop but instead starts to push his queenside pawns.
After the game, in press conference Magnus said that he had misjudged this
position. Anand had completely assessed it right. His queenside pawns would be
a major asset even if we reached an opposite coloured bishop position.[%cal
Gb6b5]} 28. e3 $1 {And thats how champions react when they are pushed against
the wall. Excellent move by Magnus. Lets put it this way, according to
computer this move is not the strongest. But when a human plays a human one
has to rightly judge the flow of play. and judging by how the things have been
progressing, the flow is with black. It was time to change the direction of
the flow and e3 did just that.} (28. Ra6 $2 Bc8 $1 29. Raa1 c4 $17) (28. Nxe6+
Qxe6 29. Ra7 c4 $17) 28... dxe3 29. Rxe3 {the situation has sharpened. Till
now all the moves had been made by Vishy were sort of positional in nature.
Suddenly the position has become tactical. Though objectively Vishy's
advantage has increased, the paths leading to an advantage have decreased. The
move e3 was like survival against need. When a cat and mouse run, Usually the
mouse outwits the cat, because its a question of survival while to eat the
mouse was just the need of the Cat. In this position to break e3 was for
survival of Magnus and hence he will calculate the sharp variations well,
where as for Vishy he thinks he has many ways to an advantage and hence
falters.} Bd4 $5 {For years together every chess player has had the perennial
question, should he take material or keep control. A master of making such
decisions was Anatoly Karpov. He knew exactly when a pawn must be taken and
when control must be maintained. Here will tried to maintain control with Bd4.
Maybe it could have been better to take on b2 but still white gains excellent
counterplay.} (29... Bxb2 $5 30. Rae1 Rb6 31. Bh3 {in the press conference
after the game, Vishy said that white would have full compensation for the
pawn. Its true that for us humans, this position looks extremely dangerous but
the computer defends it all with ease.} Bd4 $1 32. Rxe6 (32. Nxe6+ fxe6 33.
Rxe6 Rxe6 34. Rxe6 Qf7 $1 35. Qg2 b4 $1 {and black is close to winning the
game. Yet i must admit to take on b2 requires extreme guts which I dont think
Vishy had calcuated it. He was playing more by intuition than on calculation.})
32... fxe6 33. Rxe6 Qf8 $1 34. Qg2 Rdd6 $19) 30. Re2 c4 $1 {How does one even
find a beautiful move like this. It looks so counter intuitive to make this
move and exchange your strong pawns with his weak and isolated pawn on d3. But
when looked at it deeply, if white did take the pawn then after dc4 bc4, both
of black rooks would stand on an open file and black would have a lot of
pressure against the b2 pawn. Thus this move is an excellent one, yet it is
unusual and counter intuitive.} 31. Nxe6+ fxe6 32. Be4 (32. dxc4 bxc4 {with
great pressure down the b2 point.}) (32. Bh3 cxd3 33. Rxe6 Qf7 $17) 32... cxd3
33. Rd2 {Carlsen tries to make the best defensive moves available. By this
time Carlsen was low on time. Almost last to his last 4 minutes to make the
last 7 moves. It seemed as if the game was tilting towards Anand. Black has to
decide whether he would like to attack the pawn on b2 or f2. As things stand
Anand went to attack the b2 pawn. It could well have been more desirable to
attack the f2 pawn.} (33. Bxd3 Bxf2+ $17) 33... Qb4 (33... Rf8 $1 {looked like
ths strongest move and after} 34. Bxd3 Rxf2 $1 {a move which is not so easy to
see} 35. Rxf2 Qd6 $3 {a beautiful double attack, eying both the bishop and the
g3 pawn} 36. Qg2 Rf8 37. Raf1 Bxf2+ 38. Rxf2 Rxf2 39. Qxf2 Qxd3 $17 {black has
decent winning chances}) (33... Qf6 34. Bxd3 Bxb2 35. Ra7+ Kh6 36. Qe4 {white
must not lose this one because his activity is enough compensation for the one
pawn deficit}) 34. Rad1 {by this point Carlsen was low on time but he made his
moves swiftly. He was not going to accpet a losss in this game.} Bxb2 (34...
Rf8 {in the press conference somone asked Vishy as to why he didnt play this
move. According to Anand it really doesnt matter what he played here because
even if he is up a pawn he will not be able to defend his own king.} 35. Bxd3
Rxf2 $5 36. Rxf2 Rf8 37. Qe4 Bxf2+ 38. Kg2 Qxe4+ 39. Bxe4 $11 {now black is a
pawn up and that is the e pawn. A pawn that can be easily blockaded. White
will easiy make a draw}) 35. Qf3 $1 {for the time being, Carlsen is two pawn
down but he is holding his position together and is ready to take on d3 when
he will be able to attack blacks kingside weaknesses g6 and e6} Bf6 (35... Rd4
36. Bxd3 Rbd8 37. Qe3 Bc3 38. Qe5+ Kf7 39. Bxg6+ Kxg6 40. Qxe6+ Kg7 41. Qe5+
$11 {was just a variation to show that black king is not safe.}) 36. Rxd3 Rxd3
37. Rxd3 Rd8 $5 {This move can be highly condemned. But once again Vishy like
always shows good objectivity. When he sees that things have gone out of hand,
he doesnt cling on to his material. He quickly gives it back and takes the
safety first approach.} (37... Bd4 {when people asked Vishy why he didnt make
this move, he just simply said that its not possible to win after Qe2. But
this was the only way to prolonge the game and put Carlsen under some pressure.
Maybe Anand had already lost all the hope of winning this game against Carlsen.
[%cal Ge6e5]} 38. Qe2 Rf8 39. Rf3 Rxf3 40. Bxf3 Qd6 41. Kg2 b4 42. Qc4 $15 {i
dont think Vishy could have won this position.}) 38. Rxd8 Bxd8 39. Bd3 $1 {an
accurate move now threatening Qb7. Vishy thought that it was wise now to give
back his b5 pawn so that he could bring his queen back to the defense of his
king.} (39. Bxg6 $5 {was also a way to achieve the draw.} Kxg6 40. Qd3+ Kf7 41.
Qxd8 $11) 39... Qd4 40. Bxb5 Qf6 {Here the 40 moves were over and both players
received an hour each. Anand offered a draw to Magnus and much to the surprise
of everyone, Magnus declined the draw. In a way Magnus had no reason to
continue playing in this position. But he wanted in some way to pay back to
the viewers for the two quick draws that they had made in game 1 and 2. So he
decided to play on till the bitter end. A nice gesture by Carlsen but of
course Anand might have felt a little insulted when his draw offer had been
unnecessarily rejected.} 41. Qb7+ Be7 42. Kg2 g5 $1 {exchanging pawns is the
easiest way to achieve the draw.} 43. hxg5 Qxg5 44. Bc4 h4 45. Qc7 hxg3 46.
Qxg3 e5 47. Kf3 Qxg3+ 48. fxg3 Bc5 49. Ke4 Bd4 50. Kf5 Bf2 51. Kxe5 Bxg3+ {
What an excellent game played by the two gladiators. I found todays game to be
a very high level game as both the players had several complex decisions to
make. In general Anand was solving the problems much better than Carlsen but
when the crucial moment arrived the Challenger too was upto the task and made
excellent defensive moves that too under time pressure. The players split the
point but the viewers didnt complain, they got their money's worth.  You can
learn more about chess from my blog:  www.sagarteacheschess.blogspot.com}
1/2-1/2

[Event "FWCM2013"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2013.11.13"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Anand, V."]
[Black "Carlsen, M."]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C67"]
[WhiteElo "2775"]
[BlackElo "2870"]
[Annotator "Sagar Shah"]
[PlyCount "127"]
[EventDate "2013.11.10"]
[SourceDate "2013.11.13"]

{Today I will reduce my comments of before the game because there is so much
to talk during the game! :)} 1. e4 {Vishwananthan Anand sticks to the move he
made in game 2. The King pawn opening. Of course the ball was now in Magnus's
court. Was he going to again try the very sharp Caro Kann line?!! Definitely
not!} e5 $1 {Classical chess. Infact Vishy must have prepared this line very
deeply as this is the main move of Carlsen. But after this move what can we
really expect Carlsen to play? Will it be a Petroff or a Ruy Lopez or a Berlin
Wall Variation. Lets see what happened!} 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 {Vishy goes for the
most popular line in the double king pawn opening: The Ruy Lopez. In fact the
great Garry Kasparov has mentioned before that you really cannot become a good
chess player if you havent played either the Ruy Lopez or the Queens Gambit!
Well Vishy Anand is considered one of the major experts of the Ruy lopez
opening!} Nf6 {The move which must have started the bells ringing in Anand'd
mind. Will Anand allow the Berlin Defense?} (3... a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 {would lead to
the Ruy Lopez Opening which is also one of the opening that Carlsen
specialises in with black.}) 4. O-O $1 {Months of preparation by Anand were
not for some non concrete line like d3, which he has played on many occassions.
Anand wants to grab the bull by the horn and play the main line of the Berlin.}
Nxe4 {If you have said A then you must say B !! Black takes the pawn. Now
mainly there are two ways for white to play. To play the extremely complicated
d4 move which happened in the game. Or to play Re1 a rather quiet move which
leads to quiter positions in which Whites chances for an advantage are pretty
less.} 5. d4 $1 {Anand is in the mood to please the audience today!! No boring
symmetrical lines with Re1} (5. Re1 Nd6 6. Nxe5 Be7 7. Bf1 Nf5 $5 8. c3 Nxe5 9.
Rxe5 d6 10. Re1 O-O 11. d4 d5 {leads to a pretty symmetrical and boring
position. Of course there are many intricacies here too but the general
consensus is that Black should be totally fine.}) 5... Nd6 $5 {earlier the
move Be7 is was also popular in this position but I think now the move Nd6 has
taken over.} 6. Bxc6 (6. dxe5 {is a very surprising move because it hangs the
bishop on by but its not so dangerous as after} Nxb5 7. a4 $1 {the knight is
trapped but if course black returns it immediately} Nbd4 $1 8. Nxd4 Nxd4 9.
Qxd4 d5 $1 {And with the two bishops, blacks chances are not bad.}) 6... dxc6
7. dxe5 Nf5 8. Qxd8+ Kxd8 {My comments have been fewer in the last moves
because I want to now speak to you about the position in front of you in
detail. The name of the opening is known as the Berlin Defense. This position
has been reached in a whooping 4500 games!! It came to be named that because
it was played by players of that city in the nineteenth Century. It had been
used by the top players like Lasker and Tarrasch in the 19th century, however
its real explosion happed when Vladimir Kramnik used it as black against Garry
Kasparov in their 2000 world Championship match. The main reason for a player
to play the Berlin would be to avoid the computer and deep opening preparation
of the opponent and take the game into solid territory of an endgame where you
can use your better understanding of the position rather than theoretical
knowledge to outplay the opponent. But make no mistake my dear friends. This
endgame is not boring and dull. Its highly strategic in nature and can often
lead to excellent tactical positions too as happened in this game. Now lets
talk about the specifics.  What exactly is going on for white.  1. The pawn
structure is highly in whites favour. If we were to magically remove all the
pieces except the king from the board then the pawn endgame is winning for
white because of the doubled c pawns for black.  2. While the white king
merrily sits in the corner, the black king is right in the center of the board
and has lost his castling rights. This means that he could come under a very
severe direct attack.  3. And lastly white is ahead in development and will
most certainly try to use this to create some concrete threats against black
most notably his king.  All these points suggest that the position is lost for
black. But one has to not take all the words at face value and rather ask the
opponent to prove his advantages. For black the following are his trumps.  1.
He has the two bishops which can be a very useful asset in this position but
most often than not black aims at exchanging his dark squared bishop for the
white knight. So it might be that the advantage of the two bishops lies in the
fact that black can give up his bishop any time!  2. The black king is in the
center of the board can often become an asset if many pieces are exchanged.  3.
White has the kingside majority so more often than not, white will try to push
his kingside pawns. However the problem is that black will place his pawns in
such a way like h5 so that when g4 is played the h file gets opened up. Its
not so easy for white to create a passed pawn on the kingside.   All in all,
this seems like a wonderful imbalanced position that is worth delving into
deeper. And the fact that it was played at such a high level, gives us an
option to look at it deeper!} 9. h3 {This move is relatively less played,
however the game soon transposes. Often the moves h3 Nc3 and Rd1 can be played
in any order.} (9. Nc3 Ke8 10. h3 {is the most popular way to play this
position.}) 9... Bd7 {The bishop develops on the d7 square to clear the c8
square for the king. In this opening the black pieces often move as if they
are without any energy. Like the bishop moves one square and the other bishop
too moves just one square but later when things get co-ordinated you can see
the full wrath of these pieces in action! But my question to you is why doesnt
the bishop develop itself on the more active square, e6?} (9... Be6 $6 {This
bishop is the heart of blacks position because it is the unopposed bishop.
Hence black must be careful that he doesnt sell it off cheaply. White can now
play} 10. g4 $1 Ne7 11. Ng5 $1 {and the bishop on e6 is lost. a very sad thing
for black. And thats why Bd7 is better.}) 10. Rd1 {The rook comes to the open
file and starts to put pressure against the black king. Of course it can
almost never be wrong to put your rook on an open file.} Be7 11. Nc3 {white
develops his pieces naturally. However one thing which is not so much in
whites favour is where to develop his c1 bishop? Well the bishop lacks good
scope because of the e5 pawn being on the fame colour as the bishop. So whites
main aim can be to exchange it off which he is what precisely he does on the
next move.} Kc8 {Black tucks his king away from the open file, yet blacks
position looks very suspect.His rooks are disconnected, what is he to do? As
you see black will activate his rooks in a very unconventional fashion.} 12.
Bg5 {As already mentioned, the exchange of the dark squared bishop is in
whites favour because that bishop usually lacks scope.} (12. g4 {was another
option where shall the knight go?} Nh4 13. Nxh4 Bxh4 14. f4 {it seems as
though white is clearly better here but black now not only activates his rook
but also breaks whites position apart, with a move that is so charateristic of
this opening.} h5 $1 15. f5 hxg4 16. hxg4 Bg3 {attacking the e5 pawn and there
is no way to defend it. Black is better.}) 12... h6 13. Bxe7 Nxe7 {Initialy
looking at this position, one would get the impression that white is clearly
better. Infact one of my friend who I presume had never seen this opening
before, even messaged me saying: White has developed each of his pieces, he is
going to double the rooks on the d file, black rooks and disconnected, dont
you think Anand has a decisive advantage?!!  After the game he was shocked
that it was Carlsen who had an advantage after a few moves. Now how do I
explain this situation. Lets put it this way. The rooks need open files is a
very true statement but they need points of entry on the open file. There are
none on the d file actually. Secondly the knights are developed, but knights
need an outpost to be strong. In this position there arent any stable squares
for the white knight. Now as for the lack of co-ordination of black pieces,
its a temporary problem, black intends Be6 b6 Kb7. with good co-ordination.
White thus has a dynamic advantage. It is ephemeral. Short term edge. He must
try to breach the black position in the next few moves.} 14. Rd2 c5 {Carlsen
had been blitzing his moves upto this point. Infact the players were following
the game of Jakovenko-Almasi from 2007. The point about following games is
often its dangerous to follow the games based on the result of the game. In
that game white had won, however black had a very comfortable position out of
the opening. Carlsen managed to see beyond the face vaue that is the result
and thus was able to gain a good position for his smart preparation.} 15. Rad1
(15. Ne4 {the earlier mentioned Jakovenko-Almasi game continued like this} b6
16. Ng3 Bc6 17. Nh2 Ng6 18. Re1 {and now black should have played} Re8 $1 {
when i think black has a perfectly acceptable position.}) 15... Be6 {White
would love to win that e6 bishop because it is the piece which is prevent
white from penetrating on the 7th rank. How do you win that bishop? either
from g5 or d4! And Carlsen has smartly played both h6 and c5 so that Ng5 and
Nd4 is impossible! Excellent play!} 16. Ne1 $6 {My previous comments have been
a little too biased towards black. But of course I agree there was absolutely
nothing wrong with whites position till this point. As I said white must do
something pretty quickly otherwise black just co-ordinate easily. If you
understand this point then you will realise one thing for sure that Ne1-d3
plan is extremely slow. But a few things did make Anand choose this plan.
First of all from d3, the knight threatens to go to f4 from which it attacks
the key defender of black position. Secondly the knight moves from f3 thus
clearly the route for his g and f pawns to move forward. But looks how Carlsen
effectively blunts all of Anands plans in the game. I tried to make this
Ne2-f4 idea work but it too seems to fail.} (16. Ne2 {with the idea of going
Nf4} Ng6 {stopping Nf4. Now black is threatening b6 and Kb7 to connect his
rooks. What is white to do? Not all the power in the world can breach blacks
position.}) (16. g4 $1 {maybe continuing in this drastic way can be the right
way to continue.} b6 (16... h5 17. Ng5 $1) 17. Kg2 Kb7 18. Kg3 {followed by
removing the knight and playing f4 can be a good idea. Surely this is better
than what Anand did in the game.}) 16... Ng6 {controlling the f4 square and
attacking the e5 pawn.} 17. Nd3 b6 $1 {Now the idea is to play Kb7 and connect
the rooks. The opening has not gone so well for Anand.} (17... c4 {trying to
get greedy to win a pawn on e5 would be suicidal because black cannot afford
to open up the position when all of white pieces are so excellently placed.}
18. Nc5 $1 Nxe5 19. Nxe6 fxe6 20. Re2 {and black is busted. Thus you see that
if white gets some entry points then his position becomes excellent. But
Carlsen is shrews. He keeps everything under control.}) 18. Ne2 $5 {the main
aim of Anand when he made this move is to play Nf4. He wants to remove the
bishop on e6. However all said and done, the pawn on a2 is hanging. Of course
the trick that this pawn should not be taken because b3 shuts the bishop has
been taught to us from childhood but here Carlsen sees that the rules can be
broken!} Bxa2 $1 {Just like how Bobby Fischer had snatched the h2 pawn against
Boris Spassky in his 1972 match, Carlsen does the same. While Fischer had made
that move to prove that he could beat Spassky by playing just anything,
Carlsen is not so emotional! He makes a rational decision and sees that his
bishop will not be trapped behind enemy lines. To tell you the truth a move
like Ba2 requires amazing self confidence and belief on ones calculating
abilities.} 19. b3 {Anand sees this is the only way in which he can secure
some compensation for the lost pawn. He now threatens Ndc1. Black must act
fast.} c4 $1 {the c pawn comes to the rescue of the a2 bishop.} 20. Ndc1 cxb3 (
20... Bb1 21. Nc3 {would have trapped the bishop.}) 21. cxb3 {taking back the
pawn. Is the bishop trapped? When the knight moved to c1, it blocked the rooks
access to the b1 square. Thus Bb1 is possible. Often in our calculations we
overlook such a move when we are playing Ba2. But Carlsen was very focussed.}
Bb1 {I would say this is the critical position of the game. Why is it critical.
Its critical because White is well developed and secondly black is about to
develop all his pieces soon. If not now then when is the question, Anand must
ask himself! Anand has a lot of juicy possibilities and he must select one
from them. But bear in mind that this is his last opportunity, once black
plays Kb7 and co-ordinates his rooks it will be too late. So lets try to see
if white can gain an advantage here.} 22. f4 (22. Rd7 {taking the 7th rank,
definitely looks the most logical move in the position. Black must be accurate
now} Rg8 $3 {this amazing move is the way for black to secure the advantage!
How is it that this move is good? Well first of all more important than f7
pawn is the g7 pawn because if it is lost both the f and h pawns will become
weak. So black is ready to give up f7 but not g7.} (22... Rf8 {is the most
obvious move but its not so good as after} 23. e6 $1 fxe6 (23... Bf5 24. Nd4 $1
fxe6 25. Nb5 {again with lot of counterplay for white. Infact this position is
a draw after} a6 26. Rxc7+ Kb8 27. Rdd7 axb5 (27... Be4 28. Nd6 $18) 28. Rb7+
Kc8 29. Rbc7+ $11) 24. Rxg7 {white has counterplay}) (22... Nxe5 $6 23. Re7 f6
24. Nc3 Bc2 25. Rd2 Bf5 26. Rxg7 $44 {once again white has good compensation
for the pawn.}) 23. f4 {now f7 is hanging but black can play} (23. Rxf7 Nxe5
$17 {black has the advantage.}) 23... Bc2 $1 {so that rook has to move to the
awkward d2 square when the other rook will not be able to use that square.} 24.
R1d2 Bf5 $1 25. R7d4 (25. Rxf7 Be6 {traps the poor rook.}) 25... Kb7 $1 26. g4
Bc8 $15 {and black is fine. A similar manoeuvre is made by the bishop in the
game too.}) (22. e6 $5 {is a very interesting move. The point is that we want
to trap the bishop on b1.} fxe6 (22... Bf5 {was also possible and maybe even
safer}) 23. Nc3 Bf5 24. g4 {is the black bishop trapped? apparently not} Nh4 $1
$15 {and due to the threat of Nf3+, the bishop is not trapped on f5.  I can
see many people asking me is it really necessary to analyse so many
variations? My answer to that is simple. Rules and Principles are the bones
and structures of your body, But your calculation is your blood. till the
blood doesnt start flowing in your game, the structure of your body is useless!
}) 22... Kb7 (22... Be4 {looked safer as then he can just save his bishop. But
here white does have some counterplay with} 23. Rd7 Rf8 24. e6 {Maybe black
can defend now with} Bf5 $1 25. Rxf7 Bxe6 26. Rxg7 Nxf4 27. Nxf4 Rxf4 28. Rg6
Re4 29. Rxh6 {and the material is equal. I am not sure but Carlsen could have
seen this variation and decided that he would like to keep the position more
complicates and hence didnt go for 22....Be4}) 23. Nc3 (23. g4 {now would have
been safely answered with} Be4) 23... Bf5 24. g4 $1 {It seems as though white
is pushing black totally backwards in this position. At the cost of a pawn,
White is gaining excellently activity. But Magnus has seen one step ahead. He
not only sees that he can snatch the pawn and come back but he also sees that
in the resulting passive position, White cannot really inflict any harm on him.
} Bc8 {Magnus has a penchant for taking his pieces to awkward and weird
squares. Yesterday he had put his queen on h1 and today bishop on c8! Will
Vishy let this go unpunished?!!} (24... Be6 {was possible but I think white
can hold the balance with} 25. f5 Nxe5 26. Re2 (26. fxe6 Nf3+ $17) 26... Bxb3
27. Nxb3 $11 {and though black has 3 pawns I think white has nothing to worry
here.}) 25. Nd3 {Defending the f4 pawn and threatening f5.} h5 $3 {Something
needs to be said about the way Magnus is playing this game. He is floundering
as many chess principles as possible. first of all his rook on a8 is dead.
Anyone would try to activate it. But Magnus is of the opinion that he would
activate those pieces which can be activated right now. I.e his h8 rook. Once
that rook breaks in, then it will tie down one or two of whites pieces and
then the other rook can be developed. Really wonderful play.} 26. f5 Ne7 27.
Nb5 $6 {Now this move looked a little awkward. Of course Vishy wants to create
some counterplay. The counterplay must be created against the black king for
sure but how to create it is not an easy question because you are facing
Magnus who is playing like a computer today! but maybe it was better to start
with} (27. Ne4 hxg4 28. hxg4 Rh4 29. Ndf2 {but here too black is in command
with} Nc6 $17) 27... hxg4 $6 (27... a6 {could have been stronger as after} 28.
Nd4 hxg4 29. hxg4 c5 30. Nf3 g6 $1 {Whites kingside majority is falling apart.}
) 28. hxg4 (28. Rc1 {it seemed as if Boris Gelfand suggested this move saying
that this was the only way to create threats in this position. Now to defend
the c7 pawn, Nd5 is forced.} Nd5 {black threatens a6 now so white must hurry
up.} (28... c6 29. Nd6+ $1) 29. e6 $1 {showing some urgency} fxe6 $1 (29... a6
{is not so good now as after} 30. Ne5 $1 axb5 31. Nxf7 Rxh3 32. Nd8+ Kb8 33.
Rxd5 {white has a dangerous initiative.}) 30. Ne5 $1 {the game is really
heating up now! But what is whites threat now? Well is it to take on d5?
because Rd5, ed5 Rc7 black can be safe with Ka6. But here there is a deadly
threat.} a5 $1 {a very strong move to save the position. At first sight it
seems impossible to understand as to why this move is made and not the natural
move of a6. But the variations below will give you a good idea as to why we
make this move.} ({White's actual threat is} 30... -- 31. Rxc7+ $1 Nxc7 (31...
Ka6 32. Nd6 {and with Ra2 coming up, black king's days are numbered.}) 32. Nd6+
$1 Kb8 (32... Ka6 33. Ra2# {Maybe this variation gives you an idea as to why
a5 is such an excellent move. Its shields the black king from a check down the
a file.}) 33. Nc6# {is a mate you dont get to see everyday!}) (30... a6 {is
brilliantly refuted by} 31. Rxc7+ $1 Nxc7 32. Nd6+ Ka7 33. Nc6#) 31. hxg4 {
white sees no way to continue the attack now} c5 $1 32. Nd6+ Ka6 33. Nxc8 Raxc8
34. fxe6 Nf4 $17 {the conculsion of the variation was that Rc1 was tricky but
if black was alert he could have ended with a great position. Yet the position
was quite complicated and Magnus could have gone wrong.}) 28... Rh4 $1 {Now
white has to think about how to defend this g4 pawns.} 29. Nf2 Nc6 $1 {
attacking the e5 pawn.} 30. Rc2 $1 {Anand also now resorts to tricky play,
taking on e5 would be inadvisable as then c7 hangs.} a5 {as we already know by
now,this move is played so that the black king will get a safe haven on a6 and
he cannot be pestered down the a file.Another idea of this move and which is
also not at all obvious is to play a4! to activate the rook on a8!! you must
agree that black is playing extremely unconventional chess!} (30... a6 {could
have been risky} 31. Rdc1 $1 Bd7 32. e6 $1 {all these ideas will be seen in
the main game too.} fxe6 33. fxe6 Be8 $2 (33... axb5 34. exd7 Rh6 {was more to
the point.}) 34. Nd4 $1 {black is under a lot of pressure and now taking on d4
leads to a mate in 3} Nxd4 $2 35. Rxc7+ Kb8 36. Rc8+ Kb7 37. R1c7#) (30... g6 {
could have been a very natural and good move.}) (30... Nxe5 $2 31. Rxc7+ Ka6
32. Nc3 {and black is lost as Ra1 is coming up next.}) 31. Rc4 $5 {stopping a4
for the time being.} (31. Rdc1 {could be safely met with} Bd7) 31... g6 $1 {
again a very strong move. Its only though breaking of g4-f5 pawns that the
bishop on c8 can be activated.} 32. Rdc1 (32. e6 {was a variation that Anand
mentioned in the press conference but of course it didnt work for white.} fxe6
33. fxg6 e5 $1 34. Rxc6 (34. Rd8 Nxd8 35. Rxc7+ Ka6 $19) 34... Kxc6 35. Rd8 Rh6
$1 36. g7 Rg6 37. g8=Q Rxg8 38. Rxg8 Kxb5 $19 {quite a nice variation and even
though the bishop and rook stand on their initial square, black is clearly
winning.}) 32... Bd7 {Black is a pawn up and supposed removed his bishop too,
its time for the black rook to take part. Before this happens and Anand has to
resign, he tried to play as actively as possible.} 33. e6 $1 fxe6 34. fxe6 Be8
{Black has now defended himself. His next threat is Rd8. What is white to do
now? Well here when the rea world champion wakes up!} (34... Bxe6 35. Rxc6 $18)
35. Ne4 $3 {What an amazing move!! The knight comes into the game giving up
the g4 pawn and creating the threat of Nd6 check. Of course black must be
close to winning but as we have already seen in the 3rd game, a change in the
flow ofthe game is always difficult to adjust to. We all know how tricky
defender Anand can be and here he showcases his skill. Now Carlsen has to be
extremely careful.} Rxg4+ {first of all it makes sense to capture a pawn with
check.} 36. Kf2 Rf4+ (36... Rd8 {this move was suggested by Tania Sachdev in
the commentary box and it does seem to be the best. Black brings in another
piece and asks white what is his threat?} 37. Ke3 $1 {is the best move and the
game goes on. But its true that black who is two pawns up has the better
chances.} (37. Nc5+ $2 bxc5 38. Rxg4 Ne5 {is winning for black.}) (37. Ned6+
cxd6 38. Rxg4 Ne5 {once again winning the game. Thus Rd8 could have been the
best.})) 37. Ke3 {A very critical moment of the game. Black is 2 pawns up but
white has some very unpleasant pressure on black. It could be time to return
some material back with g5 but I am sure whether it would keep an advantage
for black. Carlsen was too greedy. He didnt want to part with material but
then white is so active that its impossible to keep things as they are.} Rf8 $6
(37... g5 $1 38. Nd4 {would have been the critical try} (38. Nxg5 Rf5 $19 {
creates a double attack and wins!}) (38. Nbd6+ $2 cxd6 39. Nxd6+ Ka6 40. Nxe8
Rxc4 41. Rxc4 Rxe8 42. Rxc6 Kb5 43. Rd6 Kc5 {is just winning for black.}) 38...
Nxd4 39. Rxc7+ Ka6 40. Kxd4 Bg6 41. Re1 Rd8+ 42. Rd7 Re8 43. e7 {and white has
enough resources to hold the position.}) 38. Nd4 $1 Nxd4 39. Rxc7+ Ka6 40. Kxd4
{after a forced sequence of moves, we reach this position which is imbalanced
because black is a pawn up but the pawn advantage is compensated by the
activity of white's pieces.} Rd8+ 41. Kc3 (41. Ke3 {might have been the easier
way to draw but of course Anands move is not bad as he wants to keep the king
closer to the b3 pawn. I think he already foresaw the impending rook endgame
and the fact that 2 vs 1 on the same side is a draw.}) 41... Rf3+ 42. Kb2 Re3
43. Rc8 $1 Rdd3 $1 {Carlsen continues to put pressure on Anand. What is to be
seen is his will to win here even with such reduced material} (43... Rxc8 $2 {
would draw the game easily} 44. Rxc8 Rxe4 (44... Bb5 45. Nd6 $1) 45. Rxe8 Kb5
46. e7 Kb4 47. Rb8 Re2+ 48. Kb1 Rxe7 49. Rxb6+ Ka3 50. Rxg6 $11 {leads to an
easy draw.}) 44. Ra8+ {the point of this check is a little ambiguous to me. I
think that Anand saw that a rook ending might arise and he didnt want the
black king to go to b5. Thats the reason why he played this check I guess.} (
44. Rxe8 Rxe4 45. e7 Rde3 46. Rg1 Kb5 47. Rxg6 Rxe7 48. Rxe7 Rxe7 49. Rg5+ {
but of course this too should have drawn.}) 44... Kb7 45. Rxe8 Rxe4 46. e7 {at
this point I felt as if the game is over now. Black will have to take the e7
pawn for which he will have to give up his g6 pawn when white will just draw
the 1 vs 2 endgame. But what Magnus is now looking for is to retain both the
rooks. If one rook is exchanged its an easy draw. But if both are maintained,
you never know what may happen!} Rg3 $1 {trying to save his g pawn.} 47. Rc3
Re2+ 48. Rc2 Ree3 49. Ka2 g5 50. Rd2 {Now threatening to play Rd7 followed by
Red8} Re5 51. Rd7+ Kc6 52. Red8 Rge3 53. Rd6+ Kb7 (53... Kb5 $2 54. Rd5+ Rxd5
55. Rxd5+ Kc6 56. Rxg5 Rxe7 $11) 54. R8d7+ Ka6 55. Rd5 {it seemed at this
point to me that the players would shake their hands any moment. But it was
not be! Carlsen set his last fatal trap!} Re2+ $1 56. Ka3 Re6 $3 {Amazing
fighting spirit. With less time of Anand'd clock Carlsen sets his last trap.
Of course its very easy to see through it, yet on your lucky day someone can
fall into the trap.} 57. Rd8 $1 (57. Rxg5 $4 {was the big trap!} b5 $19 {and
now its impossible to stop b4+}) 57... g4 58. Rg5 Rxe7 {Vishy now had only 1
minute left and made a very nice move to get one move closer to 60 th move} 59.
Ra8+ $1 Kb7 60. Rag8 {the g pawn will fall now and not only that there is a
threat to exchange the rooks with Rg7} a4 (60... Rc7 $5 {could have been an
interesting idea but I think the positon is a draw.} 61. Rxg4 Rcc2 62. R4g7+
Ka6 63. Ra8+ Kb5 64. Rg5+ Kc6 65. Rc8+ Kb7 66. Rxc2 Rxc2 $11 {one pair of
rooks have been exchanged and its a draw.}) 61. Rxg4 {Anand made the next move
quickly as he finally saw that there were no traps involved!} axb3 62. R8g7 $1
Ka6 63. Rxe7 Rxe7 64. Kxb3 {This time Carlsen didnt want to test whether Anand
knew the Philidor position or not!!  What an excellent game by the two
Gladiators!! Some beautiful play by Carlsen gave him an opening advantage,
just when it seemed that he would really win today, Vishy Anand showed him
that he was facing one of the trickiest defenders in the game of chess by
creating mind boggling threats! A game that was well played by both sides and
was really worthy of being played at the biggest chess event!! :)  You can
follow my blog and learn more about World Championship and chess in general at
www.sagarteacheschess.blogspot.com} 1/2-1/2

[Event "FWCM2013"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2013.11.15"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Carlsen, M."]
[Black "Anand, V."]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D31"]
[WhiteElo "2870"]
[BlackElo "2775"]
[Annotator "Sagar Shah"]
[PlyCount "115"]
[EventDate "2013.11.10"]
[SourceDate "2013.11.15"]

{A huge relief appeared on Carlsen's face after 5 and half hours of play! He
had struck gold today! But arent we getting ahead of ourselves! Lets look at
game 5 between Carlsen who was White against Anand. Something different about
this game was that I personally was present at the Grand Hyatt to see the game.
And who said chess was boring! The crowd was riveted to their seats for 5.30
hours as both the players played really a great game! Dont forget to log onto
my blog for more analysis and chess material: www.sagarteacheschess.blogspot.
com} 1. c4 $5 {The english opening! This move had to be expected I think. The
main reason being that to Nf3, Anand was replying d5 and was getting a solid
position. Now Anand in order to play his favourite setup with d5 will either
have to play e6 or c6.} e6 $5 {It seems to me that this time Anand hasnt
really come with the slav! Because even in game 3 he continued dc4 instead of
c6 and today too he plays e6.} 2. d4 $5 {Magnus immediately takes the
opportunity to transpose the game into queen pawn opening. What will Anand
play now? the Nimzo with Nf6 or the Queens Gambit declined with d5! As he has
been doing here, Anand went for a classical set up.} d5 3. Nc3 {Now of course
everyone in the crowd knew that Anand was not going to play the ultra solid
line of Queens Gambit declined with Nf6. So everyone's money was on the move
Be7 which is quite hypermodern. The main idea of Be7 is to prevent white from
developing Bg5 followed by cd5 e3 Bd3 and Ne2! Instead after Be7 when white
plays Nf3, then black plays Nf6. Its really very subtle but such is the modern
theory!} c6 $5 {Now this one was a real surprise. Anand goes for the triagnle
variation, also known as the noteboom. His main intention must have been to
meet both e3 and Nf3 with Nf6. Once the game gets into the Slav or Semi Slav
territory, we can expect a very complex game. But what else was left for
Carlsen to play! Of course e4! But was he ready to try out the ultra sharp
Marshall Gambit?} 4. e4 $1 dxe4 5. Nxe4 Bb4+ {We all were excited in the
viewing hall. Was Carlsen finally going to play a sharp game? But isnt that
what Anand is looking for all the time? to play extremely sharp chess? Of
course if Carlsen plays Bd2, he has to be prepared for reams and reams of
sharp and tactical lines after Qd4. But well Carlsen had some other intentions.
Something which has been proved to give black an easy game.} 6. Nc3 $5 {Magnus
immediately made this move and went away from the board with a smile on his
face! He was surely enjoying himself! But Can such a move be really played in
a world championship match? After all it has been proved over and over again
that Black can get excellent play with c5. But lets have a look at what
Carlsen's approach is. He says to himself. "Ahhh! no opening advantage??!! Too
bad! Never mind but is it a forced draw? No! Right! Well then I am going to
play this position on and on for another 6 hours and lets see if the opening
really matters!! Of course team Vishy would not have spent much time on this
move for sure.} (6. Bd2 $5 {The extremely sharp Marshall Gambit} Qxd4 7. Bxb4
Qxe4+ 8. Be2 Na6 {requires some very thorough computer analysis from both
sides.}) 6... c5 $1 {Anand sticks to the theorys approach that c5 is
definitely the best move in this position.} 7. a3 $1 {Carlsen too made his
moves quickly. Now black has a choice to make, whether to take on c3 or to go
back to a5.} Ba5 {From the speed at which Anand was playing it was certain
that he had looked at this opening at home. Of course Anand has played matches
so many times now. He knows the Carlsen wants to play slow lines and hence
this move 6.Nc3 is definitely one of the moves that comes to mind to avoid
theory.} 8. Nf3 Nf6 {This move is made because direct Nc6 can be met with d5.
Hence Anand first develops this knight first.} (8... cxd4 {was definitely one
option because later we would like to take on c3 and not only double white
pawns but also isolate them totally.} 9. Qxd4 Qxd4 10. Nxd4 Bxc3+ 11. bxc3 {At
first glance this looks like a clear advantage to black. Look at the white
pawns. they are horrible. But what has white got in return? Tremendous
activity!! It will be very important for your chess to understand this
position well. Its a battle between static and dynamic advantages. White has
the dynamic advantage of maybe better pieces and also slight better
development. Also the two bishops. Black on the other hadn has a long term
pawn structure advantage. What white must do now, is to play as actively as
possible. Another factor in whites favour is the very passive Bc8. Lets see a
few moves as to how the play could develop.} a6 {stopping Nb5} 12. Bd3 Nf6 13.
O-O $14 O-O 14. Bf4 {You can see how freeflowing and easy whites development
is. And thus we understand that all that meets the eyes in the first instance
is not the truth! Chess is much deeper than what initial observations convince
us.}) 9. Be3 {Another normal developing move. Carlsen is really trying not to
do anything special just simple development.} Nc6 {Anand too develops his
pieces.} 10. Qd3 $5 {Now this is the move which shook everyone! No one expects
such a move! What exactly is the idea of this move. 1. White makes way for
0-0-0. This is the only square which keeps control on d4 and also clears the
back rank, As Qd2 is met with Ne4. 2.The knight on c3 is defended now, so
ruining the pawn structure with Bc3 is no longer possible. All in all this is
a human move. Of course the computer too suggests this but I think this is
Carlsens way of Preparation, he sets up a position at home and thinks of the
most unusual yet a move that suits his style and Qd3 fits in the bill.} (10.
dxc5 {I think this move stretches the bad pawn structure a little too far, But
I am not so sure even here. After} Bxc3+ 11. bxc3 Qa5 {Whites pawn structure
is totally ruined but again more space, two bishops and better co-ordination
are his advantages and hence its a fighting game.} 12. Qc2 Ng4 {Black should
be doing more than fine.}) 10... cxd4 11. Nxd4 Ng4 $1 {I like the way Anand
plays here. His move is concrete and very active. Once again he sticks to his
style in the match of forcing things.} 12. O-O-O $5 {A collective cry of
excitement was heard in the hall. The game was now going to be sharp and
interesting.} (12. b4 Nxe3 13. fxe3 Bc7 {was another way for white to play.})
12... Nxe3 13. fxe3 {This move really went a little above our little heads!
what was the point of this move? Why not the normal move 0-0 or the more
daring move e5. Well maybe we have to ask Vishy to explain this move.} (13.
Qxe3 {is a bad mistake as after} Bb6 {White is badly pinned and close to being
lost.}) 13... Bc7 (13... e5 {this move is a mistake as it is met by a strong
move} 14. Qe4 $1 {after this move white wrests over the initiative and is
clearly better.}) (13... O-O $1 {But i Think this was natural and stronger.}
14. Nxc6 bxc6 (14... Qxd3 15. Ne7+ {is game over!}) 15. Qxd8 Rxd8 16. Rxd8+
Bxd8 17. Bd3 Bg5 {Black should be more than fine in this position.}) 14. Nxc6
$5 {Wow!! Carlsen goes for multiple exchanges in order to play an endgame. But
didnt he have better options at his disposal?} (14. Qe4 {looked natural} Nxd4
15. exd4 O-O 16. Bd3 {white must have a small edge but black should be fine
and totally in the game after} f5 $1) (14. Ndb5 O-O 15. Nxc7 Qxc7 16. Qd6 $14 {
would have given white a small edge.}) (14. Ncb5 Nxd4 15. Qxd4 O-O {again
black should be fine but white has the slight pull}) 14... bxc6 15. Qxd8+ (15.
Qe4 {was again one option but after} Bd7 16. c5 {it seems as though black is
passive but after Qe7 and 0-0 he will be fine.} Qe7 $11) 15... Bxd8 16. Be2 $1
{A calm developing move. Carlsen figures out that his bishop will be best
placed on f3. Now the computer will assess such positions as equal but Carlsen
is aiming exactly for this. To have his share of chancesand to keep pressing
till the 43 year old world champion is tired and makes a mistake.} Ke7 $5 {
Again this was an odd decision by Anand. Everyone felt he should have
activated his bishop to g5. However as the game progressed this turned out to
be not such a bad decision of playing Ke7} (16... Bg5 17. Rd3 {and now Ne4 is
threatened which must be stopped with} (17. Bf3 Bxe3+ 18. Kc2 Bd7 19. Nb5 Rd8
20. Nd6+ Ke7 {gives white compensation for the pawn but nothing more.}) 17...
f5 18. Rhd1 O-O 19. Bf3 {white chances are definitely preferable.}) 17. Bf3 Bd7
18. Ne4 {white threatens Nc5 now. So Bb6 was expected.} Bb6 (18... Bc7 {is
suggested by the computer but I think its a non human way to defend the
position.} 19. Nc5 Be8 {No one would like one's rook to be shut out of the
game on h8.}) 19. c5 {What is Anand to do now. If he goes back Bc7, the the
knight jumps into d6 and white is really beginning to turn the screws. The
shrewd defender that he is, Anand now plays an intermezzo with which he
exchanges another pair of minor pieces and reaches an endgame with a slight
disadvantage.} f5 $5 (19... Bc7 {would have been too passive as after} 20. Nd6
{followed by doubling on the d file, white is clearly better.}) 20. cxb6 fxe4
21. b7 $1 {Another cool intermezzo! If white would have taken on e4 then black
would have recaptured on b6 and retained his integrity of pawns. But now after
b7, the pawns remain disconnected. That was quite a nice little point of
Carlsen's play} Rab8 22. Bxe4 Rxb7 {now lets talk about this position in depth.
What exactly is going on? White has an amazing bishop on e4 against blacks
very sad piece on d7. Also black has 3 isolated pawns pawns in a7, c6, and e6
while white has only 1 i.e on e3. White has the rook on the open 'd' file and
his other rook is ready to come to the f file. All these points, point to only
1 fact, that white is clearly better. But dont be misguided but appearances.
First of all black has his rook on the open b file. The way Anand makes use of
this rook is beautiful. Secondly the black king is excellent placed on e7. Its
a dark square so the bishop cannot attack it and secondly the rooks also
cannot enter because both the entry points on the file are controlled by the
black king. So the truth of this position is simple. Carlsen has an advantage.
Yet the position is closer to a draw than white win.} 23. Rhf1 (23. Rd2 {was
another plan, trying to double on the d file.} h6 {removing the pawn from the
attack.} (23... Rb5 24. Rhd1 Be8 25. Rc2 {should give white a good position.})
24. Rhd1 Rhb8 $11 {and black should be doing just fine.}) 23... Rb5 $1 {I
totally loved this move. Look at the rook! It controls the entire 5th rank!
Who said rooks are always good on open files! They can do just as much damage
on open ranks! but its true that to reach an open rank, you will have to go
through an open or semi open file! :)} 24. Rf4 $5 {Usually Carlsen's play is
natural and easily understandable. Of course hard to emulate but easy
understand. However this move made by Carlsen went really above the head of
many people! Why did he play his rook to f4? well of course his idea was to
double on f file but then why not f3? Why to force black to play g5? Is the
pawn moving ahead from g7 to g5 really in white's favour? I am really not sure.
And no one can really be! Thats why chess is so difficult} g5 25. Rf3 (25. Rg4
$2 h5 $1) 25... h5 $5 {Anand is thinking about developing his second rook on
the rank from h4-g4 and Rh5 it seems! Well its a plausible idea, but in the
press conference people did suggest a defense of exchanging whites superb
bishop with Be8} (25... Be8 26. Rdf1 Bg6 27. Bxg6 hxg6 28. Rf7+ Kd6 29. h3 {
once again its the same old story, black is close to a draw but white can keep
pressing and who is a better technical player than Carlsen!!}) 26. Rdf1 {
looking to penetrate down to f7} Be8 {controlling the f7 square.} 27. Bc2 $5 {
the bishop moves back for two reasons. One is that it may get a better square
on a4 or b3 some day and secondly the rook on f3 can now move not fearing the
move Re5 which was earlier hitting both the B on e4 and pawn on e3.} Rc5 {
pinning the bishop and threatening Bg6} 28. Rf6 $1 {Carlsen is not one who
would make a concession with Kb1 making his king move away from the center.
Rather he plays this active move. White would really be better if he got in
Bb3 now. But how realistic is it?} h4 $5 {Creating a square on h5 for the
bishop to go to. After th game people thought that Rg8 threatening Bg6 would
have been a better move.} (28... Rg8 29. Kd2 Rd5+ 30. Ke2 c5 {threatening Bb5 .
black seems to be doing well.[%cal Ge8b5]}) 29. e4 {whats the point of this
move, putting a pawn on the same colour as that of the bishop? well the point
is simple. In this instance white wants to get his bishop to b3 for that he
needs to bring his king out to d2 but then he is met with the irritating check
on d5. This move prevents Rd5 check.} a5 $1 {Anand plays on both sides of the
board! He prevents b4 and starts to make b2 look like a weakness.} 30. Kd2 {
finally is Magnus going to get in Bb3? because if he gets that then he is
clearly better.} Rb5 $1 {stopping Bb3 and attacks b2 pawn.} 31. b3 $1 {very
level headed defense and maybe even a change in plan. For a brief instant we
felt that it would be a repetition today with Kc3 Rc5 Kd2 Rb5! But well Magnus
was not one to stop the game too soon today. He was going to go the distance
now matter what. The new plan now involves Kc3 followed by Bd3-c4.} Bh5 {this
move makes way for the Rook to join in the battle from d8} 32. Kc3 {Whites
threat is very simple now. He wants to play Bd3 and plonk his bishop on c4. If
he can achieve that then he will clearly be better. You see that even in such
quiet positions there are always positional threats. This gives the game a
concrete character.} Rc5+ {stopping Bd3-c4.} 33. Kb2 Rd8 $1 {I simply loved
this move. Anand after the game said that he felt this was a mistake. But how
can this move be a mistake. It activates a rook that has been lying dormant
since move 1. It creates a deadly threat of Rd2. How on earth can this move be
bad? Well maybe Anand's objectivity was affected because of the result of the
game.} 34. R1f2 {stopping Rd2} Rd4 $1 {An amazing move! The rook activates
itself and look how the two black rooks cannot be touched here by any whites
pieces. Over here I started to feel that Anand was definitely back in the game
and maybe even better. But well Carlsen was really not going to give up so
soon. The main idea of the move Rd4 was to make a square for the black king on
d6 without being disturbed by a vertical check on the 2nd rank.} 35. Rh6 $1 {
Again an active move attacking the bishop on h5} Bd1 $1 {This was nicely
played by Anand. I thought Anand was playing for a draw but maybe this was the
only move in the position. The very active move g4 is bad as shown in the
variation.} (35... g4 $2 36. Rh7+ $1 Kd6 37. Rg7 $1 {after this move white
position is more compact and black pieces lack scope. Its clearly better for
white as he threatens the deadly move Rf8} (37. Rf8 $5 {and the threat is Rd8
but black can hold on here with} Bg6)) 36. Bb1 $3 {The most amazing move in
the game. Carlsen can go to simply any extent to win! He declines the exchange
of bishops and continues to pressurise black.} (36. Bxd1 Rxd1 $11 {is equal
but here i think white has to be careful as his e4 pawn is weak.}) 36... Rb5 {
Anand keeps creating threats on every move. He now is attacking the b3 pawn.
But Carlsen has it all covered.} 37. Kc3 $1 {When a great player makes a move
like this attacking opponents piece and now Rb2 becomes possible, I start
thinking that this all has to be a co-incidence! But I am wrong. Players as
strong as Carlsen do not believe in co-incidences. They calculate from before
hand whats going on and find such minute resources to keep the game going!} c5
38. Rb2 $1 {the time control of 40 moves was soon approaching. Both were under
time pressure. It was a very tense situation. Would Anand or Carlsen falter
here? or would both of them hold their nerves.} e5 $5 {manyp people criticised
this move saying why did Anand have to make this move? well I see nothing
wrong with this move and Infact black can really be happy about his position
at this point.} 39. Rg6 {attacking the g5 pawn.} a4 $2 {this was a mistake
before the time control. I think Vishy simply missed that after Rg5, his e5
pawn was hanging. or else he would have played g4.} (39... g4 $1 40. Bd3 Rxb3+
41. Rxb3 Bxb3 42. Rxg4 $14 {keeps a small pull for white but I think black
should be fine after} c4 $1) 40. Rxg5 $1 {Carlsen immediately snapped this
pawn and got up from the board with a feeling of happiness as he completed his
40 moves. He left Vishy under thought as to what to do for his 40 move.
Vishy's move was forced as he played} (40. bxa4 {was a move worth considering
for Carlsen. Maybe it provided him with better chances than in the game.} Rxb2
41. Kxb2 Bxa4 42. Rxg5 {with an extra pawn and good winning chances.}) 40...
Rxb3+ $1 41. Rxb3 Bxb3 {As Carlsen sat to think at this point, we too started
think as to what is actually happening. The truth of the matter is the inspite
of the mistakes made by Vishy, his position is still tenable. Mainly because
the white bishop is so passive on b1 and because black pieces co-ordinate so
well. But he must play very accurately. What we will witness now is a race,
blacks queenside pawns against whites kingside pawns.} 42. Rxe5+ Kd6 {is
forced to defend the c5 pawn.} 43. Rh5 Rd1 $1 {Anand chooses the best approach.
} (43... Rc4+ {was also one of the considered moves but after} 44. Kd2 Rd4+ 45.
Ke3 (45. Ke2 Bd1+ {would be an embarrassing skewer.}) 45... Rd1 46. e5+ $1 Ke6
47. Bf5+ $1 {this is the very important check to be given.} (47. Bh7 {we saw a
very interesting variation during the game albeit it was filled with
inaccuracies.} Re1+ 48. Kd2 Rxe5 49. Bg8+ Kf6 50. Rxe5 Kxe5 51. Bxb3 axb3 52.
Kc3 c4 53. a4 Ke4 54. a5 Ke3 55. a6 b2 56. Kxb2 Kd2 57. a7 c3+ 58. Kb3 c2 59.
a8=Q c1=Q {And surprisingly there is no way to exchange the queens for white
and this position might end in a draw. Of course there are lots of ways in
which both sides can improve their play but the transformation of the position
has been amazing!}) 47... Kd5 (47... Ke7 48. Rxh4 {is winning for white.}) 48.
e6 Ra1 49. e7 Re1+ 50. Kd2 Rxe7 51. Rxh4 {white remains a pawn up but black
has better chances of defense than in the game because the bishops still
remain on the board.}) 44. e5+ $1 {this was forced to give the b1 bishop more
scope.} Kd5 (44... Ke6 45. Bf5+ {lets white co-ordinate his forces.}) 45. Bh7 {
the critical position of the game and I can now say even of the entire match!
White threatens Bg8+. How should black deal with it. As it turns out the right
move is to go after the insignificant pawn on a3. Now of course it seems
totally illogical but infact its the only way to save the position.} Rc1+ $2 {
when I watched the game live, I thought this was a clever move than Rg1
because it forced the white king to move backwards when the black king could
penetrate to d4. However there is clear flaw in this idea as the game will
show us.} (45... Rg1 46. Bg8+ Kc6 47. Rh6+ {i think its an important point to
push the black king behind} (47. Bxb3 axb3 48. Kxb3 Rxg2 49. Rxh4 Kd5 50. a4 {
should also be winning.})) (45... Ra1 $3 {was the critical move but very hard
to foresee.} 46. Bg8+ (46. Kb2 Ra2+ {is no problem for black.}) 46... Kc6 47.
Bxb3 Rxa3 $1 {the little point of blacks play} 48. Rxh4 Rxb3+ {Now king has to
move backwards as Kc4 is met with Rb4.} 49. Kc2 Rb4 50. Rxb4 cxb4 51. h4 Kd5
52. h5 Kxe5 53. g4 Kf6 54. Kb2 $11 {leads to a very funny draw with both sides
unable to make any progress!}) 46. Kb2 Rg1 {from this point on, Carlsen was on
autopilot though during the game we were still undecided whether it was a draw
or white wins.} 47. Bg8+ Kc6 48. Rh6+ $1 {again I like this check. Its a sign
of good technique. However the same could not be said of Anands rook check
move Rc1.} Kd7 49. Bxb3 axb3 50. Kxb3 $1 Rxg2 51. Rxh4 Ke6 {And here Carlsen
didnt even care for his e5 pawn. That just shows how confident and how great
his endgame knowledge is.} 52. a4 Kxe5 {sometimes two rooks pawns are not
sufficient to win in a rook ending. And here black even has an extra pawn.
Then why is he losing? the answer to this question is that the black king is
active! If it were passive on b7 or a8, then this position would have been
drawn! As it stands on e5 its poorly placed and white can just cut it off.} 53.
a5 $1 Kd6 54. Rh7 $1 {the crucial move to seal the fate of the game!The theme
that Carlsen uses here is known as rank cut off. Many people dont know about
it but sometimes it much more powerful than file cut off.} Kd5 (54... Kc6 55.
a6 Kb6 56. a7 $18) 55. a6 c4+ 56. Kc3 Ra2 57. a7 Kc5 58. h4 {the a7 pawn binds
the black rook, the c4 pawn is going nowhere, meanwhile the h pawn turns out
to be a winner who has his path free to become a queen!! What a great game by
Carlsen. He simply outplayed the world champion from almost a equal position.
The two things that favoured him are his stamina and his will to win! You
might argue that Vishy made some critical errors in the game, but believe me
when I say that yesterday when was sitting in the viewing hall with no laptops
engine or commentary, I understood how difficult it is really to play
accurately every move! For the Grandiose struggle we must thank both the
players and lets see if Vishy Anand can strike back now as he has the white
pieces in both games 5 and 6.  You can learn more about chess from my blog:
www.sagarteacheschess.blogspot.com} 1-0


[Event "FWCM2013"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2013.11.16"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Anand, V."]
[Black "Carlsen, M."]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C65"]
[WhiteElo "2775"]
[BlackElo "2870"]
[Annotator "Sagar Shah"]
[PlyCount "134"]
[EventDate "2013.??.??"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. d3 Bc5 5. c3 O-O 6. O-O 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 $6 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 $1 {an interesting move by Carlsen. He
would like to plonk his rook on e5 square and hence he plays this move f6.} 43.
h4 $1 {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 $1 {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 $5 {Might
also be an excellent move!} 49. Rd5 b4 $5 {requires some accurate calculation}
50. Rc5 Rd6 51. Rxc4 Rd2 $1 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 $1 {the rooks will
have to be exchanged.} 50. Rxf6+ Kxf6 51. g3 Kg6 52. Ke4 Kg5 53. Kf3 h4 $19 {
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
$1 {carlsen sees that the only way to make progress is to give up the b pawn.}
49. Rxb5 Re4+ 50. Kh3 $6 {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 $11 {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 $1 59. Rxc4 f4 $1 {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 $2 {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 $2 Kf2 61. Rf6
(61. Rxh6 Rxg2+ 62. Kh3 f3 $19) 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 f1=Q 68. Rxf1 Kxf1 69. c4 Rc2 {and black
just wins.}) (60. Rc8 {meets a similar fate as Rc6 move}) (60. b4 $1 {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+ $1 {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+ $11) 60... h3 $1 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 $1 {it could be possible that this is the idea that Anand missed.}
68. Kg2 Re1 $19) 67... Rg1 $1 {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

[Event "FWCM2013"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2013.11.18"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Anand, Viswanathan (IND)"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus (NOR)"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C65"]
[WhiteElo "2775"]
[BlackElo "2870"]
[Annotator "Sagar Shah"]
[PlyCount "64"]
[EventDate "2013.??.??"]
[Source "MonRoi"]

{Vishy Anand is trailing by two points in the match. He has his second
consecutive white game. Its obvious to assume that he would come out for a
full fledged fight but it seemed as if he was more in a damage control mode
than fighting mode!} 1. e4 {Anand sticks to the move he has prepared for this
championship. This is very true for Anand. He hardly ever changes his first
move in between a world championship. I think it is more to do with the fact
that he has prepared so hard for 1.e4 that he wouldn't like to try something
else which is less prepared.} e5 {The challenger has found his favoured
defense. The solid double king pawn opening.} 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 {Are we
going to see another Berlin today?} 4. d3 $5 {Anand plays this quite
positional system.He figured out that in the Berlin he couldnt hope for an
advantage.} Bc5 $5 {developing the bishop to its most active square.} 5. Bxc6
dxc6 6. Nbd2 (6. Nxe5 {would be a huge blunder now as after} Qd4 {White loses
a piece.}) (6. h3 {is the main move in this position stopping Bg4}) 6... Bg4 {
this is not very often played. The main move here is Be6} 7. h3 Bh5 8. Nf1 $5 {
White now plans to play his knight to g3.} Nd7 9. Ng3 Bxf3 (9... Bg6 {would
have been a normal decision, but now white can continue with} 10. Be3 Bxe3 11.
fxe3 Qe7 12. Qe2 O-O-O 13. O-O-O {and the bishop on g6 is not participating in
the game so well. So Carlsen decided to give it up.}) 10. Qxf3 g6 {preventing
Nf5 in future.} 11. Be3 {After this move everyone was very disappointed as to
what Anand was trying to achieve? He had to try and press as white but here he
was exchanging piece after piece.} Qe7 (11... Bxe3 12. fxe3 {Might give white
pressure down the f file.[%cal Gh1f1,Gf3f7,Gf1f3]}) 12. O-O-O O-O-O 13. Ne2 {
The main idea for Anand in this position is to make d4 possible. If he can
achieve that then he can get a very favourable structure with 4 vs 3 majority
on the kingside. But of course Carlsen is well aware of such nuances and just
stops d4 by attacking the e4 pawn.} Rhe8 14. Kb1 b6 $1 {Making room for the
black king and also thinking about expanding on the queenside with a5.} 15. h4
{Vishy Anand after the game said, that his idea of h4-h5 would be good enough
to put some pressure on Carlsen but Carlsen was able to defend with ease here.}
Kb7 16. h5 (16. Bg5 {Anand said he should have played this forcing f6 and then
coming back. It all seems like white is trying to achieve a non existent
advantage.}) 16... Bxe3 17. Qxe3 {All the people on twitter including Garry
Kasparov agreed that this move signalled that Anand was ready for a peaceful
outcome. The last chance for some fighting chess was to take with the f pawn.}
Nc5 18. hxg6 (18. Qh6 {trying to attack the h pawn is senseless because of} f5
19. hxg6 hxg6 20. exf5 gxf5 {and black stands perfectly fine.}) 18... hxg6 19.
g3 a5 $5 {A little provocation that some day I might try to play a4-a3 and in
a way just a nice little building move. Carlsen said that Rh8 which was the
most natural move for black seemed inaccurate here} (19... Rh8 20. f4 {and
white keeps some pressure.}) 20. Rh7 (20. f4 {is now met with the accurate move
} f5 $1 {Even in such simple positions you can see Carlsens accurate thinking.
He doesnt remove the rook from e8 soon, so that f4 can be met with f5} 21. exf5
gxf5 22. fxe5 Qxe5 23. Qxe5 Rxe5 $11) 20... Rh8 {now is the right time to
challenge the h file.} 21. Rdh1 Rxh7 22. Rxh7 Qf6 {now another rook will come
to the h file.} 23. f4 Rh8 24. Rxh8 Qxh8 25. fxe5 Qxe5 26. Qf3 (26. d4 $2 Qxe4
$19) 26... f5 27. exf5 gxf5 {with all the perfect moves, black has just
equalised with ease! A nicely played game by Carlsen. Not so much by Vishy!}
28. c3 Ne6 29. Kc2 Ng5 30. Qf2 Ne6 31. Qf3 Ng5 32. Qf2 Ne6 {After the
repetition I am sure that Carlsen went back home happily while Vishy Anand
must be regretting his another lost opportunity with the white pieces. What to
say, e4-e5 is just a very tough nut to crack.  www.sagarteacheschess.blogspot.
com} 1/2-1/2

[Event "FWCM2013"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2013.11.19"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Carlsen, M."]
[Black "Anand, V."]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C67"]
[WhiteElo "2870"]
[BlackElo "2775"]
[Annotator "Sagar Shah"]
[PlyCount "66"]
[EventDate "2013.??.??"]
[SourceDate "2013.11.19"]

{The situation had not changed. Anand still trailed by 2 points. It was high
time to expect some fireworks from the Indian Wizard. However today was not to
be that day. Leave alone fireworks, we could not even see a few sparks!
Carlsen considering his match situation was happy with a draw while Anand
seemed to still be recovering from his loss in rounds 5 and 6. So both the
players were not motivated to take risks which resulted into one of the most
boring game in the match. Pardon me if you found the analysis of this game
boring, but it was only because both the players too played a non interesting
game.  You can read more about chess and this world championship match on my
blog:  www.sagarteacheschess.blogspot.com.} 1. e4 $1 {As Vishy said in the
press conference, he hadnt expected this move from Carlsen. With Carlsen you
can expect any move really as he isnt attached to any opening as such.} e5 $5 {
Vishy said that he thought about the alternatives, and Sicilia though sharp,
if white wants he can play drawish lines in Sicilian too. Maybe what must have
convinced Anand to try this move is the difficulty with which he has
struggling against Carlsen to find an advantage against e4-e5 with white.} 2.
Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 {Vishy too goes with the hope that he can play the
complicated Berline endgame.} 4. O-O {is Carlsen really going to allow the
Berlin?} Nxe4 5. Re1 $1 {a perfect decision when one requires a half point.
Black can really do nothing now!} (5. d4 Nd6 6. Bxc6 dxc6 7. dxe5 Nf5 8. Qxd8+
Kxd8 {leads to the berlin endgame.}) 5... Nd6 6. Nxe5 $1 Be7 (6... Nxb5 $2 7.
Nxc6+ {black loses the queen.}) 7. Bf1 Nxe5 8. Rxe5 {one of the main reasons
why this position is drawish in nature is because there is only 1 open file
that is the e file. The rooks are bound to get exchanged on that file. Also
the symmetrical nature of the pawn structure gives the game a very drawish
character.} O-O 9. d4 Bf6 10. Re1 Re8 (10... Nf5 {is the main move here but
Vishy spared no chance to exchange pieces at regular intervals.} 11. c3 d5) 11.
c3 Rxe1 {exchange no.1} 12. Qxe1 Ne8 {looking to play d5.} 13. Bf4 d5 14. Bd3 {
preventing Bf5} g6 {With the idea of Ng7 followed by Bf5} 15. Nd2 Ng7 16. Qe2
c6 17. Re1 Bf5 $1 18. Bxf5 {exchange no.2} Nxf5 19. Nf3 Ng7 20. Be5 Ne6 21.
Bxf6 {exchange no.3} Qxf6 22. Ne5 Re8 23. Ng4 {I think at this point both the
players saw till the end as to how the game would end in a draw.} Qd8 24. Qe5 {
threatening the deadly Nh6} Ng7 $1 {Is it all over for white? But its obvious
that Magnus wouldnt fall for such a banal trap. Magnus had seen the forced way
to transpose the game into a king and pawn endgame which would be an easy draw.
} 25. Qxe8+ $1 Nxe8 26. Rxe8+ Qxe8 27. Nf6+ Kf8 28. Nxe8 Kxe8 {quite a funny
position and there is absolutely nothing that both sides can do. Another 5
moves were made before the game was drawn.} 29. f4 f5 30. Kf2 b5 31. b4 Kf7 32.
h3 h6 33. h4 h5 {You cannot get a more symmetrical and boring game at such a
high level.  The theory that I am trying to sell is that Anand had been
mentally torn apart when he lost consecutively in games 5 and 6. Hence i think
his strategy for next two games 7 and 8 was not losing another game. He played
safely and achieved the draw without much ado. Now 20th is a rest day. And
hence it makes perfect sense for Anand to go into the rest day with a pleasant
feeling of 2 draws instead of another loss. We can expect Anand to get
re-energized and rejuvenated and prepare nicely on the rest day and on the
21st November, to come with all the ammunition that he has in oder to blow
away Carlsen!} 1/2-1/2

[Event "FWCM2013"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2013.11.21"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Anand, V."]
[Black "Carlsen, M."]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E25"]
[WhiteElo "2775"]
[BlackElo "2870"]
[Annotator "Sagar Shah"]
[PlyCount "56"]
[EventDate "2013.??.??"]
[SourceDate "2013.11.21"]

{A do or die game for Anand. His penultimate game as white. Its going to take
a lot of efforts to beat Magnus Carlsen but there is no better day than today!
Anand comes to the board without a Jacket today. A sign that he doesnt belive
in any formal proceedings as such. He just wants to get on with the fight.} 1.
d4 $1 {After 4 white games, Anand finally realises that this is the right
move! After 1.e4 rather than hit his head against the Berlin, Anand chooses
the queen pawn! He looked confident today! Surely the rest day has helped him
to come mentally prepared.} Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 {The Nimzo Indian defense
which is supposed to be one of the most sound openings in chess is Carlsen's
choice here. He should be fine with even a draw. So going for a King's Indian
or Grunfeld or other such sharp lines must not be to his taste.} 4. f3 {This
had to be expected from Anand. First of all this move signifies the start of
Saemisch Variation of the Nimzo Indian. The pawn comes to the natural square
of the knight on g1. But white would like to build a huge center with the help
of his f3 pawn with e4. This leads to very sharp positions and exactly what
Anand needs at this point in the match.} d5 {This is the classical reaction
and often in many queen pawn openings, once your opponent has committed to the
move f3, it makes sense to make this central move as then white cannot play
Nf3.} 5. a3 Bxc3+ (5... Be7 {is another option but not as popular as Bc3} 6. e4
dxe4 7. fxe4 e5 8. d5 Bc5 {we reach another position that can be theoretically
discussed.}) 6. bxc3 c5 $1 {Black sees that white is behind in development and
tries to open the position. White in return for his retarded development, has
the two bishops and a strong center. However blacks position is very solid and
not so easy to breakthrough.} 7. cxd5 exd5 $5 {A very interesting and double
edged decision by Magnus. Out of 1800 odd games that have reached this
position only 400 have continued with ed5 rest all have continued with Nd5. So
whats the difference between the two moves. Nd5 is a solid move. It attacks
the c3 pawn and hence white has to take dc5 and then a positional game ensues.
On the other hand ed5 looks the most natural but is very double edged. Mainly
it gives white a central majortiy and a clear plan of central expansion. Its
very surprising that Magnus who only needed a draw was playing for a win.
Maybe he didnt just want to win, he wanted to dominate the Match.} 8. e3 {
Whites plan has been known since the very famous game of Botvinnik-Capablanca
AVRO 1936. White intends to put his bishop on d3 followed by Nge2 and Ng3.
After 0-0 and even Ra2-e2 white will force the pawn break e4, After which
white has an excellent position. This is exactly what Vishy was aiming for but
Magnus's next move stopped the Bd3 idea right in its tracks!} c4 $1 {This is
the only move that makes sense in this position. Of course black could have
continued normally but as I said whites plan of central expansion is natural
and strong. Now white has to look into another direction for developing his
pieces and Vishy chooses an aggressive setup.} 9. Ne2 Nc6 10. g4 $1 {this is
the most natural move in the position. Even though it might look a little
weird. The idea is that the Bishsop will go to g2, The N comes to g3 and the
Knight on f6 can be pushed away from the center with g5 and finally e4 can be
achieved. This setup was chosen in a very famous game between Kasparov who
beat Polgar with the white pieces.} O-O {Magnus knows no fear and castles
right into the attack!} 11. Bg2 Na5 $5 {The knight moves into the juicy square
b3 from which its sole motive is to chop off the bishop on e3. Once that
bishop will go, it will be one attacker less on the kingside for black to
handle.} 12. O-O Nb3 13. Ra2 $1 {The normal move would be Rb1, but this World
championship has seen many Rook activations along the rank. The rook moves on
the 2nd rank so that later after Ng3 it can be shifted to either f2 or e2 and
can help in the central breakthrough with e4!} b5 {Carlsen seeks to counter
Vishy's plan with queenside counterattack.} (13... Qa5 {looked like an
extremely logical move because it attacks the c3 pawn. Now the knight cannot
move from e2 and if it cannot move then the rook on a2 is passive. Bd2 would
simply impede rooks path. So white would have to continue aggressively with}
14. g5 Nd7 15. e4 Nb6 16. Bf4 {and later playing Qe1 followed by Ng3 and Re2.})
14. Ng3 (14. g5 Nd7 15. e4 Nb6 {was another way to play.}) 14... a5 {Carlsen
continues his queenside expansion and at the same time he has another idea up
his sleeve as you will soon see} (14... h6 {would make some sense here as now
it prevents g4-g5 and white has to be careful to play e4 as his g4 pawn would
hang.} 15. Raf2 a5 {and white will have to think of some pawn sacrifice or
something to make progress.}) 15. g5 Ne8 {the reason the knight goes here is
that later it can go to g7 after g6 in order to prevent the move f5.} 16. e4 {
Anand continues in the way that the text books would recommend. If now left
unattended, the bishop on c1 would escape to e3 or f4 and the knight on b3
would start looking very silly. So Carlsen rightly takes off the bishop.} Nxc1
17. Qxc1 Ra6 $1 {This was the interesting idea with a5 and b5 that I was
talking about. The rook gets the entire 6th rank to look over and can later be
used as a defense against the kingside attack.We must learn the art of
activating rooks along the ranks from these great masters.} 18. e5 {Vishy now
intends to blow the black bastions with f4-f5. Carlsen needs to be very alert.
Its a very typical situation of Kingside play vs queenside counterplay.} Nc7 $5
{Carlsen said after the press conference that he intended g6 followed by Ng7
to stop f4-f5 but then he saw some problems in that line and hence changed to
this idea of pushing his pawn to b4} (18... g6 19. f4 Ng7 20. Rb2 Rb6 21. Qb1
Qd7 22. f5 Nxf5 23. Nxf5 gxf5 {and white has a great position. Black's
kingside position is totally ruined.}) 19. f4 b4 {Anand has an important
decision to make. Should he now take the queenside pawns or go all out broke
on the kingside.Vishy took the middle path. He didnt exchange all the pawns
but he didnt exchange 1 pair.} 20. axb4 (20. f5 {was a logical idea} Nb5 21.
axb4 axb4 22. Rxa6 Bxa6 23. f6 {and the attack is similar to the game but
maybe it is stronger.}) 20... axb4 21. Rxa6 Nxa6 22. f5 (22. cxb4 {Vishy said
in the press conference that he could have bailed out here by taking this pawn
and then going Ne2-c3. But the Match situation was desperate and it made sense
to continue the fight.} Nxb4 23. Ne2 Bf5 {black should be fine}) 22... b3 {
Carlsen goes for the most principled approach. His pawn on b3 is just 2 steps
away from queening. Anand has now go to think out a way to attack here. Infact
Anand thought for a very long time here and maybe he couldnt find a clear cut
way to a decisive attack. As things stood he already had started the fight,
now there was no shying away from it!} (22... bxc3 $6 23. f6 g6 24. Qxc3 {
white has a better position}) 23. Qf4 (23. f6 {would most probably just
transpose.}) (23. Nh5 {was another interesting possibility later looking for a
Nf6 check.} Nc7 24. Qf4 Nb5 {and maybe whites attack is not as strong as in
the game.}) 23... Nc7 {from this move onwards Carlsen began to play with great
speed. One must highyl commend the young boys confidence. He thought during
Vishy's time and had complete faith on his calculation and did not recheck it
after every move. This definitely put pressure on Vishy as he didnt know
whether he had missed something or not.} 24. f6 g6 (24... gxf6 {was possible
as per what Carlsen said but it surely looks scary to open your king like that.
} 25. Nh5 (25. gxf6 Kh8 {followed by Rg8 should give black a fine position.})
25... fxg5 26. Nf6+ Kh8 27. Qxg5 Rg8 $1 {and black is better here too. So why
didnt Carlsen choose gf6? Well there is something like human intuition.
Carlsen intuitively sensed that this move gf6 wasnt right and didnt go for it.
Maybe he was wrong this time but more often than not these Grandmasters have a
heightened sense of intuiotn because of their endless hours of work and
practice and that helps them to navigate in such complex situations.}) 25. Qh4
Ne8 {again the move was instantly made.} (25... Kh8 $2 26. Qh6 Rg8 27. Rf4 {
with the unstoppable idea of Qh7 followed by Rh5 mate is one that should be
remembered.}) 26. Qh6 b2 {seeing that the game is lost on the kingside,
Carlsen hurries to make a queen. Will Vishy be brave enough to allow Carlsen
to make a queen?} 27. Rf4 $5 {As i watched this game with my friends I must
say we were on the edge of our seat. Carlsen making moves at full speed, vishy
going all out and a new queen in the middlegame on 27th move is not something
that we see everyday! Surely one of the most entertaining games one can ever
see.} (27. Ne2 {could have been an interesting way to continue the game with
the idea of Nf4.}) 27... b1=Q+ {Carlsen without even pausing, Immediately made
a queen.} 28. Nf1 $4 {Can someone make such a mistake? And that too the world
champion! As this move was made, a collective cheer went up in the Norwegain
room, they knew that Anand had botched it up!} (28. Bf1 {was the only move to
kep the game going. Now Carlsen's move is forced. he has to do something
against Rh4 followed by a mate} Qd1 $1 29. Rh4 Qh5 30. Nxh5 gxh5 31. Rxh5 (31.
Bh3 {Andn thought this was good for a draw after} Bxh3 32. Rxh3 Qb6 $19 {is
the simplest intending Qb1 and Qg6.} (32... Qd7 33. Rxh5 Qg4+ 34. Kf2 Qf4+ 35.
Kg2 Qd2+ 36. Kg1 Qd1+ 37. Kg2 Qc2+ 38. Kf1 Qg6 {is also a win for black.}) 33.
Rxh5 Qb1+ 34. Kg2 Qg6 $19) 31... Bf5 {only way to save the mate. Now white has
2 ways to continue, one is Bh3 and the other is g6} 32. g6 $1 (32. Bh3 Bg6 33.
e6 Nxf6 34. gxf6 Qxf6 35. Re5 fxe6 36. Qe3 {and maybe white can hold this but
black is out of danger and can infact press in this position.}) 32... Bxg6 33.
Rg5 $1 {with the idea of h4-h5 and black has to give back his piece with} Nxf6
34. exf6 Qxf6 35. Rxd5 {when the game is equal and should be a draw. So at no
point actually Anand was winning.}) 28... Qe1 $1 {and the queen will simply
take the rook on h4 and its all over. Anand sat there with his hands below his
chin thinking all alone as Magnus left the board. Magnus knew that the third
victory is in the bag ad Anand was helpless to do anything. Just a move ago,
the positin was ripe with excitement and complications and now it was as if
the life had been taken away! As Magnus finally returned, Anand shook his hand
and admitted defeat. Cold blooded defense by Magnus but we must give Vishy his
due. He tried his best today. My only question is why didnt he try playing 1.
d4 a few games earlier! With the score at 6-3 the match is virtually over! A
new champion is in the making and I think he is a very deserving one! But lets
just wait for tomorrow, Maybe Vishy Anand has something up his sleeve! You can
visit my blog to learn more about chess at www.sagarteacheschess.blogspot.com}
0-1

[Event "FWCM2013"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2013.11.22"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Carlsen, M."]
[Black "Anand, V."]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B51"]
[WhiteElo "2870"]
[BlackElo "2775"]
[Annotator "Sagar Shah"]
[PlyCount "130"]
[EventDate "2013.??.??"]
[SourceDate "2013.11.26"]

{The 10th game of the match and Carlsen was on 6 points. He needed only a draw
to become the world champion. Anand on the other hand seemed to have given up
hopes. After all its no child's play to win all the three games against
Carlsen. However Anand did show some signs of fighting chess by playig the
Sicilian defense.} 1. e4 c5 {Anand goes for his last try. The sicilian is
considered to be the most exciting opening in chess mainly because both the
players are try to play to play on different colour complex. While white while
playing e4 controls the light squares, black on the other hand is playing on
the dark squares. You can now understand why french and Caro kann are
considered as solid openings.} 2. Nf3 d6 3. Bb5+ Nd7 {Anand plays the most
complex line. Bd7 was also possible by black but it leads to an equal position.
Here its possible to create some imbalance.} 4. d4 cxd4 5. Qxd4 a6 6. Bxd7+
Bxd7 7. c4 $1 {So Carlsen gave up his bishop and sets up his pawns on the
colour of the missing bishop. This pawns on c4 and e4 are known as the maroczy
bind. What white wants to achieve is that: he wants to hinders blacks freeing
breaks of d5 and b5. In this position black has the two bishops but is cramped
for space. Carlsen plays such positions very well.} Nf6 8. Bg5 {The bishop is
developed here before black can prevent this by playing h6. In short white is
trying to get rid of all the defenders of the light squares.} e6 9. Nc3 Be7 10.
O-O {Whites play is very natural and simple. As i said, Carlsen doesnt like to
play complicated positions, He makes natural moves but he does so with great
consistency and accuracy just like a computer.} Bc6 11. Qd3 {freeing the d4
square for the knight on f3.} O-O 12. Nd4 Rc8 13. b3 {A very solid move. Look
how Carlsen is trying to improve his position little by little.} Qc7 14. Nxc6
Qxc6 15. Rac1 h6 16. Be3 Nd7 (16... Ng4 {would be met by} 17. Bd4) 17. Bd4 Rfd8
18. h3 {Just creating a luft on the kingside so that in future there wont be
any backrank threats. In such a slow manoeuvring struggle, players can take
the liberty of playing this way.} Qc7 19. Rfd1 Qa5 20. Qd2 {creating the
unpleasant discovered attack on Nd5.} Kf8 {Anand protects against this.} 21.
Qb2 {Now creating a threat against the g7 pawn.} Kg8 22. a4 $3 {the double
exclamation is not for the move: its for the bravery. Imagine this situation:
White needs just a draw to become the undisputed world champion! The opponent
is ready for a three fold repetition. If you just take it, you will become the
World Champion. In such a situation how many would have continued playing. I
think only one: and that is Magnus Carlsen and thats why he is not only the
World champion but also the world No.1 with a whooping rating on 2870! Hats
off to this man!!} Qh5 23. Ne2 Bf6 24. Rc3 {The black pieces are cramped for
space because of this maroczy bind and white forces have space to move from
one flank to another. The rook is transferred on the 3rd rank to create
pressure on the kingside. You can see that in such positions Carlsen is a
devil because he just loves torturing the opponent with little moves.} Bxd4 25.
Rxd4 Qe5 26. Qd2 Nf6 27. Re3 Rd7 28. a5 $1 {The pawn on a5 now renders both
the pawns a6 and b7 useless.} Qg5 $4 {A huge blunder by Anand. He had seen
this move but I guess was totally out of stamina. Otherwise he wouldnt allow
such a simple tactic with e5!} 29. e5 $1 {The pawn cannot be taken and Carlsen
is simply winning!} Ne8 30. exd6 $2 {A very uncharateristic mistake by Magnus
who usually tries to utilise all the resources in the position. here the pawn
was pinned and there was no hurry to take the pawn. He could have increased
the pressure. Maybe it was the thought of winning the title that may have
induced the mistake. Carlsen said in the press conference that he missed
something. if he had seen that black is winning back the pawn he would have
had tried to find a better move.} (30. Nc3 $1 Rc6 31. b4 {white strengthens
his position.} Rd8 32. b5 axb5 33. cxb5 Rc7 34. exd6 $16) 30... Rc6 $1 {Black
will now regain the pawn and Anand can salvage his pride in the fact that he
didnt lose this last position.} 31. f4 Qd8 32. Red3 Rcxd6 33. Rxd6 Rxd6 34.
Rxd6 Qxd6 35. Qxd6 Nxd6 {This knight ending should ne objectively drawn but
White still has his chances. Mainly because of his queenside majority and also
because the white king is coming to the center quicker than the black king.}
36. Kf2 Kf8 37. Ke3 Ke7 38. Kd4 Kd7 39. Kc5 Kc7 {So white has activated his
king to the maximum and now seeks his chances on the kingside.} 40. Nc3 {
preventing Ne4+} Nf5 41. Ne4 Ne3 42. g3 f5 43. Nd6 g5 44. Ne8+ Kd7 45. Nf6+ Ke7
46. Ng8+ $6 (46. Nh5 {would have really made blacks defensive task very
difficult.}) 46... Kf8 47. Nxh6 gxf4 48. gxf4 Kg7 {the knight is trapped.} 49.
Nxf5+ {Carlsen later said in the press conference that the line were becoming
extremely complicated and hence he decided to bail out here. One cannot
reprimand him for this approach, after all its but natural to secure the world
champions title!} exf5 50. Kb6 Ng2 51. Kxb7 Nxf4 52. Kxa6 Ne6 53. Kb6 {Both
sides now queen. Carlsen had calculated all this before hand.} f4 54. a6 f3 55.
a7 f2 56. a8=Q f1=Q {White could have even drawn this position without the 3
extra pawns. A Q+N vs Q position is drawn. So Carlsen went for this position
without any doubt in his mind regarding the result.} 57. Qd5 Qe1 58. Qd6 Qe3+
59. Ka6 Nc5+ 60. Kb5 Nxb3 61. Qc7+ Kh6 62. Qb6+ Qxb6+ 63. Kxb6 Kh5 64. h4 Kxh4
65. c5 Nxc5 {It was a fitting end to the tournament that both the players
played till bare kings were left on the board! Really amazing chess by the
challenger, whom we cannot call as challenger now that he has won the world
championship title! But the last game is an indication of what we can expect
from Carlsen in the future! A lot of fighting chess!} 1/2-1/2

ry that I am trying to sell is that Anand had been
mentally torn apart when he lost consecutively in games 5 and 6. Hence i think
his strategy for next two games 7 and 8 was not losing another game. He played
safely and achieved the draw without much ado. Now 20th is a rest day. And
hence it makes perfect sense for Anand to go into the rest day with a pleasant
feeling of 2 draws instead of another loss. We can expect Anand to get
re-energized and rejuvenated and prepare nicely on the rest day and on the
21st November, to come with all the ammunition that he has in oder to blow
away Carlsen!} 1/2-1/2

[Event "FWCM2013"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2013.11.21"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Anand, V."]
[Black "Carlsen, M."]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E25"]
[WhiteElo "2775"]
[BlackElo "2870"]
[Annotator "Sagar Shah"]
[PlyCount "56"]
[EventDate "2013.??.??"]
[SourceDate "2013.11.21"]

{A do or die game for Anand. His penultimate game as white. Its going to take
a lot of efforts to beat Magnus Carlsen but there is no better day than today!
Anand comes to the board without a Jacket today. A sign that he doesnt belive
in any formal proceedings as such. He just wants to get on with the fight.} 1.
d4 $1 {After 4 white games, Anand finally realises that this is the right
move! After 1.e4 rather than hit his head against the Berlin, Anand chooses
the queen pawn! He looked confident today! Surely the rest day has helped him
to come mentally prepared.} Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 {The Nimzo Indian defense
which is supposed to be one of the most sound openings in chess is Carlsen's
choice here. He should be fine with even a draw. So going for a King's Indian
or Grunfeld or other such sharp lines must not be to his taste.} 4. f3 {This
had to be expected from Anand. First of all this move signifies the start of
Saemisch Variation of the Nimzo Indian. The pawn comes to the natural square
of the knight on g1. But white would like to build a huge center with the help
of his f3 pawn with e4. This leads to very sharp positions and exactly what
Anand needs at this point in the match.} d5 {This is the classical reaction
and often in many queen pawn openings, once your opponent has committed to the
move f3, it makes sense to make this central move as then white cannot play
Nf3.} 5. a3 Bxc3+ (5... Be7 {is another option but not as popular as Bc3} 6. e4
dxe4 7. fxe4 e5 8. d5 Bc5 {we reach another position that can be theoretically
discussed.}) 6. bxc3 c5 $1 {Black sees that white is behind in development and
tries to open the position. White in return for his retarded development, has
the two bishops and a strong center. However blacks position is very solid and
not so easy to breakthrough.} 7. cxd5 exd5 $5 {A very interesting and double
edged decision by Magnus. Out of 1800 odd games that have reached this
position only 400 have continued with ed5 rest all have continued with Nd5. So
whats the difference between the two moves. Nd5 is a solid move. It attacks
the c3 pawn and hence white has to take dc5 and then a positional game ensues.
On the other hand ed5 looks the most natural but is very double edged. Mainly
it gives white a central majortiy and a clear plan of central expansion. Its
very surprising that Magnus who only needed a draw was playing for a win.
Maybe he didnt just want to win, he wanted to dominate the Match.} 8. e3 {
Whites plan has been known since the very famous game of Botvinnik-Capablanca
AVRO 1936. White intends to put his bishop on d3 followed by Nge2 and Ng3.
After 0-0 and even Ra2-e2 white will force the pawn break e4, After which
white has an excellent position. This is exactly what Vishy was aiming for but
Magnus's next move stopped the Bd3 idea right in its tracks!} c4 $1 {This is
the only move that makes sense in this position. Of course black could have
continued normally but as I said whites plan of central expansion is natural
and strong. Now white has to look into another direction for developing his
pieces and Vishy chooses an aggressive setup.} 9. Ne2 Nc6 10. g4 $1 {this is
the most natural move in the position. Even though it might look a little
weird. The idea is that the Bishsop will go to g2, The N comes to g3 and the
Knight on f6 can be pushed away from the center with g5 and finally e4 can be
achieved. This setup was chosen in a very famous game between Kasparov who
beat Polgar with the white pieces.} O-O {Magnus knows no fear and castles
right into the attack!} 11. Bg2 Na5 $5 {The knight moves into the juicy square
b3 from which its sole motive is to chop off the bishop on e3. Once that
bishop will go, it will be one attacker less on the kingside for black to
handle.} 12. O-O Nb3 13. Ra2 $1 {The normal move would be Rb1, but this World
championship has seen many Rook activations along the rank. The rook moves on
the 2nd rank so that later after Ng3 it can be shifted to either f2 or e2 and
can help in the central breakthrough with e4!} b5 {Carlsen seeks to counter
Vishy's plan with queenside counterattack.} (13... Qa5 {looked like an
extremely logical move because it attacks the c3 pawn. Now the knight cannot
move from e2 and if it cannot move then the rook on a2 is passive. Bd2 would
simply impede rooks path. So white would have to continue aggressively with}
14. g5 Nd7 15. e4 Nb6 16. Bf4 {and later playing Qe1 followed by Ng3 and Re2.})
14. Ng3 (14. g5 Nd7 15. e4 Nb6 {was another way to play.}) 14... a5 {Carlsen
continues his queenside expansion and at the same time he has another idea up
his sleeve as you will soon see} (14... h6 {would make some sense here as now
it prevents g4-g5 and white has to be careful to play e4 as his g4 pawn would
hang.} 15. Raf2 a5 {and white will have to think of some pawn sacrifice or
something to make progress.}) 15. g5 Ne8 {the reason the knight goes here is
that later it can go to g7 after g6 in order to prevent the move f5.} 16. e4 {
Anand continues in the way that the text books would recommend. If now left
unattended, the bishop on c1 would escape to e3 or f4 and the knight on b3
would start looking very silly. So Carlsen rightly takes off the bishop.} Nxc1
17. Qxc1 Ra6 $1 {This was the interesting idea with a5 and b5 that I was
talking about. The rook gets the entire 6th rank to look over and can later be
used as a defense against the kingside attack.We must learn the art of
activating rooks along the ranks from these great masters.} 18. e5 {Vishy now
intends to blow the black bastions with f4-f5. Carlsen needs to be very alert.
Its a very typical situation of Kingside play vs queenside counterplay.} Nc7 $5
{Carlsen said after the press conference that he intended g6 followed by Ng7
to stop f4-f5 but then he saw some problems in that line and hence changed to
this idea of pushing his pawn to b4} (18... g6 19. f4 Ng7 20. Rb2 Rb6 21. Qb1
Qd7 22. f5 Nxf5 23. Nxf5 gxf5 {and white has a great position. Black's
kingside position is totally ruined.}) 19. f4 b4 {Anand has an important
decision to make. Should he now take the queenside pawns or go all out broke
on the kingside.Vishy took the middle path. He didnt exchange all the pawns
but he didnt exchange 1 pair.} 20. axb4 (20. f5 {was a logical idea} Nb5 21.
axb4 axb4 22. Rxa6 Bxa6 23. f6 {and the attack is similar to the game but
maybe it is stronger.}) 20... axb4 21. Rxa6 Nxa6 22. f5 (22. cxb4 {Vishy said
in the press conference that he could have bailed out here by taking this pawn
and then going Ne2-c3. But the Match situation was desperate and it made sense
to continue the fight.} Nxb4 23. Ne2 Bf5 {black should be fine}) 22... b3 {
Carlsen goes for the most principled approach. His pawn on b3 is just 2 steps
away from queening. Anand has now go to think out a way to attack here. Infact
Anand thought for a very long time here and maybe he couldnt find a clear cut
way to a decisive attack. As things stood he already had started the fight,
now there was no shying away from it!} (22... bxc3 $6 23. f6 g6 24. Qxc3 {
white has a better position}) 23. Qf4 (23. f6 {would most probably just
transpose.}) (23. Nh5 {was another interesting possibility later looking for a
Nf6 check.} Nc7 24. Qf4 Nb5 {and maybe whites attack is not as strong as in
the game.}) 23... Nc7 {from this move onwards Carlsen began to play with great
speed. One must highyl commend the young boys confidence. He thought during
Vishy's time and had complete faith on his calculation and did not recheck it
after every move. This definitely put pressure on Vishy as he didnt know
whether he had missed something or not.} 24. f6 g6 (24... gxf6 {was possible
as per what Carlsen said but it surely looks scary to open your king like that.
} 25. Nh5 (25. gxf6 Kh8 {followed by Rg8 should give black a fine position.})
25... fxg5 26. Nf6+ Kh8 27. Qxg5 Rg8 $1 {and black is better here too. So why
didnt Carlsen choose gf6? Well there is something like human intuition.
Carlsen intuitively sensed that this move gf6 wasnt right and didnt go for it.
Maybe he was wrong this time but more often than not these Grandmasters have a
heightened sense of intuiotn because of their endless hours of work and
practice and that helps them to navigate in such complex situations.}) 25. Qh4
Ne8 {again the move was instantly made.} (25... Kh8 $2 26. Qh6 Rg8 27. Rf4 {
with the unstoppable idea of Qh7 followed by Rh5 mate is one that should be
remembered.}) 26. Qh6 b2 {seeing that the game is lost on the kingside,
Carlsen hurries to make a queen. Will Vishy be brave enough to allow Carlsen
to make a queen?} 27. Rf4 $5 {As i watched this game with my friends I must
say we were on the edge of our seat. Carlsen making moves at full speed, vishy
going all out and a new queen in the middlegame on 27th move is not something
that we see everyday! Surely one of the most entertaining games one can ever
see.} (27. Ne2 {could have been an interesting way to continue the game with
the idea of Nf4.}) 27... b1=Q+ {Carlsen without even pausing, Immediately made
a queen.} 28. Nf1 $4 {Can someone make such a mistake? And that too the world
champion! As this move was made, a collective cheer went up in the Norwegain
room, they knew that Anand had botched it up!} (28. Bf1 {was the only move to
kep the game going. Now Carlsen's move is forced. he has to do something
against Rh4 followed by a mate} Qd1 $1 29. Rh4 Qh5 30. Nxh5 gxh5 31. Rxh5 (31.
Bh3 {Andn thought this was good for a draw after} Bxh3 32. Rxh3 Qb6 $19 {is
the simplest intending Qb1 and Qg6.} (32... Qd7 33. Rxh5 Qg4+ 34. Kf2 Qf4+ 35.
Kg2 Qd2+ 36. Kg1 Qd1+ 37. Kg2 Qc2+ 38. Kf1 Qg6 {is also a win for black.}) 33.
Rxh5 Qb1+ 34. Kg2 Qg6 $19) 31... Bf5 {only way to save the mate. Now white has
2 ways to continue, one is Bh3 and the other is g6} 32. g6 $1 (32. Bh3 Bg6 33.
e6 Nxf6 34. gxf6 Qxf6 35. Re5 fxe6 36. Qe3 {and maybe white can hold this but
black is out of danger and can infact press in this position.}) 32... Bxg6 33.
Rg5 $1 {with the idea of h4-h5 and black has to give back his piece with} Nxf6
34. exf6 Qxf6 35. Rxd5 {when the game is equal and should be a draw. So at no
point actually Anand was winning.}) 28... Qe1 $1 {and the queen will simply
take the rook on h4 and its all over. Anand sat there with his hands below his
chin thinking all alone as Magnus left the board. Magnus knew that the third
victory is in the bag ad Anand was helpless to do anything. Just a move ago,
the positin was ripe with excitement and complications and now it was as if
the life had been taken away! As Magnus finally returned, Anand shook his hand
and admitted defeat. Cold blooded defense by Magnus but we must give Vishy his
due. He tried his best today. My only question is why didnt he try playing 1.
d4 a few games earlier! With the score at 6-3 the match is virtually over! A
new champion is in the making and I think he is a very deserving one! But lets
just wait for tomorrow, Maybe Vishy Anand has something up his sleeve! You can
visit my blog to learn more about chess at www.sagarteacheschess.blogspot.com}
0-1

[Event "FWCM2013"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2013.11.22"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Carlsen, M."]
[Black "Anand, V."]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B51"]
[WhiteElo "2870"]
[BlackElo "2775"]
[Annotator "Sagar Shah"]
[PlyCount "130"]
[EventDate "2013.??.??"]
[SourceDate "2013.11.26"]

{The 10th game of the match and Carlsen was on 6 points. He needed only a draw
to become the world champion. Anand on the other hand seemed to have given up
hopes. After all its no child's play to win all the three games against
Carlsen. However Anand did show some signs of fighting chess by playig the
Sicilian defense.} 1. e4 c5 {Anand goes for his last try. The sicilian is
considered to be the most exciting opening in chess mainly because both the
players are try to play to play on different colour complex. While white while
playing e4 controls the light squares, black on the other hand is playing on
the dark squares. You can now understand why french and Caro kann are
considered as solid openings.} 2. Nf3 d6 3. Bb5+ Nd7 {Anand plays the most
complex line. Bd7 was also possible by black but it leads to an equal position.
Here its possible to create some imbalance.} 4. d4 cxd4 5. Qxd4 a6 6. Bxd7+
Bxd7 7. c4 $1 {So Carlsen gave up his bishop and sets up his pawns on the
colour of the missing bishop. This pawns on c4 and e4 are known as the maroczy
bind. What white wants to achieve is that: he wants to hinders blacks freeing
breaks of d5 and b5. In this position black has the two bishops but is cramped
for space. Carlsen plays such positions very well.} Nf6 8. Bg5 {The bishop is
developed here before black can prevent this by playing h6. In short white is
trying to get rid of all the defenders of the light squares.} e6 9. Nc3 Be7 10.
O-O {Whites play is very natural and simple. As i said, Carlsen doesnt like to
play complicated positions, He makes natural moves but he does so with great
consistency and accuracy just like a computer.} Bc6 11. Qd3 {freeing the d4
square for the knight on f3.} O-O 12. Nd4 Rc8 13. b3 {A very solid move. Look
how Carlsen is trying to improve his position little by little.} Qc7 14. Nxc6
Qxc6 15. Rac1 h6 16. Be3 Nd7 (16... Ng4 {would be met by} 17. Bd4) 17. Bd4 Rfd8
18. h3 {Just creating a luft on the kingside so that in future there wont be
any backrank threats. In such a slow manoeuvring struggle, players can take
the liberty of playing this way.} Qc7 19. Rfd1 Qa5 20. Qd2 {creating the
unpleasant discovered attack on Nd5.} Kf8 {Anand protects against this.} 21.
Qb2 {Now creating a threat against the g7 pawn.} Kg8 22. a4 $3 {the double
exclamation is not for the move: its for the bravery. Imagine this situation:
White needs just a draw to become the undisputed world champion! The opponent
is ready for a three fold repetition. If you just take it, you will become the
World Champion. In such a situation how many would have continued playing. I
think only one: and that is Magnus Carlsen and thats why he is not only the
World champion but also the world No.1 with a whooping rating on 2870! Hats
off to this man!!} Qh5 23. Ne2 Bf6 24. Rc3 {The black pieces are cramped for
space because of this maroczy bind and white forces have space to move from
one flank to another. The rook is transferred on the 3rd rank to create
pressure on the kingside. You can see that in such positions Carlsen is a
devil because he just loves torturing the opponent with little moves.} Bxd4 25.
Rxd4 Qe5 26. Qd2 Nf6 27. Re3 Rd7 28. a5 $1 {The pawn on a5 now renders both
the pawns a6 and b7 useless.} Qg5 $4 {A huge blunder by Anand. He had seen
this move but I guess was totally out of stamina. Otherwise he wouldnt allow
such a simple tactic with e5!} 29. e5 $1 {The pawn cannot be taken and Carlsen
is simply winning!} Ne8 30. exd6 $2 {A very uncharateristic mistake by Magnus
who usually tries to utilise all the resources in the position. here the pawn
was pinned and there was no hurry to take the pawn. He could have increased
the pressure. Maybe it was the thought of winning the title that may have
induced the mistake. Carlsen said in the press conference that he missed
something. if he had seen that black is winning back the pawn he would have
had tried to find a better move.} (30. Nc3 $1 Rc6 31. b4 {white strengthens
his position.} Rd8 32. b5 axb5 33. cxb5 Rc7 34. exd6 $16) 30... Rc6 $1 {Black
will now regain the pawn and Anand can salvage his pride in the fact that he
didnt lose this last position.} 31. f4 Qd8 32. Red3 Rcxd6 33. Rxd6 Rxd6 34.
Rxd6 Qxd6 35. Qxd6 Nxd6 {This knight ending should ne objectively drawn but
White still has his chances. Mainly because of his queenside majority and also
because the white king is coming to the center quicker than the black king.}
36. Kf2 Kf8 37. Ke3 Ke7 38. Kd4 Kd7 39. Kc5 Kc7 {So white has activated his
king to the maximum and now seeks his chances on the kingside.} 40. Nc3 {
preventing Ne4+} Nf5 41. Ne4 Ne3 42. g3 f5 43. Nd6 g5 44. Ne8+ Kd7 45. Nf6+ Ke7
46. Ng8+ $6 (46. Nh5 {would have really made blacks defensive task very
difficult.}) 46... Kf8 47. Nxh6 gxf4 48. gxf4 Kg7 {the knight is trapped.} 49.
Nxf5+ {Carlsen later said in the press conference that the line were becoming
extremely complicated and hence he decided to bail out here. One cannot
reprimand him for this approach, after all its but natural to secure the world
champions title!} exf5 50. Kb6 Ng2 51. Kxb7 Nxf4 52. Kxa6 Ne6 53. Kb6 {Both
sides now queen. Carlsen had calculated all this before hand.} f4 54. a6 f3 55.
a7 f2 56. a8=Q f1=Q {White could have even drawn this position without the 3
extra pawns. A Q+N vs Q position is drawn. So Carlsen went for this position
without any doubt in his mind regarding the result.} 57. Qd5 Qe1 58. Qd6 Qe3+
59. Ka6 Nc5+ 60. Kb5 Nxb3 61. Qc7+ Kh6 62. Qb6+ Qxb6+ 63. Kxb6 Kh5 64. h4 Kxh4
65. c5 Nxc5 {It was a fitting end to the tournament that both the players
played till bare kings were left on the board! Really amazing chess by the
challenger, whom we cannot call as challenger now that he has won the world
championship title! But the last game is an indication of what we can expect
from Carlsen in the future! A lot of fighting chess!} 1/2-1/2

