(4) Anand,V (2775) -
Carlsen,M (2870) [C67]
FWCM2013 (4), 13.11.2013
[Sagar Shah]
Vishy was in some grave danger today......
As Magnus played some outstanding chess...Yet it wasnt sufficient to win!
Credit: Chessbase.com.
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! 1...e5!
(W)
The Challenger had a change of heart today! He played what he is very good at!!
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! 3...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.] 4.0–0! 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. 4...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! 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!? 8.c3 Nxe5 9.Rxe5 d6 10.Re1 0–0 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!?
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 6...Nxb5
7.a4! the knight is trapped but if course black returns it immediately
7...Nbd4! 8.Nxd4 Nxd4 9.Qxd4 d5! And with the two bishops, blacks chances are
not bad.] 6...dxc6 7.dxe5 Nf5 8.Qxd8+ Kxd8
(W)
The Berlin Endgame! One of the most fierce and complicated endgames in Modern day Chess.
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?! 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! Ne7 11.Ng5! 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. 10...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. 11...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? 12...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. 14...h5! 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 15...b6 16.Ng3
Bc6 17.Nh2 Ng6 18.Re1 and now black should have played 18...Re8! 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?!
(B)
The start of all the problems for Vishy! Ne1 didnt really seem to meet the demands of the position!
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 16...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! maybe
continuing in this drastic way can be the right way to continue. 16...b6 (16...h5
17.Ng5!) 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! 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! 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!?
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!
18...Bxa2!
(W)
Did Bobby Fischer's ghost enter Carlsen's body for a moment?!!
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. 19...c4! 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. 21...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 22...Rg8!! 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. a) 22...Rf8
is the most obvious move but its not so good as after 23.e6! fxe6 (23...Bf5
24.Nd4! fxe6 25.Nb5 again with lot of counterplay for white. Infact this
position is a draw after 25...a6 26.Rxc7+ Kb8 27.Rdd7 axb5 (27...Be4
28.Nd6+-) 28.Rb7+ Kc8 29.Rbc7+=) 24.Rxg7 white has counterplay; b) 22...Nxe5?!
23.Re7 f6 24.Nc3 Bc2 25.Rd2 Bf5 26.Rxg7© once again white has good compensation
for the pawn.; 23.f4 now f7 is hanging but black can play (23.Rxf7 Nxe5µ black
has the advantage.) 23...Bc2! 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!
25.R7d4 (25.Rxf7 Be6 traps the poor rook.) 25...Kb7! 26.g4 Bc8³
and black is fine. A similar manoeuvre is made by the bishop in the game too.;
22.e6!? is a very interesting move. The point is that we want to trap the
bishop on b1. 22...fxe6 (22...Bf5 was also possible and maybe even safer)
23.Nc3 Bf5 24.g4 is the black bishop trapped? apparently not 24...Nh4!³ 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 24...Bf5!
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
23...Be4] 23...Bf5 24.g4! 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. 24...Bc8
(W)
Back to where it all began!!
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+µ) 26...Bxb3 27.Nxb3= and though
black has 3 pawns I think white has nothing to worry here.] 25.Nd3 Defending
the f4 pawn and threatening f5. 25...h5!! 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?! 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 29...Nc6µ] 27...hxg4?!
[27...a6 could have been stronger as after 28.Nd4 hxg4 29.hxg4 c5 30.Nf3
g6! 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. 28...Nd5 black threatens a6 now so white must hurry up. (28...c6
29.Nd6+!) 29.e6! showing some urgency 29...fxe6! (29...a6 is not so
good now as after 30.Ne5! axb5 31.Nxf7 Rxh3 32.Nd8+ Kb8 33.Rxd5 white
has a dangerous initiative.) 30.Ne5! 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. 30...a5! 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.
a) White's
actual threat is 30...-- 31.Rxc7+! Nxc7 (31...Ka6
32.Nd6 and with Ra2 coming up, black king's days are numbered.) 32.Nd6+!
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!
; b) 30...a6
is brilliantly refuted by 31.Rxc7+! Nxc7 32.Nd6+ Ka7 33.Nc6#
Analysis Variation
A mate that you dont get to see everyday!
; 31.hxg4 white
sees no way to continue the attack now 31...c5! 32.Nd6+ Ka6 33.Nxc8 Raxc8
34.fxe6 Nf4µ 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! Now white
has to think about how to defend this g4 pawns. 29.Nf2 Nc6! attacking
the e5 pawn. 30.Rc2! Anand also now resorts to tricky play, taking on e5
would be inadvisable as then c7 hangs. 30...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! Bd7 32.e6! all these ideas will be seen in the main game
too. 32...fxe6 33.fxe6 Be8? (33...axb5 34.exd7 Rh6 was more to the
point.) 34.Nd4! black is under a lot of pressure and now taking on d4
leads to a mate in 3 34...Nxd4? 35.Rxc7+ Kb8 36.Rc8+ Kb7 37.R1c7#; 30...g6
could have been a very natural and good move.; 30...Nxe5? 31.Rxc7+ Ka6 32.Nc3 and
black is lost as Ra1 is coming up next.] 31.Rc4!? stopping a4 for the
time being. [31.Rdc1 could be safely met with 31...Bd7] 31...g6! 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. 32...fxe6 33.fxg6
e5! 34.Rxc6 (34.Rd8 Nxd8 35.Rxc7+ Ka6–+) 34...Kxc6 35.Rd8 Rh6! 36.g7 Rg6
37.g8Q Rxg8 38.Rxg8 Kxb5–+ 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! 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+-]
35.Ne4!!
(B)
The move that saved the day for Vishy Anand!
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. 35...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! 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+? 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. 37...Rf8?! [37...g5!
38.Nd4 would have been the critical try (38.Nxg5 Rf5–+ creates a double
attack and wins!; 38.Nbd6+? 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! Nxd4 39.Rxc7+ Ka6 40.Kxd4
(B)
As the 40th move was made, the champion was out of danger!!
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. 40...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! Rdd3! 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? would
draw the game easily 44.Rxc8 Rxe4 (44...Bb5 45.Nd6!) 45.Rxe8 Kb5 46.e7
Kb4 47.Rb8 Re2+ 48.Kb1 Rxe7 49.Rxb6+ Ka3 50.Rxg6= 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! 46...Rg3!
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 50...Re5 51.Rd7+ Kc6 52.Red8 Rge3
53.Rd6+ Kb7 [53...Kb5? 54.Rd5+ Rxd5 55.Rxd5+ Kc6 56.Rxg5 Rxe7=] 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! 55...Re2+!
56.Ka3 Re6!!
Not giving up till the end! Magnus sets his last fatal trap!
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! [57.Rxg5?? was
the big trap! 57...b5–+ 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+! Kb7 60.Rag8 the g pawn will fall now
and not only that there is a threat to exchange the rooks with Rg7 60...a4 [60...Rc7!?
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= 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! 61...axb3
62.R8g7! Ka6 63.Rxe7 Rxe7 64.Kxb3
Magnus was sure that Vishy knew his basic theoretical Rook endings as he offered a draw!
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!! :)
(W)
