WCh 2014 (3) |
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bf4 rips apart the blockade and wins the queen.)
19. Be7!? Re8 (19... Rxb5 20. Bxf8 Kxf8 21. Qxa4 Ra5 22. Qxb4+ is somewhat unclear. The passed pawn on c7 does compensate for Black's two knights against a rook. 22... Ke8!
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20. Bxb4 Rxb5 21. Qxa4
and the rook on b5 is trapped. This must favor White as Black's rook on e8 is very passive.
18. Nxe4 Nxe4 19. f3 Ra5 20. fxe4 Even though both players took a long time to get here (about an hour and a half to get to this position between the both of them) only 20.fxe4! is a novelty.
20. Qe2 Qd7 21. fxe4 Rc8!
Aronian-Adams, 2013. Vishy must have taken a fresh look at this game.
20... Rxb5 21. Qxa4 Ra5 22. Qc6 bxa3 23. exd5 Rxd5 24. Qxb6 A fascinating position. Material is equal, but White's position is clearly to be preferred. The reason is that the a-pawn is not as dangerous as the c-pawn, which needs to be blockaded immediately.
24... Qd7 25.
26. Rc6 Interestingly, this exact position was seen in the game Tomashevsky, Evgeny - Riazantsev, Alexander from the 2008 Russian Super Final. Except, in that game, White's pawn was on h3, and not on h2! Tomashevsky also won that game rather cleanly.
26... g5 Black is running out of resources. He has to devote too much to stopping the c-pawn and this means that his a-pawn is not playing.
27. Bg3 Bb4 28. Ra1! An excellent move. There is no way to rip through the blockade immediately, so Anand adds pressure on the a-pawn.
28... Ba5 29. Qa6! Keeping an eye on the a-pawn and especially the bishop on a5.
29... Bxc7 30. Qc4! The pressure on the bishop is huge. This will cost Carlsen a piece. At this point he was also very low on the clock.
30. Rxa3 was also strong as the bishop is pinned regardless.
30... e5 31. Bxe5 Rxe5 32. dxe5 As Svidler pointed out, Black has excellent chances to draw this game if he can break the pin and put pressure on White's weak pawns. But that, simply put, is not going to happen!
32... Qe7 33. e6! The easiest. Now Black's king is also a factor. There is no way to dismantle the pin, Black's position is simply resignable.
33... Kf8 34. Rc1 And it is over! Anand does it! Excellent preparation by the Indian player and absolutely precise and surgical game to beat Carlsen very cleanly.
1-0
Game(s) in PGN