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Magnus Carlsen against Levon Aronian

No doubt the game of the day was Magnus Carlsen's win against Levon Aronian. Carlsen initiated a very sharp struggle with 11.fxg3. The next few moves saw a very diffcult struggle. 24...Ba4 (24...Rf8 is perhaps better) was a very dangerous move after which 25.Qf2 taking off queens might have left Carlsen better but he didn't want to do that and his 25.Rc5? was "stunningly poor" after which 25...Rf8 left him with no moves. Aronian knew he was moving in for the kill but after 32.Ra5 he relaxed "After Ra5 I thought I can do anything." and failed to play 32...h5 which would have left Carlsen close to resignation. Instead in just a few moves not only did Aronian let Carlsen equalise but in fact gain the advantage 33...Qd1+?! (33...Bb5) Carlsen's 36.g4 was missed by Aronian, 37...Rf2? left Carlsen close to winning. However Carlsen missed the best after a long thought with 48.Rh7 (48.Rd6) but eventually ground Aronian down just the same.

Carlsen said that he didn't fully get to sleep until 10am on the morning of the game and certainly looked completely exhausted at the finish of the game. There are some comments from the players below. Aronian gave a pretty uncomfortable interview with Mads Andersen showing the loss obviously hurt a great deal.

"It was a fighting game I just need some rest now." - Carlsen

"I think I was thoroughly outplayed in the middlegame. Was very lucky not to lose before the time control. Suddenly I was a pawn up, thought I should be winning but in fact it wasn't easy." - Carlsen

"I thought my form was good at the start of the tournament but now everything is very tough. Fortunately I won today and I maybe I can turn the trend round."

Aronian on the game "It's a pity to spoil such a good position. It's obvious after h5 nothing can save white. I don't know what went wrong in my brain."

Mads Andersen: Why did you play so long, did you think of giving up? [When the position was totally lost]

Aronian: [Long pause] No I wasn't. I'll ignore that question.

Mads Andersen: What do you think about the score in the tournament just now.

Aronian: "It's a terrible score. So, I look forward to improve it."

Mads Andersen: Are you disappointed now?

Aronian: "Extremely"

Mads Andersen: How long are you going to be disappointed?

Aronian "Once I win a game I think I'll be better."

Carlsen,Magnus (2881) - Aronian,Levon (2815) [D38]
2nd Norway Chess 2014 Stavanger NOR (5.2), 08.06.2014
[Crowther,Mark]

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Bb4 5.cxd5 exd5 6.Bg5 h6 7.Bh4 Nbd7

[Relevant: 7...c5 8.dxc5 g5 9.Bg3 Nc6 10.e3 Ne4 11.Rc1 Qa5 12.Be2 Bxc3+ 13.bxc3 Nxc3 14.Qd2 Nxe2 15.Qxa5 Nxa5 16.Kxe2 b6 17.Rhd1 Ba6+ 18.Ke1 Bc4 19.Nd2 Bxa2 20.Rc2 Bc4 21.cxb6 axb6 22.Nxc4 dxc4 23.Bc7 0-0 24.Bxb6 Rfb8 25.Bxa5 Rxa5 26.Rxc4 Rb2 27.Rcd4 Kg7 28.h3 Raa2 29.R4d2 Kg6 30.Rxb2 Rxb2 31.Rd2 Rb4 32.Ke2 h5 33.Rd4 Rb2+ 34.Kf3 h4 35.g3 hxg3 36.Kxg3 f6 37.e4 Riazantsev,A (2692)-Istratescu,A (2667) Saint Quentin 2014 ½-½]

8.e3 g5 9.Bg3 Ne4 10.Nd2 Nxg3 11.fxg3N

Introducing some fairly irrational play which put a lot on the skills of the players.

[Predecessor (12): 11.hxg3 Nb6 12.a3 Bd6 13.Qc2 c6 14.e4 dxe4 15.Ndxe4 Be6 16.0-0-0 Qe7 17.Nxd6+ Qxd6 18.Ne4 Qe7 19.Qc5 Qxc5+ 20.dxc5 Nd7 21.Nxg5 Bd5 22.Nh3 Nxc5 23.Nf4 Bb3 24.Re1+ ½-½ Ragger,M (2680)-Vitiugov,N (2719) Tromsoe 2013]

11...Nb6 12.Bd3 Qe7 13.Qf3 Be6 14.a3 Bxc3 15.bxc3 0-0-0 16.a4 Bd7 17.a5 Na4 18.a6 Rhe8 19.Kf2 Kb8 20.Rhe1 Nxc3 21.axb7 Qb4 22.Kg1 Qb2 23.Nf1 f5 24.Ra5 Ba4!?

[24...Rf8 is perhaps equal.]

25.Rc5?

"Stunningly poor." Carlsen.

[25.Qf2 Carlsen didn't want to take queens off but that's definitely better than his move. 25...Qxf2+ 26.Kxf2 Rd6 27.Rc1 Na2 28.Ra1 Nb4 29.Bxf5 Rf6 30.g4 Bd7 31.Rxa7 Bxf5 32.gxf5 Rxf5+ with some advantage to white.]

25...Rf8

"I don't have any moves suddenly." Carlsen.

26.h3 Rf6 27.Nh2 Rdf8 28.Qf1 Ne4 29.Re2 Qa3 30.Bxe4 fxe4 31.Qe1 c6 32.Ra5

"After Ra5 I thought I can do anything." Aronian.

[32.Qa5 "I spent all my time calculation this." Aronian. 32...h5 33.Rcc2 "It's the only move I thought that doesn't lose immediately." Aronian.]

32...Qb3

[32...h5 "If he can get Bb5, a6 we can pack, go home." Carlsen. "It's a very difficult thing to explain why someone would not play h5. It's a puzzle." Aronian. 33.g4 h4 34.Kh1 Qb3 35.Qa1 Rf2 36.Rxf2 Rxf2 37.Rxa4 Rb2 wins.]

33.Qa1 Qd1+?

[33...Bb5 34.Re1 a6]

34.Qxd1 Bxd1 35.Re1 Bh5 36.g4

"I completely missed g4, fogot about it after that of course I am the one who has to equalise. Under inertia I just played some really stupid moves." Aronian.

36...Be8

[36...Bg6]

37.Rea1 Rf2?!

[37...Kxb7 38.Rxa7+ Kb6 39.R7a6+ Kb7 40.Ra8 Kc7 41.Nf1 Kd6]

38.Rxa7 Rb2

[38...Re2]

39.Nf1 Kc7 40.Ra8 Kxb7 41.R1a7+

Suddenly Carlsen is pretty much winning.

41...Kb6 42.Re7 Rbf2 43.Rb8+ Ka6 44.Ng3 Bg6 45.Rxf8 Rxf8 46.Re6 Be8 47.Rxh6 Kb5 48.Rh7

[48.Rd6]

48...Kc4 49.Ra7 Bg6 50.Ra6 Rf6 51.Ra3 Kb4 52.Ra1 Kc3 53.Rf1 Re6 54.Rf8 Kd2 55.Nf1+ Kd3 56.Kf2 Re7 57.Rg8 Re6 58.Ke1 Rf6 59.Rg7 Re6 60.Ra7 Re8 61.Ra3+ Kc2 62.Ra6 Rc8 63.Ke2 Be8 64.Ra5 Kc3 65.Ng3 Rb8 66.Rc5+ Kb2 67.Nh5 Bxh5 68.gxh5 Rh8 69.g4 Rh6 70.Kf2 Re6 71.Kg3 Rf6 72.h4 Rf3+ 73.Kg2 gxh4 74.h6 Rxe3 75.h7 h3+ 76.Kh2 Re2+ 77.Kxh3 Re1 78.Kg2 Re2+ 79.Kg3 Re3+ 80.Kh4 Re1 81.Kg5 Rh1 82.Kg6 Rh4 83.Rxc6 e3 84.Re6 Rxg4+ 85.Kh5 Rg1 86.Rxe3 Rh1+ 87.Kg6 Rg1+ 88.Kf7 Rh1 89.Kg8 Rg1+ 90.Kh8 Rg4 91.Re5 Rxd4 92.Kg7 Rg4+ 93.Kh6 1-0

Vladimir Kramnik beat Fabiano Caruana to take the lead but it was only at the finish that he had real winning chances. Kramnik got a very nice opening advantage but Caruana defended well and seemed to have everything more or less under control when he just didn't play the move he had calculated to a draw and resigned a couple of moves later. One can only think tiredness did for him in the end.

Kramnik,Vladimir (2783) - Caruana,Fabiano (2791) [E60]
2nd Norway Chess 2014 Stavanger NOR (5.3), 08.06.2014
[Crowther,Mark]

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nf3 Bg7 4.g3 0-0 5.Bg2 c5 6.Nc3 cxd4 7.Nxd4 Qc7 8.Qd3 Nc6 9.0-0 d6 10.b3 Nxd4 11.Qxd4 Ne4 12.Nd5 Bxd4 13.Nxc7 Bxa1 14.Be3 Bf6 15.Nxa8 Nc3 16.Bxa7 Nxa2 17.Nc7 Nb4 18.Rd1 Kg7 19.f4 h5 20.Kf2 h4 21.c5 hxg3+ 22.hxg3 dxc5 23.Bxc5 Na6 24.Nxa6 bxa6 25.e4 Bg4 26.Rd5 Bb2 27.Bxe7 Re8 28.Bd8 Be6 29.Rd3 Bf6 30.Bxf6+ Kxf6 31.Bf3 Rb8 32.Bd1 Rb4 33.Ke3 Ke7 34.g4 f6 35.g5 fxg5 36.fxg5 a5 37.Kf4 Rb5 38.Rc3 Kd6 39.Bc2 Rb4 40.Rg3 Ke7 41.Rd3 Rb5 42.Rc3 Kd7 43.Bd1 Kd6 44.Rd3+ Ke7 45.Rd2 Bxb3 46.Bxb3 Rxb3 47.Rd5 a4 48.Ra5 a3 49.Ke5 Kf7 50.Ra7+

50...Ke8??

[50...Kf8 was the move that Caruana calculated and intended to play. He couldn't explain why he did otherwise.]

51.Kf6 Rb6+ 52.Kg7

White should be winning but Caruana should have played on for a few more moves at least. No doubt he was just disgusted with himself and with what he did.

1-0

Simen Agdestein drew again comfortably in a French Defence this time against Alexander Grischuk. Grischuk was far from alone in thinking that white had a big advantage after 18.f5 with both Svidler and Karjakin thinking so in their press conference but things didn't turn out so simply and there didn't seem any obvious improvements to Grischuk's play. Agdestein was happy with his position after 31.Rb8+ Bc8 even though it looks optically good for white and certainly Grischuk's next 7 moves didn't do anything for his position except lose a pawn. 39.Rc6 allowed a winning tactic with 39...Rxg2+ but Agdestein didn't see it and after he didn't play 41...Qe4 the position was soon drawn. Agdestein admitted to being extremely tired and one wonders if his miracle undefeated score can continue much longer.

Grischuk,Alexander (2792) - Agdestein,Simen (2628) [C11]
2nd Norway Chess 2014 Stavanger NOR (5.1), 08.06.2014
[Crowther,Mark]

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e5 Nfd7 5.f4 c5 6.Nf3 Nc6 7.Be3 cxd4 8.Nxd4 Qb6 9.Qd2 Qxb2 10.Rb1 Qa3 11.Bb5 Nxd4 12.Bxd4 a6 13.Bxd7+ Bxd7 14.Rb3 Qe7 15.Rxb7 Qd8 16.0-0

[Relevant: 16.f5 Qc8 17.Rb3 Qc4 18.fxe6 fxe6 19.Rf1 Be7 20.Qd3 Rc8 21.Kd2 Rf8 22.Qxc4 Rxc4 23.Rb8+ Bc8 24.Rxf8+ Bxf8 25.Ne2 Kd7 26.c3 Ra4 27.Nc1 Kc7 28.Rb1 Bd7 29.Ra1 Bb5 30.Nb3 Kc6 31.Kc2 Bc4 32.Kb2 Bd3 33.a3 Be7 34.Nd2 Kb5 35.g3 h5 36.Kb3 g5 37.Kb2 g4 38.Be3 Bf8 39.Bd4 Bf5 40.Kb3 Bh6 41.Rd1 Bd3 42.Kb2 Bf8 43.Ra1 Be7 44.Be3 h4 45.Bd4 h3 Karjakin,S (2786)-Nakamura,H (2767) Zug 2013 ½-½ (107)]

16...Rb8N

[Predecessor (4): 16...Qc8 17.Rfb1 Bc6 18.R7b3 Be7 19.f5 exf5 20.Ne2 Bb5 21.Nf4 Bg5 22.Rg3 Bh6 23.Qf2 0-0 24.Nxd5 Qd8 25.Nf6+ Kh8 26.Rh3 Rc8 27.Rxh6 gxh6 28.Qxf5 1-0 Brkic,A (2562)-Martinovic,S (2537) Porec 2014]

17.Rxb8 Qxb8 18.f5

"I just thought I'm much better whatever I do." Grischuk. "I think it's OK" Agdestein. "Just every move is a blunder." Grischuk. "When you overestimate your position so much."

18...Qc8 19.f6 gxf6 20.Rxf6 h5 21.Rf3 Qc4 22.h3 Be7 23.a3 Bxa3 24.Ne4 dxe4 25.Rxa3 Rg8 26.Rb3 Qc7 27.Rc3 e3 28.Bxe3 Qxe5 29.Rd3 Qb5 30.Rb3 Qc6 31.Rb8+

"I think his rook is just doing nothing there." Agdestein.

31...Bc8 32.c4

Grischuk commented that in the next seven moves white gives a pawn away and improves black's position.

32...Qxc4 33.Rb4 Qc6 34.Rd4 f6 35.Kh1 Kf7 36.Rd6 Qb5 37.Kh2 h4 38.Bf4 Qf5 39.Rc6?

39...Kg6

[39...Rxg2+]

40.Rc7 e5 41.Be3 Be6?!

[41...Qe4]

42.Qb4 Rg7 43.Rxg7+ Kxg7 44.Qb7+ Bf7 45.Qxa6 Qe4 46.Qe2 f5 47.Qf3 Qxf3 48.gxf3 Kg6 49.f4 exf4 1/2-1/2

Anish Giri was very lucky to beat Veselin Topalov in a Sicilian where he completely misplayed it initially. 31...Kh8? (31...Kh7!) seemed to be the decisive error. Topalov has been giving interviews for some time now expressing disatisfaction with his play. The collapse today suggested he is very short of confidence.

Giri,Anish (2752) - Topalov,Veselin (2772) [B67]
2nd Norway Chess 2014 Stavanger NOR (5.5), 08.06.2014
[Crowther,Mark]

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 Nc6 6.Bg5 e6 7.Qd2 a6 8.0-0-0 Bd7 9.f4 b5 10.Bxf6 gxf6 11.Kb1 b4

[Relevant: 11...Qb6 12.Nxc6 Bxc6 13.f5 b4 14.Ne2 e5 15.Ng3 h5 16.Bc4 h4 17.Nf1 Bxe4 18.Qe2 Bxf5 19.Ne3 Be6 20.Qf3 Ra7 21.Bxe6 fxe6 22.Qxf6 Rh6 23.Qf3 Qb7 24.Qf2 Qf7 25.Qe1 a5 26.Rf1 Rf6 27.Qxh4 Rf4 28.Rxf4 exf4 29.Ng4 Qf5 30.Rf1 Rc7 31.Ne3 fxe3 32.Rxf5 exf5 33.Qh5+ Kd8 34.Qxf5 Bh6 35.Qf6+ Re7 36.Qxd6+ Ke8 37.Qg6+ Rf7 38.Qh5 a4 39.a3 b3 40.cxb3 axb3 41.Qb5+ Grischuk,A (2777)-Eliseev,U (2549) Moscow 2014 1-0; Relevant: 11...Qb6 12.Nxc6 Bxc6 13.f5 b4 14.Ne2 e5 15.Ng3 h5 16.Bc4 h4 17.Nf1 Bxe4 18.Qe2 Bxf5 19.Ne3 Be6 20.Qf3 Ra7 21.Bxe6 fxe6 22.Qxf6 Rh6 23.Qf3 Qb7 24.Qf2 Qf7 25.Qe1 a5 26.Rf1 Rf6 27.Qxh4 Rf4 28.Rxf4 exf4 29.Ng4 Qf5 30.Rf1 Rc7 31.Ne3 fxe3 32.Rxf5 exf5 33.Qh5+ Kd8 34.Qxf5 Bh6 35.Qf6+ Re7 36.Qxd6+ Ke8 37.Qg6+ Rf7 38.Qh5 a4 39.a3 b3 40.cxb3 axb3 41.Qb5+ Grischuk,A (2777)-Eliseev,U (2549) Moscow 2014 1-0]

12.Nce2 Qb6 13.Qe1 Rc8 14.h4N

[Predecessor (3): 14.Nxc6 Bxc6 15.Nd4 Bb7 16.f5 e5 17.Nf3 Rg8 18.Qh4 Ke7 19.Rg1 h5 20.Bd3 Bh6 21.g3 a5 22.Rg2 a4 23.Re2 b3 24.a3 Rc3 25.Qxh5 Rb8 26.Qxh6 bxc2+ 27.Rxc2 Ba6 28.Qd2 Rxd3 29.Qxd3 Bxd3 30.Rxd3 Qa6 31.Rdc3 Kf8 32.Nd2 Kg7 33.h4 Qe2 34.Ka2 Rd8 35.Rc4 Qd3 36.R4c3 Qe2 37.Rc4 Qd1 38.R4c3 Rd7 39.Nc4 Qg4 40.Nd2 d5 41.exd5 Rxd5 42.Nc4 Rd4 43.Ne3 Qe4 Shirov,A (2739)-Kozul,Z (2609) Heraklio 2007 0-1 (94); Predecessor (3): 14.Nxc6 Bxc6 15.Nd4 Bb7 16.f5 e5 17.Nf3 Rg8 18.Qh4 Ke7 19.Rg1 h5 20.Bd3 Bh6 21.g3 a5 22.Rg2 a4 23.Re2 b3 24.a3 Rc3 25.Qxh5 Rb8 26.Qxh6 bxc2+ 27.Rxc2 Ba6 28.Qd2 Rxd3 29.Qxd3 Bxd3 30.Rxd3 Qa6 31.Rdc3 Kf8 32.Nd2 Kg7 33.h4 Qe2 34.Ka2 Rd8 35.Rc4 Qd3 36.R4c3 Qe2 37.Rc4 Qd1 38.R4c3 Rd7 39.Nc4 Qg4 40.Nd2 d5 41.exd5 Rxd5 42.Nc4 Rd4 43.Ne3 Qe4 Shirov,A (2739)-Kozul,Z (2609) Heraklio 2007 0-1 (94)]

14...Na5 15.Nc1 Nc4 16.Rh3 a5 17.Bxc4 Rxc4 18.Rhd3 h5 19.g3 Be7 20.Qe2 Bc8 21.R3d2 Ba6 22.Qf3 a4 23.Nce2 Bb7 24.Qd3 Rc5 25.c4 Kf8 26.b3 Rg8 27.bxa4 Qa6 28.Nb5 Kg7 29.Ned4

[29.g4 hxg4 30.Ng3]

29...Qxa4 30.f5

[30.Nb3 Rc6]

30...Re5 31.Re1

31...Kh8?

[31...d5!; 31...Kh7 32.Nf3 Rxg3 33.Ng5+ fxg5 34.Qxg3 Bxe4+ 35.Rxe4 Rxe4]

32.Nf3!

And suddenly white is winning.

32...exf5 33.Nxe5 fxe5 34.Nxd6 b3 35.Nxb7 bxa2+ 36.Ka1 Qb4 37.Qe3 f4 38.gxf4 Bxh4 39.Rh1 Qxb7 40.fxe5 Rg4 41.Qh6+ Kg8 42.Qxh5 Qxe4 43.Rd8+ 1-0

Peter Svidler most probably could have got a big advantage in some way against Sergey Karjakin but his 23.h3 seemed to lose most of it in a very delicate position.

2nd Norway Chess 2014 Stavanger NOR (NOR), 3-14 vi 2014															cat. XXI (2774)
					1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	0
1.	Kramnik, Vladimir	g	RUS	2783	*	½	1	½	1	.	.	.	½	.	3½	2910
2.	Carlsen, Magnus	g	NOR	2881	½	*	½	.	½	.	.	1	.	½	3	2854
3.	Caruana, Fabiano	g	ITA	2791	0	½	*	.	½	.	1	.	1	.	3	2864
4.	Agdestein, Simen	g	NOR	2628	½	.	.	*	½	½	½	½	.	.	2½	2782
5.	Giri, Anish	g	NED	2752	0	½	½	½	*	.	.	.	.	1	2½	2771
6.	Karjakin, Sergey	g	RUS	2771	.	.	.	½	.	*	1	0	½	½	2½	2752
7.	Grischuk, Alexander	g	RUS	2792	.	.	0	½	.	0	*	1	.	1	2½	2755
8.	Aronian, Levon	g	ARM	2815	.	0	.	½	.	1	0	*	½	.	2	2693
9.	Svidler, Peter	g	RUS	2753	½	.	0	.	.	½	.	½	*	½	2	2714
10.	Topalov, Veselin	g	BUL	2772	.	½	.	.	0	½	0	.	½	*	1½	2640

Round 5 (June 8, 2014)
Kramnik, Vladimir	- Caruana, Fabiano	1-0	52	E60	King's Indian without Nc3
Carlsen, Magnus	- Aronian, Levon	1-0	93	D38	QGD Ragozin
Giri, Anish	- Topalov, Veselin	1-0	43	B67	Sicilian Rauzer
Grischuk, Alexander	- Agdestein, Simen	½-½	49	C11	French Defence
Svidler, Peter	- Karjakin, Sergey	½-½	38	A35	English Symmetrical

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