Anand back level in the World Chess Championship with a game three win

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World Chess Championship 2014 (3)

Anand back level in the World Chess Championship with a game three win

Mark Crowther - Tuesday 11th November 2014

Anand exchanges score sheets after beating Carlsen in game 3. Photo ©

Anand exchanges score sheets after beating Carlsen in game 3. Photo © | http://sochi2014.fide.com

Viswanathan Anand beat Magnus Carlsen in game three of their World Championship match to level the scores just one game after going behind. Anand played the topical 5.Bf4 Queen's Gambit and obtained a big advantage through vastly superior opening preparation. Anand's deep opening preparation especially in his World Championship matches has been a big part of his success. Carlsen isn't as well prepared so it's perhaps a bit of a surprise that this kind of loss hasn't happened before now. Game two saw Anand outplayed from a virtually equal position which was a very bad sign for him, now it is Carlsen who has some worries, he will lose a lot of games to Anand with the quality of preparation shown today.

8.h3 can lead to very similar positions to the game and Tomashevsky vs Riazantsev, if Carlsen had seen it, should have warned him off this kind of position altogether. 11.0-0 is a more common white choice than 11.Bxa6 and the players were then following Aronian-Adams from Bilbao 2013 a game Carlsen seemed to either be worried about or not remember properly as his play slowed right down.

Anand had prepared at least until 24.Qxb6 which he knew to be favourable (and with the addition of h3 exactly the same as the Tomashevsky game). Carlsen had seen this position coming for some time but it was not part of his preparation which was far beneath what you'd expect for a world championship match.

Carlsen used lots of time indicating his unhappiness with his preparation. Carlsen said afterwards "then he got this 26.Rc6 and all, of this stuff with 27...g5 and 28....Bb4 doesn't work at all". 26...g5 is tricky but Anand managed to find his way through the immediate complications and his surprise at 27.Bb4. Anand spent a long time over 28.Ra1, the best move in the position and Carlsen, down to 6 minutes, blundered with 28...Ba5 although his position must be very bad anyway.

Anand didn't even have to be all that accurate with computers suggesting 25.Qa6 and 27.Be5 being better than what Anand played. However Anand just kept his major trumps in the position and Carlsen just collapsed in what was a pretty miserable position.

Carlsen on his opening choice:

"It was not a good choice, he was well prepared and got a good position. You can't do much worse than that."

"I was definitely surprised at some point, I can say that."

"I spent quite a long time preparing but too little on what happened in the game. What can I say."

"It was a poor choice of opening but he was very well prepared and played very well from then on. I could have done better, obviously, but it was difficult."

"He was well prepared in the first game and he was well prepared today."

"When something goes wrong it's always my fault." Carlsen on his seconds.

Anand was low key after the game.

"Obviously I'm quite pleased." Anand

"It's not like I spent all day on this line." Anand.

Score after three games: Carlsen 1.5 - Anand 1.5

Game 4 Wednesday 12th November 3pm local time 12pm GMT: Carlsen-Anand

Anand,Viswanathan (2792) - Carlsen,Magnus (2863) [D37]
WCh 2014 Sochi RUS (3), 11.11.2014
[Crowther,Mark]

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Be7 5.Bf4 0-0 6.e3 Nbd7 7.c5 c6 8.Bd3

[8.h3 Tomashevsky-Riazantsev was very similar to the game continuation with the inclusion of h3. 8...b6 9.b4 a5 10.a3 Ba6 11.Bxa6 Rxa6 12.b5 cxb5 13.c6 Qc8 14.c7 b4 15.Nb5 a4 16.Rc1 Ne4 17.Nd2 Ndf6 18.f3 Ra5 19.Nxe4 Nxe4 20.fxe4 Rxb5 21.Qxa4 Ra5 22.Qc6 bxa3 23.exd5 Rxd5 24.Qxb6 Qd7 25.0-0 Rc8 26.Rc6

Alexander Riazantsev

Evgeny Tomashevsky

Position after 26.Rc6

FEN:
2r3k1/2Pqbppp/1QR1p3/3r4/3P1B2/p3P2P/6P1/5RK1 b - - 0 26

26...h6 27.Rfc1 Kh7 28.Qa6 Rf5 29.Bd6 Bh4 30.Qxa3 Bf2+ 31.Kh1 Rd5 32.Bf4 f5 33.Qc3 Bh4 34.Rb6 Bg5 35.Be5 Bd8 36.Rb8 1-0 Tomashevsky,E (2646)-Riazantsev,A (2656) Moscow RUS 2008]

8...b6 9.b4 a5 10.a3 Ba6 11.Bxa6

[11.0-0 is more common.]

11...Rxa6 12.b5 cxb5 13.c6 Qc8 14.c7 b4 15.Nb5 a4 16.Rc1 Ne4 17.Ng5 Ndf6 18.Nxe4 Nxe4 19.f3 Ra5 20.fxe4N

Magnus Carlsen

Viswanathan Anand

Position after 20.fxe4

FEN:
2q2rk1/2P1bppp/1p2p3/rN1p4/pp1PPB2/P3P3/6PP/2RQK2R b K - 0 20

[Relevant: 20.Qe2 Qd7 21.fxe4 Rc8 22.exd5 exd5 23.axb4 Rxb5 24.0-0 Rxb4 25.Qa6 h6 26.Rc6 Bg5 27.Bxg5 hxg5 28.Rfc1 Rc4 (28...Rb2) 29.R1xc4 dxc4 30.Qxb6 a3 31.Rxc4 a2 32.Qa5 Qe6 33.Qxa2 Rxc7 34.Qa8+ Kh7 35.Rxc7 Qxe3+ 36.Kf1 Qf4+ 37.Qf3 Qxc7 38.Qh5+ Kg8 39.Qxg5 Qc4+ 40.Kf2 Qxd4+ Â½-Â½ (40) Aronian,L (2795)-Adams,M (2753) Bilbao 2013]

20...Rxb5 21.Qxa4 Ra5 22.Qc6 bxa3 23.exd5

Magnus Carlsen

Viswanathan Anand

Position after 23.exd5

FEN:
2q2rk1/2P1bppp/1pQ1p3/r2P4/3P1B2/p3P3/6PP/2R1K2R b K - 0 23

"We got to this position and the point is it's important to take here and the difference in pawns is what I'm playing for. The pawn c7 restricts black much more than the pawn on a3. Although it's only one move away from doing that."

23...Rxd5 24.Qxb6

"I have to pause for this because otherwise he plays b5." Anand. "Probably Qb6 was still in my prep. But maybe it goes further."

24...Qd7 25.0-0

[25.Qa6 "I was considering Qa6." Anand. 25...Qc8 was the move Anand thought was the move Carlsen was more or less forced to make. (25...Bb4+) 26.Qc4 is a line the computers want to play.]

25...Rc8 26.Rc6

Magnus Carlsen

Viswanathan Anand

Position after 26.Rc6

FEN:
2r3k1/2Pqbppp/1QR1p3/3r4/3P1B2/p3P3/6PP/5RK1 b - - 0 26

"I was quite happy when I saw Rc6 so I went for that." Anand.

26...g5?!

Trying to mix things up. "then he got this 26.Rc6 and all, of this stuff with 27...g5 and 28....Bb4 doesn't work at all". Carlsen

27.Bg3

[27.Be5!?]

27...Bb4

"He went Bb4 which I hadn't seen." Anand.

28.Ra1!

Magnus Carlsen

Viswanathan Anand

Position after 28.Ra1

FEN:
2r3k1/2Pq1p1p/1QR1p3/3r2p1/1b1P4/p3P1B1/6PP/R5K1 b - - 0 28

Played after long consideration. Anand was probably deliberately slowing himself down here to make sure he got it right and this is spot on.

[28.Rc2? "My first idea was to come Rc2 or Rc4 but then I realised that instead of moving the bishop he'll start repeating with the rook." Anand. 28...Rb5 29.Qa7 Ra5 30.Qb6 Rb5 31.Qa6=; 28.Rc4? Bd2! is even better for black.]

28...Ba5?

Down to 6 minutes on his clock and in a miserable position Carlsen blunders decisively.

29.Qa6!

"After this I think black is just collapsing very fast." Anand.

29...Bxc7

[29...Bb4 30.Rb6 Ra5 31.Qxc8+ Qxc8 32.Rxb4]

30.Qc4!

Magnus Carlsen

Viswanathan Anand

Position after 30.Qc4

FEN:
2r3k1/2bq1p1p/2R1p3/3r2p1/2QP4/p3P1B1/6PP/R5K1 b - - 0 30

Now it's over.

[30.Rac1 Ra5! and black is at least equal.]

30...e5 31.Bxe5 Rxe5 32.dxe5 Qe7 33.e6 Kf8 34.Rc1 1-0

WCh Sochi
Anand, Viswanathan	-	Carlsen, Magnus	½-½	48	D85	Gruenfeld Defence
Carlsen, Magnus	-	Anand, Viswanathan	1-0	35	C65	Ruy Lopez Berlin
Anand, Viswanathan	-	Carlsen, Magnus	1-0	34	D37	QGD 5.Bf4

WCh Sochi (RUS), 8-28 xi 2014
Name	Ti	NAT	Rtng	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Total	Perf
Anand, Viswanathan	g	IND	2792	½	0	1	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	1½	2863
Carlsen, Magnus	g	NOR	2863	½	1	0	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	1½	2792

WCh Sochi
Anand, Viswanathan	-	Carlsen, Magnus	½-½	48	D85	Gruenfeld Defence
Carlsen, Magnus	-	Anand, Viswanathan	1-0	35	C65	Ruy Lopez Berlin
Anand, Viswanathan	-	Carlsen, Magnus	1-0	34	D37	QGD 5.Bf4

WCh Sochi (RUS), 8-28 xi 2014
Name	Ti	NAT	Rtng	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Total	Perf
Anand, Viswanathan	g	IND	2792	½	0	1	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	1½	2863
Carlsen, Magnus	g	NOR	2863	½	1	0	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	1½	2792

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