Carlsen–Karjakin – Game 5 with opposite coloured bishops

Karjakin’s d5-d4 pawn break in today’s game really reminded me of the move that I played almost 10 years ago in a position with similar material (bishops of opposite colour) and ideas:

Carlsen–Karjakin match, 2016 – Game 5
Karjakin played 42…d5-d4! with initiative

Jiganchine – Trotchanovich, Keres 2007
White to move.

I also analyzed this game in the book Spanish Opening - Strategy and Tactics, here is the full analysis:

Jiganchine, Roman - Trotchanovich, Pavel
Keres Memorial 2007   2007.05.20 , C80

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O b5 6. Bb3 Nxe4 7. d4 d5 8. dxe5 Be6 9. Nbd2 Nc5 10. c3

10. ... Nxb3?!

This is a positional mistake, as now White's control over d4 and c5 becomes very firm. Black instead had 3 main moves: 10... Bg4, 10... Be7, and 10... d4, the last of which was played in the Karpov-Korchnoi game.

11. Nxb3 Be7 12. Nfd4! Nxd4

( 12. ... Nxe5 is considered dangerous - Black is likely to lose material 13. Re1 Ng6 14. Nxe6 fxe6 15. Nd4 e5 16. Ne6 Qd7 17. Qxd5! Qxd5 18. Nxc7+ Kf7 19. Nxd5 +/- )

13. cxd4 O-O 14. Be3

White won the majority of the games that arrived at this position. Black's pieces are rather passive, and he has no compensation for the weaknesses along the 'c' file. However to exploit his position, White would have to build up pressure on both sides of the board and only then execute a breakthrough. His plan is roughly as follows:

1. establish a knight on 'c5' and control the 'c' file
2. advance pawns on the kingside and resolve the pawn structure there
3. activate the dark squared bishop to the a3-f8 diagonal
4. use the third rank for manoeuvres of heavy pieces and build pressure on both sides of the board
5. once Black pieces are tied up - either engineer a pawn break, or open a file and invade with heavy pieces.

Of course, depending on how the opponent acts, White would have to modify his plan accordingly.

14. ... Rc8

( 14. ... f6 was a bit more active, but did not fundamentally change the evaluation of the position. )

15. Rc1 c6 16. Nc5 Bxc5 17. Rxc5 a5 18. Qc2 Bd7 19. f4

Not only White is putting pressure on the queenside, but he also wants to advance with f4-f5-f6, so Black has to prevent that somehow.

19. ... f5

A committal move, as now the 'e' pawn will need to be continually watched by Black.

( Also possible was 19. ... g6 20. f5! Bxf5 21. Qd2 and White has great compensation for the sacrificed pawn, as Black's dark squares are very weak. 21. ... Qd7 22. Bh6 Rfe8 23. Bg5 h5 24. Bf6 Kh7 25. Qg5 a4 26. Rf4 a3 27. b3 and White can continue to build up pressure, with possible sacrifices either on 'f5' or on 'h5'. Black's position cannot be saved. )

20. Rf3 Qe7 21. Bd2 a4

Black has completely surrendered the dark squares, tying all hopes to passive defence. Such positions however are very unpleasant to defend as White can combine threats on both sides of the board. The game goes on for quite a while from here, but Black is always struggling due to the weaknesses of his position.

22. Bb4 Qf7 23. Rcc3 Rfe8 24. Rh3 Re6

Black manages to trade off one pair of rooks, which is probably to his advantage.

25. Rcg3 Rg6 26. Rxg6 Qxg6

Now my main risk is that Black will trade off the second rook the same way, so I tried to go back and forth, hoping to tie up the black rook to be guarding e6 or the a file.

27. Rg3 Qf7 28. Ra3

One of White's ideas is to play b2-b3, and invade on the 'a' file. This has to be timed very carefully, of course.

28. ... Qe8 29. Re3

( With his last move Black made sure that he is prepared to meet 29. b3 axb3 30. axb3 with 30. ... Ra8 )

29. ... Qe6 30. Qe2 Re8 31. Ra3 Ra8 32. h3 Qe8 33. Kh2 Be6 34. Rg3

With the queenside threats, White forced Black to put the rook to 'a8', and now Black is unable to quickly transfer the rook to g6.

34. ... Kh8 35. Bd6

White is preparing to play e5-e6 and Be5 with pressure on g7 at the right time.

35. ... Qf7 36. Rc3 Qe8 37. Qf2 Ra7 38. Qh4 Ra8 39. Rg3 Qf7 40. Rc3 Bd7 41. Qg5 Qg6

42. Qe7

( 42. Qxg6 hxg6 would only give small winning chances, for example - opposite colour bishop endgame has some promise if white brings king on b6 and takes on g7 with bishop, and creates passed pawn on kingside - but there is only a remote chance of that happening. )

42. ... Qe8 43. Qh4 Rc8 44. Rg3 Qf7 45. Qg5 Re8 46. b3

Going back to the idea of generating play on the queenside. It is essential in the Spanish opening to play on both sides of the board, especially if White wants to convert his spacial advantage into a win.

46. ... axb3 47. axb3

47. ... Kg8

( It would be logical for Black to take over the 'a' file, but then I was hoping to generate enough pressure on kingside: After 47. ... Ra8 there was a brilliant (but predictable ) sacrifice: 48. e6!! Bxe6 49. Be5 Rg8 ( 49. ... Ra7 50. Bxg7+ Qxg7 51. Qd8+ Bg8 52. Rxg7 Rxg7 53. Qf6 +- ) 50. h4!! and Black is completely helpless against h4-h5-h6 50. ... Qg6 ( 50. ... Bd7 51. h5 and Qg6 is no longer an option ) 51. Qxg6 hxg6 52. Rxg6 with double threat Rxe6 and Rh6 mate! 52. ... Kh7 53. Rxe6 +- )

48. b4 Kh8 49. Ra3 Qe6 50. Ra7 Kg8 51. h4 h6 52. Qg3 h5 53. Qg5 Qf7 54. Kh3 Kh7

55. Bc5 Re6

56. Kh2?!

( White was winning immediately after 56. Bf8! Qxf8 57. Rxd7 Rh6 58. g3 with zugzwang! 58. ... Rg6 59. Qxh5+ Rh6 60. Rf7! Rxh5 61. Rxf8 with a completely winning rook endgame for White. )

56. ... Re8

57. e6!?

White gives up the pawn to free up the e5 square for his bishop and to disrupt the coordination of the black pieces.

57. ... Qxe6

( 57. ... Rxe6? 58. Qd8 +- )

58. Qxh5+ Kg8 59. Qg5 Kh7 60. h5 Kh8 61. Rc7 Rc8 62. Ra7 Rg8

63. Qg6 Rc8?

( 63. ... Qe1! +/- was the best chance. )

64. Qxe6 Bxe6 65. Re7 Bg8 66. h6! Rd8

Black tries to prevent Bd6

( 66. ... gxh6? 67. Bd6 Bh7 68. Be5+ Kg8 69. Rg7+ Kf8 70. Rxh7 +- )

67. Rxg7 +-

With the king in the corner, Black clearly has no chance to save this endgame. Opposite colours of the bishops do not help Black because there are still rooks present on the board.

67. ... Bh7 68. Rc7 Rg8 69. Rxc6 Rg6

70. Rc8+ Bg8 71. Bf8 Re6 72. Rb8 Re4 73. Bg7+ Kh7 74. Be5 Be6 75. Rb6

It took a lot of moves for White to win the game, but the entire course of the game gave Black very little hope of escaping from the strategic bind.

1-0

Blast from the past - Carlsen outplays Karjakin in a tricky endgame - video

As Carlsen and Karjakin are battling out in New York this month, here is a good reminder of why Carlsen is considered the favourite - a game from 2013 that he won in good style:


This game and analysis is taken from my E-book about endgames with bishops of opposite color.

Recommended for Watching: Magnus Carlsen Reviews World Championship Game 2 Victory Over Anand

I followed the Anand-Carlsen  struggle rather closely, especially their first match, so it was interesting to see one of the games from Carlsen's perspective:

Carlsen’s Attack in Closed Sicilian

Carlsen – Wojtaszek, 2014
 White to move
Solution in the Video, Ebook, or Viewer below

Best Combinations - November 2014 (Monthly Chess Tactics Book 11)

November edition of the Monthly Tactics series is out with over 50 puzzles for you to solve, added to my collection in the Amazon ebook store.

 

The main event of November 2014 was the World Championship Match in Sochi between Carlsen and Anand, where Carlsen retained his title.

Other major events were the Petrosian Memorial in Moscow with the world's strongest grandmasters participating (won by Grischuk), and the Tal memorial - a blitz tournament held as a side event in Sochi between many super grandmasters, this year's replacement for the annual Tal Memorial in Moscow (won by Mamedyarov).

December edition will cover the Russian Championships and other major events for the last month of the year.

Carlsen – Anand, game 6

 Black to move.

The book contains the solution, but if you follow the chess news elsewhere, you probably already know what move Anand missed.

Chess World Championship Preview - Deja Vu - Combinations by Anand and Carlsen

The second match between Anand and Carlsen is approaching, and it was almost exactly a year ago that I wrote this post below. If you are wondering why these two players are still the best in the world, studying their combinations may give the answers!

 Chess World Championship Preview - Combinations by Anand and Carlsen:
The World Championship match between Magnus Carlsen and Viswanathan Anand has been anticipated throughout the chess world since Carlsen qualified from the London Candidates tournament, and there has been no shortage of forecasts. Rather than try to predict the winner, I released a new ebook that gives a preview of the match by showing the best combinations of each player - collected throughout their entire careers. You get a chance to play like the current world champion, or like the future one, if the title changes hands in the 2013 match.
Over 130 annotated test positions will help you better appreciate the enormous tactical strength of both players, while also serving as a tribute to the careers of both players.
You can get the book from Amazon here: World Championship Preview - Combinations by Anand and Carlsen 
.

Carlsen–Anand - World Chess Championship 2014 to be in Sochi?

One of the more interesting chess news of the last few days just came in: World Chess Championship 2014 to be in Sochi - Announcement: The FIDE World Chess Championship match between champion Magnus Carlsen and his challenger Viswanathan Anand will be in Sochi, Russia 7th to 28th November 2014. There had been two deadlines for bids with no interest expressed.

Follow the link for more details on the announcement and the controversy. As Carlsen and Anand are gearing up to play the second match, in Sochi or elsewhere, you can study their styles and skills from one of my tactics ebooks - World Championship Preview - Combinations by Anand and Carlsen. Originally published before their 2013 match, the title took on the new meaning after Anand won the Candidates this March!

Chess News - World Champion Magnus Carlsen gives away 3 Draws at the Simul in Moscow

You might be surprised to hear in the news that Magnus Carlsen gives away 3 Draws at Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology Chess Simul ,especially given that the Simul was on only 13 boards. However this is one of the most prestigious technical universities in Russia, so to me this is not surprising at all, and is a bit reminiscent of the Bob Wade simul, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_world_records_in_chess

The worst result in a simultaneous exhibition given by a master occurred in 1951, when International Master Robert Wade gave a simultaneous exhibition against 30 Russian schoolboys, aged 14 and under. After 7 hours of play, Wade had lost 20 games and drawn the remaining 10 (16.7%)

Chess World Championship Preview - Combinations by Anand and Carlsen

The World Championship match between Magnus Carlsen and Viswanathan Anand has been anticipated throughout the chess world since Carlsen qualified from the London Candidates tournament, and there has been no shortage of forecasts. Rather than try to predict the winner, I released a new ebook that gives a preview of the match by showing the best combinations of each player - collected throughout their entire careers. You get a chance to play like the current world champion, or like the future one, if the title changes hands in the 2013 match.

Over 130 annotated test positions will help you better appreciate the enormous tactical strength of both players, while also serving as a tribute to the careers of both players. This is my 6th book on Amazon; other books are described in my older post From Blogging to Ebooks.

You can get the book from Amazon here: World Championship Preview - Combinations by Anand and Carlsen 

Here are a couple of sample puzzles/combinations from the book (Hint – there is a similarity between the two puzzles as the same piece is being sacrificed.

Anand, Viswanathan - Kasparov, Garry 1991 , B82

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. f4 e6 7. Bd3 Nbd7 8. O-O Qb6 9. Be3 Qxb2 10. Ndb5 axb5 11. Nxb5 Ra5 12. Rb1 Rxb5 13. Rxb2 Rxb2 14. Qa1 Rb6 15. Bxb6 Nxb6 16. Qc3 Be7 17. Rb1 Nfd7 18. Qxg7 Bf6 19. Qh6 Ke7 20. Bb5 Rg8 21. Rd1 e5 22. f5 Nc5

White to move. See the solution and full game here.

Carlsen, Magnus - Andriasian, Zaven  2003 , D17

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 dxc4 5. a4 Bf5 6. Nh4 e6 7. Nxf5 exf5 8. e3 Bd6 9. Bxc4 O-O 10. Qf3 g6 11. h3 h5 12. Bd2 Nbd7 13. O-O-O a6 14. g4 fxg4 15. hxg4 hxg4 16. Qg2 b5 17. Ba2 c5 18. Ne4 Qe7 19. Nxd6 Qxd6 20. dxc5 Qe7 21. Bc3 Rac8 22. Rxd7 Qxc5 23. Kb1 b4

White to move See the solution and the full game here

ChessTV - Interview with Carlsen prior to his match with Anand, 2013

I've been following ChessTV recently quite a lot, it's a great project and today they posted an interesting interview with Magnus Carlsen:

Carlsen outplays Karjakin in a tricky endgame

Carlsen, Magnus - Karjakin, Sergey Tata Steel Chess 2013

The game is taken from my E-book about endgames with bishops of opposite colour:

The book is formatted for electronic readers and can be read on devices of various sizes, from tablets to phones. The free sample includes 3 thoroughly annotated games and the full book comes with dozens of training positions to help develop a good sense for positions with bishops of opposite colour.

This game has drawn a lot of attention due to the manner in which Carlsen outplayed his opponent.

53. f4  Carlsen wisely advances pawns on the dark squares to restrict Black's bishop - something we'll see very often in these endgames.

53. ... Bd6 54. Re8 Rb7 55. Ra8 Be7 56. Kg2 Rb1

57. e5 Re1 58. Kf2 Rb1 59. Re8 Bf8 60. Rc8 Be7

61. Ra8 Rb2+ 62. Kf3 Rb1 63. Bd5 Re1 64. Kf2 Rd1 65. Re8 Bf8 66. Bc4 Rb1

 Question: How can White make progress?

Answer: by undermining Black's pawn chain and trying to advance f4-f5-f6, even if that involves some sacrifices.

67. g4

After some manoeuvring, Carlsen begins a major pawn breakthrough that aims against Black bishop and king that have been boxed on the kingside. Due to his active rook Black had his chances, but they were extremely difficult to exploit in the time trouble that Karjakin was in.

67. ... hxg4 68. h5 Rh1

( 68. ... gxh5! 69. f5 h4 70. f6+ Kg6 71. Rxf8
71. ... Kf5 White won the bishop, but Black gets enough counterplay due to his active pawns, king and rook. 72. Rh8 Rb2+ 73. Kg1 Rb1+ with a perpetual check. )

69. hxg6 fxg6 70. Re6

Temporarily Black has an extra pawn, but his pawns are now vulnerable, and Black's bishop still has no moves.

70. ... Kh6 71. Bd5 Rh2+ 72. Kg3 Rh3+ 73. Kxg4 Rxd3

74. f5

( 74. Be4!? was also possible. )

74. ... Re3 75. Rxg6+ Kh7 76. Bg8+ Kh8

77. Kf4

White's pawns are further advanced and better supported by his pieces.

77. ... Rc3 78. f6 d3 79. Ke3 c4 80. Be6 Kh7 81. Bf5 Rc2

The black king is still a vulnerable piece that Carlsen keeps exploiting. Now he utilizes the discovered check to transpose into a winning bishop endgame. His two connected passed pawns will be enough for a win because they are still placed on dark squares and cannot be blocked by the black bishop.

82. Rg2+ Kh6 83. Rxc2 dxc2 84. Bxc2

84. ... Kg5 85. Kd4 Ba3 86. Kxc4 Bb2 87. Kd5 Kf4 88. f7 Ba3 89. e6 Kg5 90. Kc6 Kf6 91. Kd7 Kg7

92. e7  Black resigned, as White inevitably promotes a pawn.  1-0

Kramnik – Carlsen - annotated by Seirawan

Yasser Seirawan has annotated Magnus Carlsen’s victory over Vladimir Kramnik from the currently played Amber Chess Tournament.

Kramnik – Carlsen, 2011

Black to move. How can he fight for control over d5 to get a desired pawn structure?

Seirawan explains very nicely the positional goals of both sides as Kramnik is planning to play against the ‘d5’ outpost and wants to occupy it with a piece. It backfired as Carlsen fought to complete his development and control d5 with pieces as well. It struck me that such positional ideas that seem to be more common in Sicilian defence (for example – in Sveshnikov Variation that Kramnik himself plays) – can just as easily occur in closed openings.

Watch the video below to see it yourself: