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Good day everyone, welcome to the Chessdom live coverage of Morelia Linares super tournament. Magnus Carlsen and Peter Leko have split points in a couple of earlier games, but Leko also won one game at the last year Linares and their last encounter at Corus. Carlsen is varying with his openings a lot, last time he used Anti-Marshall against Leko, so perhaps 1.d4 will be seen today.
1.d4 alright :)
1... Nf6 2.c4 e6 Leko is known to be insisting on Nimzo or Queen's Indian defence. However, in his early career he liked to play Gruenfeld, probably under influence of his then-coach GM Adorjan.
3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Qc2 Carlsen's favorite continuation. He already used it in important games, for example against Mickey Adams at the World Cup.
4... O-O 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.Qxc3 b6 7.Bg5 Bb7 8.e3 d6 9.Ne2 9. f3 with idea to play Bd3 before Ne2 is equally popular, but 9. Ne2 is trendy over the last year. With the game move, white wants to quickly transfer his knight to c3.
9... Nbd7 10.Qc2 c5 11.Rd1 This plan was first introduced by GM Ivan Sokolov, who is one of the leading experts in Capablanca variation (4. Qc2), and was adopted by Morozevich and Kasimdzhanov since.
11... cxd4 Qe7, Qc7 and Rc8 instead of 11...cxd4 were all tested in practical play.
12.Rxd4 h6 13.Bh4 Qc7!? This is a novelty, 13...Ne5 played by GM Wells before. Leko must have had analysed this position and feels confident about the central pawns advance.
14.Nc3 d5 15.Bg3 e5 I doubt this was unexpected for Magnus, but he is taking some time here... He can continue with taking on d5 or simply Be2 or Qf5 pretending as if nothing is happening. If black takes on c4, white can recapture with his rook.
16.cxd5 He decided to clean the mess in the center. Black will take with his bishop in order to prevent Rc4.
16... Bxd5 Possibly white queen moving away from the pin? Or computer recommendation 17. e4!?
17.Be2 Carlsen simply goes on with development, ignoring the pawn on g2. 17... Bxg2!? 18. Rg1 Qb7 or something like 17...Qc6 18. f3 e4!? Carlsen has to untie his pieces or black will take over pretty soon. (17.Qd2 Bc6 18.Rc4!? Qb7 19.f3 b5!?) (17.e4 Bc6 (17... Bb7 18.Be2!? Qc6 19.Rc4) 18.Nb5! Qb7 19.Nd6)
17... Rac8 Interesting decision, Leko pays no attention to g2 pawn, or simply waits for the tricky 18. 0-0 Qb7! when both Rd4 and g2 are hanging, but this it is much more dangerous since white king castled. Carlsen will probably play 18. e4! or 18. f3. Apparently, there is delay in live transmission from the playing hall. We're hoping to have the moves soon...
18.e4! The best move! Magnus is establishing control again, after next 19. Rc4 (or 18...Be6 19. 0-0) the position will be roughly equal.
18... Bc6 (18... Be6 19.Qb1 moving away from c-file and guarding e4 pawn (19.O-O? exd4! 20.Bxc7 Rxc7 advantage to black)) (18... Bb7 19.Rc4 white is perfectly fine.)
19.f3 19. Rc4 was also good
19... Nh5 20.Rd2 Nxg3 21.hxg3 Leko will move his knight, probably to c5 or f6, and play Rfd8 to take advantage of white's lack of rooks coordination.
21... Nf6 (21... Nc5 would allow white to transfer the bishop to a better diagonal a2-g8. 22.Bc4)
22.O-O There are small problems with white pawn structure, but it's hard for black to organize pressure. Maybe now Leko will force double rook exchange on the d-file. We know he's never reluctant to make a draw :) ( Bc4 was not possible 22.Bc4 Bxe4 23.Bxf7+ Qxf7 24.fxe4 Ng4! huge advantage to black)
22... Qe7 No rooks trade as of yet. Leko is trying to sneak with his queen closer to the g3 pawn.
23.Rfd1 Bd7!? 24. Qd3, to finally move the queen away from the c-file, then 24...Qc5+ 25. Kh2 Be6 with equal play.
24.Ba6!? Rc7 25.Qd3 Be6 26.Qd6!? Leko was intending Bb3...
26... Bb3! Breaking harmony of white rooks. 27. Nb5!? might still keep them doubled on d-file.
27.Nb5! Excellent! White could even claim a small advantage now! 27...Bxd1 28. Qxc7 Qxc7 29. Nxc7 Bb3 and black might be having problem with pieces' coordination. 27...Qxd6 28. Rxd6 Rc2 29. Rad2.
27... Qxd6 28.Rxd6 Bxd1 29.Nxc7 Ba4 (29... Bb3 30.Kf2 and white pieces are more active)
30.Rd3 Idea is to play b3 and even more squeeze on black pieces
30... Rb8 to have at disposal e8 for light pieces and clean the way for king.
31.b3 Bd7 32.Nb5!? Perhaps better was 32. Kf2... That knight is useful piece for white, but Magnus is offering an exchange because light-squared bishop will be pressing against f7. It is not clear if this attack can be supported with the rook though, after 32...Bxb5 33. Bxb5 Rc8.
32... Bxb5 33.Bxb5 Rc8 34.Ba6 Rc1+ Black is close to equalizing now...
35.Kf2 Kf8 Still better was 35...Rc2+ first
36.Rd8+ Ke7 37.Ra8 Rc7 38.g4 Black has no problems after 38...Nd7
38... h5 39.gxh5 Nxh5 40.Bc4 Nf4 Finally, p layers have reached the time control. In the fast course of events, Leko took care of the possibly problematic h-pawn (for example, after some later Rh8-h7 or similar) and is ready to hop with his knight to d4. It seems like it would be too dangerous to allow him that.
41.g3 Followed by a draw offer! Carlsen experienced some problems in the opening as Leko aggressively advanced his central pawns. Later on, however, Leko wandered around without clear plan and Carlsen briefly took the initiative after 27. Nb5! Exchange on move 32 allowed Leko to secure a draw. Thank you everyone for following Chessdom live commentary, see you again tomorrow at 16:30 EST / 22:30 CET for the live coverage of Topalov-Carlsen.
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