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The winners of Corus 2008 meet in the last round of the Morelia part of this tournament. Aronian overcame his start loss and with some luck is clear second, half a point behind Anand. Carlsen has it much more difficult and shares last. Having in mind that the field is very tight - all the players are within point and a half - it is still early for any predictions but every point here counts as after the participants continue with the 2nd part in Spain, tiredness will become important factor too. That's a reason to believe we'll see uncompromising fight today, as Carlsen would like to improve his standing before Spain, while Aronian needs more points to secure himself among the leaders.
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.O-O Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 O-O 8.a3 ( Another anti-Marshall line. The fashionable in the recent years 8.h3 lets Black perform an interesting sacrifice: 8... Na5 9.Nxe5 Nxb3 10.axb3 Bb7 11.d3 d5 while the game continuation preserves the Bishop.)
8... Bc5 9.c3 An year ago Magnus played the same way against Svidler and got no opening advantage but he sure did some homework. The extra temp - a3 - could be important in some lines of the Arhangelsk variation.
9... d6 10.d4 Bb6 11.h3 (11.Be3 h6 12.h3 was played against Svidler in Corus 2007.)
11... Re8 (11... h6 prevents Bg5 so 12.Be3 would follow. 12... Nxe4 ? 13.Bd5)
12.Bg5 h6 13.Bh4 ( In such positions g7-g5 is a common follow up but perhaps 13.Bh4 exd4 should be played before.)
13... exd4 (13... exd4 14.cxd4 g5 15.Bg3 g4 16.hxg4 Bxg4 puts nasty pressure on 'd4')
14.cxd4 g5 15.Bg3 g4 16.hxg4 (16.Qc2 gxf3 17.Qxc6 Bd7 18.Qc3 Rxe4 19.Rxe4 Nxe4 20.Qxf3 Nxg3 looks promising for Aronian.)
16... Bxg4 Carlsen began thinking longer over his moves.
17.Bh4 ( The only sensible possibility is to sacrifice a pawn and look for activity. The passive 17.d5 Bxf3 18.gxf3 Nd4 leaves Black clearly better.)
17... Nxd4 The Nf6 suffers a nasty pin but is that enough to compensate for the pawn?
18.Nc3 (18.Qd3 Bxf3 19.e5 (19.gxf3 Nf5) 19... Bh5 20.Bxf6 Qxf6 21.exf6 Rxe1+ 22.Kh2 Nxb3 23.Qxb3 Bg6) ( After 18.Nc3 c6 Black seems to be able to consolidate: 18.Ba2 Kg7 19.Re3 (19.Qd3 Bxf3 20.gxf3 Re5) 19... Qd7) I am under the impression that this line is not a home analysis but Carlsen messed the things up in the opening and is now looking for practical chances.
18... Bxf3 19.gxf3 Kh8 Aronian is known as an excellent attacker, so to the positions after 18...c6. even if objectively better for him, prefers to look for activity himself.
20.Nd5 Rg8+ 21.Kf1 Ng4 (21... Ng4 22.Bxd8 Nh2 mate)
22.Qxd4 Perhaps Levon did not notice that tactical blow.
22... Bxd4 23.Bxd8 Nh2+ 24.Ke2 Raxd8 ( Now it's Carlsen's turn to think a bit. His position is obviously better and he has to find a way to exploit the awkwardly placed Nh2. 24... Raxd8 25.Rad1 (25.Rh1 Rg2) 25... Be5 26.Rh1 seems attractive.)
25.Rad1 Bxb2 (25... Be5 26.Rh1 Rg2 27.f4 Rxf2+ 28.Ke1 Rxb2 was hopeless.)
26.Rh1 c6 27.Nf4 Wins a piece. Black has to concern about his King as well.
27... Be5 28.Nd3 Nxf3 29.Kxf3 Bg7 The second win of Magnus in Morelia is a question of simple technique only.
30.Rh5 Black is about to lose one more pawn.
30... d5 31.exd5 Rd6 (31... Rd6 32.Rf5 cxd5 33.Rc1 is convincing enough.)
32.Rf5 cxd5 33.Rc1 Black has 3 pawn for the piece but Carlsen's pieces are so dominant that this is of no importance.
33... Rf6 34.Rxf6 Bxf6 35.Rc6 Kg7 36.Nf4 Bg5 37.Nh5+ Kh8 38.Rxa6 (38.Rc7 was another way to win.)
38... d4 39.Ke4 Rg6 40.Ra7 and Black resigned. A complicated game in which Carlsen mixed the move order and after 11.h3 Re8 was no more able to play Be3. He went 12.Bg5 instead but by standard means Black got the upper hand. As a best practical chance the youngster sacrificed a pawn to complicate things for his opponent. That proved successful as Aronian after a long thought went for a line with a nice Queen sacrifice missing the counter. By force a position was reached where Black had his Knight situated on 'h2' with no retreat route. That was enough for Carlsen to achieve his second victory here. Luck turned his back this time to Aronian and he lost to Magnus the point stolen from Ivanchuk.
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