Autoplay:
Autoplay:
Good day everyone, welcome to the live coverage of Morelia/Linares super tournament. Vassily Ivanchuk and Magnus Carlsen drew their Morelia game, in spite of Carlsen's solid structural advantage. They meet eachother again on the start of Spanish leg, that is taking place in Linares. Judging by previous rounds, Ruy Lopez is the most probable opening, but both of them have wide repertoire and surprises are possible. Linares is celebrating a holiday, and all the stores are closed. If the live games are not starting on time, do not worry, playing hall is still locked at this moment :) Update: Still no moves at the moment... Only Anand and Shirov are playing, other are waiting for cameras to do their part
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6!? We were right about Ruy Lopez :) It would be interesting to see discussion in Marshall attack, but Carlsen is employing Berlin defence.
4.O-O Nxe4 5.d4 a6!? (5... Nd6 6.Bxc6 dxc6 7.dxe5 Nf5 8.Qxd8+ Kxd8 is the hot line of Berlin variation...) ( Morozevich and Kramnik also tried 5... Be7!?)
6.Bxc6 ( There is a way to transpose to Open Ruy Lopez with 6.Ba4 b5 7.Bb3 d5 8.dxe5)
6... dxc6 7.Qe2 (7.Nxe5 Be7 8.Re1 Nf6 and c5 later is easy equalizing for black.)
7... Bf5 8.Re1!? This is rare move, used only by Krum Georgiev once. Most common are 8. dxe5 and 8. Rd1... Vassily Ivanchuk jumps immediately after he plays a move and goes to watch the games in the 2nd row on the stage. The second event is II Campeonato Iberoamericano final, composed of the players who qualified from Morelia.
8... Bb4!? A novelty compared to Georgiev-Piket which saw 8...Be7. Idea is to provoke c2-c3 before settling with bishop on d6 or e7.
9.c3 Bd6 Tempo loss after 10. dxe5 wouldn't be such a horrible thing, because with 10...Bc5 black has excellent play. Famous Grandmaster Ljubomir Ljubojevic just stormed through the press room in Linares, talking to different people in at least 5 different languages. 10. Qc2 would invite complications and Ivanchuk is probably calculating this at the moment. Black might continue 10...0-0!?, because 10...Ng3 runs into 11. Qb3
10.Qc2! Ivanchuk accepts the challenge! This opportunity was presented after Carlsen's Bb4, and may very well decide on the final word about that idea. 10.. .0-0 11. dxe5 Bc5 12. Rxe4 Bxe4 13. Qxe4 Qd1+ 14. Qe1 looks at least somewhat better for white.
10... Qd7!? Carlsen doesn't seem impressed and simply prepares 0-0-0 (11. Re4 0-0-0). Interesting to examine are 11. dxe5!? and 11. Nh4!? Linares organizers have provided live commentary for the audience near the playing hall, but someone accidentally put them on speakers and players could listen the commentators for good 5 minutes :)
11.dxe5 Bc5 12.Rxe4 O-O-O 13.Nbd2 Qd5 After some 'forced' moves, we have line similar to the one mentioned after 10. Qc2, but here Carlsen is delaying capture on e4 in order to add more pressure on the back rank. White is temporary piece ahead, but has problems to complete the development. Probably Ivanchuk has to play Kf1 or even g4!?, because Magnus is threatening to take on e4 and check on d1.
14.Kf1 Rhe8 Carlsen quickly replied with Re8. It is unclear if setting a Q+B battery on the a7-g1 diagonal was possible before white manages to cover both e4 and f2... probably Nd4 would win important tempo at some moment...
15.b3 Naturally, Ivanchuk wants to complete the development. Carlsen should find a way to open another front, because the back-rank weakness only is not enough for advantage. Probably 15...f6!?, maybe even 15...g5 16. c4!? comes into consideration.
15... g5! He's going for it!! The idea is to undermine e5 pawn, but perhaps white can make it on time with 16. c4 Qd7 17. Nxg5 Rxe5 18. Bb2!? This is much riskier than 15...f6, but Ivanchuk is down to some 20 minutes on the clock and Carlsen is trying to make calculation harder for him. And Carlsen is great in complicating things.
16.Bb2 g4 17.Nd4 Most of the players look nervous and are constantly walking around. Maybe because the playing hall is colder than it should be... we'll remind you that the theater was all locked until some 20 minutes before the round start. The only one to sit and look at the board all time is Alexei Shirov.
17... Bxd4 18.cxd4 c5 17. Nd4 was necessary in order to keep the material, but Carlsen still has resources to impose some pressure. White can play 19. Rae1 or maybe try the sneaky 19. Rc1 which prevents capture on d4 for a moment.
19.Rae1 Idea is to free the queen to finally move away from the nasty pin...
19... cxd4 20.Qc4 Black has 20...Bxe4 21. Rxe4 Rxe5! with equality....
20... Bxe4 21.Rxe4 Rxe5! After 22. Qxd5 Rexd5 23. Rxg4 black keeps important passed pawn on d-file. 22. Rxd4 Rde8!, no problems for black.
22.Rxg4 Rde8 23.Nf3 Carlsen can win a2 pawn with 23...Qxc4+ 24. bxc4 Re2 25. Bxd4 Rxa2 and the passed pawn can be important card in the forthcoming endgame.
23... Qxc4+ 24.bxc4 Re2 25.Bxd4 Rxa2 26.Rg7 Naturaly, Ivanchuk will try to push his own passed pawn. He has only TWO minutes to reach the time control on 40th move.
26... a5 27.Rxf7 Rc2 28.g4?! Carlsen has plenty of time, but he usually blitzes together with his opponents when they are in zeitnot.
28... a4!? (28... Rc1+!? 29.Kg2 Rxc4)
29.g5 a3 30.Rxh7 a2 White can trade pair of rooks, give the bishop for a-pawn and continue to push passers on the kingside supported with the knight.
31.Rh8 Rxh8 32.Bxh8 Rxc4 33.h3 c5 34.Ne1 Rc1 35.g6 Kd7 36.Bb2 36...Ke6 and black catches the passer. White can't take on c1 because a2-a1 is in the air. Black is already better here... (36.g7? a1=Q) (36.Ke2)
36... Ke6 37.h4 c4! 38.h5 c3 39.Bxc1 a1=Q 40.Nd3 and Ivanchuk resigned because his position is hopeless after 40...Kf6. Carlsen might have appeared to be in trouble in the opening, but he kept enough pressure through the game to bring Ivanchuk into time trouble and turn the tables for a win. Thank you everyone for following the live commentary, our coverage continues tomorrow at 10:00 EST / 16:00 CET. Also, Aronian-Topalov is still in progress.
0-1