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After defeating Topalov, Carlsen has real chance to fight for the title. This is to be decided today in the game against one of his main rivals - Aronian. The Armenian is very dangerous opponent but so is Carlsen - sacrificing 3 pawns in the previous round to force his opponent into time trouble and subsequent decisive mistake is one example only. I hope that both will give their best in order to win this game and a spectacular encounter will be witnessed. Alas, the official site experiences translation problems as usual. After our latest information, 2 new servers have been bought by the organizers, but still cannot cope with the great number of visitors.
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.g3 Bb7 ( Return to the classics instead of more fashionable lines with 4... Ba6)
5.Bg2 Be7 6.Nc3 O-O (6... Ne4 is by far more popular.)
7.Qc2 c5 8.d5 exd5 9.cxd5 (9.Ng5 Nc6 is fine for Black.)
9... Bxd5 ( This is a new move. 9... Nxd5 10.Qe4 happened in a game of Karjakin at Euro 2007.)
10.Nxd5 Nxd5 11.Nh4 Nb4 12.Qd2 N8c6 13.Nf5 Nd4 An exchang sacrifice which has to be accepted. By the tempo Carlsen plays his moves one would guess it's home preparation.
14.Nxd4 cxd4 15.Bxa8 Qxa8 16.O-O Qe4 17.a3 Nc2 18.Ra2 Rc8 All is more or less forced after 13...Nd4. White pieces lack coordination for the time being but will that be enough for the young star to claim sufficient compensation?
19.b3 Aronian plans to disentangle his pieces by Qd3 + Rd1, eventually followed by f2-f3.
19... Rc3 20.Bb2 Rc6 ( Carlsen's moves are quite natural, but 20... Rc6 21.Rd1 Bf6 22.Qd3 d5 23.Bc1 leaves the impression that his compensation is only temporary. However we know how dangerous he can be while developing initiative.)
21.Rd1 (21.Rc1 h5 22.Qd3 f5 23.f3 Qxd3 24.exd3 Bf6 excludes the WHite Bishop out of play for a long time.)
21... Bf6 22.Qd3 (22.Qf4 may be answered simply 22... Qe8)
22... d5 White Rooks are sentenced to wait passively for a while as their Bishop. Aronian's attempts to make any progress will allow Magnus to begin active operations. (22... d5 23.Bc1 Rc3 24.Qb5 d3 25.exd3 Qe6 26.Qa4 g5 27.Bb2 Qe2 28.Rf1 Rxd3 29.Bxf6 Rd1 leading to perpetual demonstrates the weakness of light squares in Levon's camp.)
23.Qf3 (23.Qf3 g6 (23... h5 24.Qxh5 Ne3 25.fxe3 Qxe3+ 26.Kf1 Qxb3 27.Rda1 Rc2 is overoptimistic.) leaves open the question of improving White's position.) (23.f3 Qe6 24.Rc1 Qc8 25.Ba1 Ne3 26.Rxc6 Qxc6 (26... Qh3 !?) 27.Bb2 Qc8 28.Kf2 Nc2 allows Black very dangerous counterplay if not 29.Bc1 Qh3 with perpetual. Anyway moves like 23.f3 are considered being too risky by non-silicon brains.)
23... h6 Clock readings are already equal. It's hard to find a plan for White. Changing at 'e4' leads to an ending where Black is not worse at all, while letting the Queen remain on 'e4' paralyzes all Aronian's pieces.
24.h4 ( Now Carlsen has to choose between 24.h4 g5 and (24... Be5 planning f7-f5.))
24... g5 Space is important and if the Knight goes to 'f3' in some lines, the open 'h' file will come handy.
25.hxg5 (25.h5 g4 is quite risky.)
25... hxg5 26.b4 White is out of constructive moves. Carlsen may even consider playing Kg8-g7-g6, g4 and Rc8.
26... Kg7 Step by step improving the position. It's hard to see how Ra2 will be more worthy than the Black Knight.
27.Qd3 Black now may strengthen his grip on the queenside by Rc4 and b5. Aronian finds no plan and his last moves were more or less random.
27... b5 ( Secures the 'c4' square. Capturing the pawn is dangerous: 27... b5 28.Qxb5 Rc4 29.Rc1 Be5 30.Qd7 Ne3) (27... Rc4 was part of the same plan - if 28.b5 Rc5 29.a4 then 29... Qe6 - but Magnus has no fear of complications.)
28.Bc1 ( Forces 28.Bc1 Rc3 29.Qxe4 dxe4) (28.Qxb5 allows strong attack in case of 28... Rc4 29.Rc1 g4 30.Qd7 Bg5 31.Rf1 Ne3) Draw agreed. Though Carlsen has everything under control objectively there aren't chances to win this as Black. Spectacular game in which the young Norwegian courageously sacrificed an exchange getting all White pieces stuck without coordination and Aronian had to satisfy himself with a draw. Magnus impresses with the variety of positions he's playing and how rapidly is his practical strength increasing.
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