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Karjakin and Carlsen didn't have a chance to play too many games against each other, so far only two draws in the classical time control. Young Ukrainian is almost exclusively opening with 1. e4, and unless Carlsen has another surprise prepared, we could hope to see one of the many variations in the Ruy Lopez. Live coverage starts at 12:00 CET / 6:00 EST, see you there!
1.e4 c5!? Once again, Carlsen is taking on Sicilian defence instead of Ruy Lopez. Sveshnikov perhaps?
2.Nf3 d6 No...it would be funny to see Dragon Sicilian again. But if Teimour Radjabov was surprised in one of the earlier rounds, Karjakin had enough time to prepare.
3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6 6.Be3 Bg7 7.f3 Nc6 8.Qd2 O-O 9.Bc4 Bd7 10.Bb3 Rc8 11.O-O-O Ne5 12.Kb1 Re8 13.h4 h5 14.Bh6!? So far they are moving at lightning speed, repeating the moves from Radjabov-Carlsen. Here Karjakin deviated from Radjabov's Bg5.
14... Nc4 Now that white Bishop is on h6 and in contact with Bg7, white has to protect it with the Queen and Qe2 is ruled out. That is why Carlsen played Rc5 instead of Nc4 in the game with Radjabov, there Bishop sat on g5.
15.Bxc4 Rxc4 16.Bxg7 There are no alternatives, this is why he played Bh6 in the first place.
16... Kxg7 Why is Karjakin thinking now? He had to be prepared for Dragon, hopefully this is not where his preparation ends. It is possible that Sergey is playing small psychological game, trying to make Carlsen believe that white is having hard time to stay in the book. There are two main possibilities now, 17. Nd5 is usually met with e5 18. Nxf6 Qxf6 and black is doing fine, but not 17... Nxd5 18. exd5 where white Knight remains on d4 to dominate over the board. The other plan is 17. g4!? hxg4 18. h5 Rh8 (18...Nxh5 19. Rxh5!)
17.Nd5 e5 18.Nxf6 Qxf6 19.Ne2!? (19.Nb3 Re6 - Re6 this time, because on 19...Rc6, 20. Na5 is very annoying.)
19... Rc6! Now this is possible when Knight goes on e2. White's idea is Ne2-c3-d5, so e6 square remains clear for the Bishop.
20.Nc3 Be6 21.Nd5 ( One game of IM Zdenko Stupavski quickly finished in a draw with 21.Qe3!? a6)
21... Bxd5 22.Qxd5 Qf4 Even with heavy pieces on the board, the position is all equal. There are some pawn weaknesses, but all this can be covered without too much trouble.
23.Qd2 No matter what white plays, it is hard to make any progress, black pieces are optimally placed. It looks like Carlsen passed another test in the Sicilian Dragon :)
23... Qxd2 24.Rxd2 f5 25.Re1 Kf6 26.c3 Ke6 27.Kc2 It's normal to play neutral moves, and play them fast, now that neither of the sides can achieve advantage :)
27... fxe4 28.Rxe4 I am not sure if Carlsen would be ready to calculate all the lines after 28...d5 when there are much safer moves. Anyway 28...d5 29. Rxe5 Kxe5 30. Re2+ Kf4! 31. Rxe8 Kg3 is still an equal Rook ending.
28... Rec8 29.Kd3 Black could try 29...d5 because his central pawns are well protected. Any other pawn move, from either side, could be risky. For example, now that black Rooks are grouped on the c-file, white could think of g4 and breech on the kingside, but not only that this wouldn't achieve much, white would also have to worry about weak pawns on f3 and h4.
29... b5!? Karjakin knows about prophylactics, he moved his King away from c-file on time. Now both 30 a4 and 30. Rb4 with idea a4 are good.
30.a4 a6 31.axb5 axb5 32.Rb4 Immediately taking eye on the sole pawn. (32.f4!? Rc4!? 33.fxe5 dxe5 34.Rde2 Rd8+! 35.Ke3 Rxe4+ 36.Kxe4 b4! and no problems for black.)
32... Rc5 (32... Rc4!? looks adventurous, but 33.Rxb5 Rxh4 still within equality.)
33.Re2 Rd5+ 34.Kc2 (34.Rd4 might look cool, but there is no need for that 34... Ra8!? (34... Rxd4+!? takes us into draw pawn endgame. 35.cxd4 Rc4 36.Re4 Kd5) 35.Rxd5 Kxd5 36.Re4 Ra2 37.Rb4 Kc5)
34... Rc4 35.Kb3 Rxb4+ 36.Kxb4 Kd7!? King goes to c6 for pawn protection, freeing the Rook to wander around. White has b3 and Ra2
37.b3!? Kc6 38.Ra2 Kb6 If they want to make a draw, this is a good moment to induce repetition - 39. Ra5 Kc6 40. Ra6+ Kb7 41. Ra5 Kc6. More fun comes from 39. Ra8 Rd2...
39.Re2!? So he decided to keep the Rook on the 2nd file. This is somewhat passive, now black is not disturbed from Rd1.
39... Rd1! Just this one tempo was enough for black to gain slight advantage. Now h4 is target, while white needs two moves to attack nearest black pawn.
40.f4!? Probably the only practical chance is to open a file for the Rook. Simply covering kingside pawns would not work.
40... exf4 41.Re6 Kc6! Of course, g6 falls, but h4 won't run away either.
42.Rxg6 Rh1 43.c4 bxc4 44.bxc4 Rxh4 45.Rg5 White can only sit and white. Lucky for him, 45...Rg4 46. Rxh5 Rxg2 47. Rf5 is draw with accurate play.
45... Rg4 46.Rxh5 Rxg2 47.Rf5 Rf2 48.Kc3 The King goes to d4 (or to e4 unless black King is on e6) and then simply move the Rook along f-file.
48... f3 49.Kd4 Rf1 50.Ke3 Ra1 (50... f2 51.Rf8! Kc5 52.Rc8+)
51.Kxf3 Rf1+ 52.Ke4 Rxf5 53.Kxf5 Kc5 54.Ke6 Kxc4 55.Kxd6 and they fought till the naked Kings :) Carlsen easily equalized with Dragon Sicilian, and now his future opponents should include it in game preparation. More work to do :) While 99% of chess players would sign a draw somewhere between 28-38th move, the Sofia rules forced these two youngsters to proceed and at least we got a nice lesson in Rook endings. Thank you everyone for following Chessdom live commentary. Please note that tomorrow is rest day, we continue with live coverage on Friday, 2nd May. Report will follow later tonight, have a nice day all.
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