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Good day everyone, welcome to the Chessdom live coverage of the Baku Grand Prix. Michael Adams is one of the world's most solid Grandmasters, but Magnus Carlsen seems to know how to play with white pieces, having won both of their previous encounters - 2006 Olympiad and 2007 World Cup. The other two games, when Adams was white, finished in draws. Live blog will launch one hour after the round start, you will be able to post comments and questions. Enjoy the game!
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 Carlsen already managed to beat Adams in Catalan opening and Nimzo-Indian.
3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Qc2 This variation is named after Capablanca, who was first to use it in prevention of creating doubled c-pawns. Carlsen likes it a lot, and already used this method in numerous games.
4... d5 Also very popular are 4...0-0 and 4...c5.
5.a3 (5.cxd5 is the other main branch, but black have found good resources in the line after 5...Qxd5.)
5... Bxc3+ 6.Qxc3 Ne4!? Adams used rare 6...dxc4 in the game that he lost to Carlsen at the World Cup. He is now back to the main lines.
7.Qc2 c5 ( Interesting alternative is 7... e5!? which Kasparov used to beat Kramnik once, and then later Adams himself played it against both of them 8.cxd5 Qxd5)
8.dxc5 Nc6 9.cxd5 Idea is to prevent black from taking on c4, like in the line after e3 (9.e3 Qa5+ 10.Bd2 Nxd2 11.Qxd2 dxc4 12.Bxc4 Qxc5 13.Rc1 from where vast majority of games ended in draws.)
9... exd5 10.e3 (10.Nf3 Bf5 11.b4 O-O 12.Bb2 is much more popular. Carlsen played 10. e3 before, now Bf5 can be met with Bd3...)
10... Qa5+ Kasimdzhanov and Karpov have tested this in two games, white won one of them, the other was drawn. (10... Qf6 Judit Polgar tried this extravagant move against Carlsen at this year's Corus, but it didn't turn out well 11.f3 Qh4+ 12.g3 Nxg3 13.Qf2 Nf5 14.Qxh4 Nxh4 15.b4 a6 16.Kf2 Ne5 17.Bb2 f6 18.Rd1 Be6 19.Ne2 and white won later...)
11.b4!? The best practical chance! White sacrifices an exchange to increase light pieces' activity. Black King will also be stuck in the center for awhile and it won't be easy to establish Rooks coordination. ( Entirely dull is 11.Bd2 Qxc5 12.Qxc5 Nxc5 13.Rc1 Ne4 with wonderful play for black in spite of white's pair of bishops.)
11... Nxb4 There is no retreat, otherwise white will be left with healthy pawn up.
12.axb4 Qxa1 13.Bb5+ Kf8 ( Leaving King in the center gives new motifs to white 13... Bd7 14.Bxd7+ Kxd7 15.Ne2 to prevent Qc3+, and then f3, Kf2, Rd1...)
14.Ne2 a6 Karpov's own improvement ( In earlier game he played 14... a5 15.f3 Nf6 16.O-O Qe5 17.e4 dxe4 18.Bf4)
15.Bd3 Karpov's idea was to force Queens exchange after 15...Bd3 16. f3 Ba4 17. Qxb2 where white still retains positional compensation. By the way, Adams almost never hires seconds or coaches, he usually goes to tournaments with his wife Tara. She is in charge of finding good local restaurants.
15... Bd7 16.f3 Ba4 17.Qb2 Qxb2 18.Bxb2 Following the forced sequence from Kasimdzhanov-Karpov.
18... Ng5 Adams is not keen of allowing spoiled pawn structure after 18...Nf6 19. Bxf6. Maybe white has better moves than giving away pair of Bishops.
19.Nd4 Kasimdzhanov played Kd2... Magnus probably wants to meet Ne6 with Nf5. Kasparov said that Knight only standing of f5 is worth a pawn :)
19... Bd7 ( Equally good was 19... Ne6!? 20.Nxe6+ ( tempting is 20.Nf5 f6 and the Knight is pretty on f5, but nothing more. Jumping on to d6 is not really dangerous, furthermore, black can quickly organize undermining with b6.) 20... fxe6 where dark-squared Bishop's scope provides some compensation.)
20.Kf2 f6 Important move in black's conception, he wants to reduce the influence of Bb2 and maybe even transfer the Knight to e5 via f7.
21.Ra1 Live blog is now active.
21... Ke7 Finally connecting the Rooks, next he has to find some open files :)
22.Bc2 Probably switching to b3, in order to press on d5. So far, Nd4 is doing good job in limiting black Bishop.
22... Rhd8 23.h4 Of course, white can't take h7 pawn after 23...Nf7 because black has Rh8. Interesting is 23...Ne6!? when black allows check on f5 but is ready to undermine white pawns with a6-a5.
23... Nf7 24.Bxh7!? Carlsen doesn't want to spoil flexibility of his pawn structure with 24. f4 and goes for pawn swap instead. Now 24...Rh8 25. Bc2 Rxh4 and white could try 26. b5!? since Ra8 is not protected.
24... Rh8 25.Bc2 Rxh4 26.Bb3!? (26.b5 Ne5!? (26... Rxd4 27.exd4 Bxb5 28.Re1+ pair of Bishops should compensate for a pawn.) 27.Bc3)
26... Rh5!? Adams decided for safer option. (26... Ne5 demanded some calculation 27.Bxd5 Nd3+ 28.Kg3 Rh5 29.Bxb7 Rg5+! is important point which earns a tempo for Ra8 escape 30.Kh2 Rh8+ 31.Kg1 Nxb2 32.Bxa6 Ra8 winning position for black.)
27.Ne2 Forget about f5, Knight is moving to f4 to attack on d5...
27... Bc6 28.Nf4 Rg5 (28... Rf5 29.Ng6+! and e4 next...)
29.b5!? A good trade for white. He couldn't win d5 for nothing, but now his Bishops are grabbing some nice diagonals and Knight can be very annoying.
29... Bxb5 30.Nxd5+ Kf8 Adams wants to keep the exchange for at least few more moves.. Perhaps this was a good moment to give it back right away with Rxd5 before Carlsen's pieces become too wild. We all know how good he is in imposing constant threats before his opponents crack under pressure.
31.Nc7 Rd8 32.Ne6+ Well okay, at least he prevented Bishop from settling on d5...
32... Ke8 33.Bd4! No need to hurry, Rook won't run away. Carlsen is improving his Bishop, preventing Rd2+, "offering" Rxd4 which is much better for him, finally black will have to lose another tempo before white takes one of the Rooks.
33... Bd7?! Adams is losing patience, it was better to make white take the Rook on g5 after 33...Rd7.
34.Nxd8 Nxd8 35.Rh1 Ke7 This is now clearly better position for white. pair of Bishops and pawn majority on the kingside resemble their game from the World Cup.
36.e4 Ne6 37.Be3 Black's main problem for now is how to bring the Rook back into the play. He is probably going to be forced to give the exchange away.
37... Re5 38.Rh7!? (38.Bd5 Bc6 39.f4 Rxe4 40.Bxe4 Bxe4 and white still has to work a lot for the full point.)
38... Kf8 ( Inferior is 38... Nxc5 39.Rxg7+ Kf8 40.Rg8+ Ke7 41.Bd5 black position is falling apart.)
39.Bc2!? (39.Bd5 Bc6 40.f4 Bxd5 41.fxe5 Bxe4 42.Rh8+ Kf7 similar to the comment with white 38th move.)
39... Bc6 40.f4 Bxe4?! With only few seconds on the clock, Adams missed that white can insert Rh8+ and Rb8 before grabbing the exchange. It is incredible how easy, fast and precise Carlsen is playing once he gets the initiative.
41.Rh8+ Ke7 42.Rb8! Nd8 43.fxe5 Bxc2 44.exf6+ gxf6 45.Bd4 All this was forced variation. Now Carlsen is threatening Bxf6+
45... f5 46.Be3! And now the threat is Bg5!
46... Kd7 47.Bg5 Ne6 48.Rxb7+ Kc8 49.Rb2 Be4 Now 50. Be7 with idea Ke3 and g4, undermining the Be4.
50.Be7 Nf4 51.Ra2 Kd7!? (51... Nxg2 52.Rxa6 Nf4 53.Bd6 Nd3+ 54.Ke3 Kd7)
52.Bd6 Nxg2 53.Rxa6 f4! Basically, the only move! Knight couldn't go back, because 53...Nh4 54. Bg3, so black is hoping to trade the last pair of pawns. 54. Bxf4 Nxf4 55. Ke3 Nd3! looks like a draw, so perhaps 54. Ra4 Bd5 55. Rd4! (in order to clean c4 square for Rook later) and then Bxf4.
54.Ra4! Bc6 54...Bd5 with next Ne3 was more resistant. Now Bishop is taking the square away from black King.
55.Ra7+ Ke6 56.Ra6 and Michael Adams resigned, because Bishop has to move (otherwise Rxc6 and Kxg2) and then white takes f4 pawn with discovered check. Wonderful game! Adams was slightly better with the exchange up, but everything turned about when Carlsen's light pieces got some maneuvering space. Thank you everyone for following Chessdom live coverage, please note that tomorrow's round is scheduled one hour earlier than usual. We will be commenting on Bacrot-Carlsen, see you there!
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