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Good day everyone, welcome to the Chessdom live coverage of Baku Grand Prix. After beating Michael Adamas yesterday, Magnus Carlsen is suddenly in position to fight for the first place! It's crowdy on the top, and for this to happen he has to beat Etienne Bacrot with black pieces. Bacrot is very solid player but he must be shaken after two consecutive defeats. Is it finally going to be Volga Gambit? :) We're about to find out, enjoy the game!
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 Nimzo-Indian is somewhat safer choice, but it provides plenty of flexible plans to play for a win.
4.Nf3 b6 (4... c5 5.g3 would be Romanishin-Kasparov variation, in which Ivan Cheparinov was insisting through this event. )
5.Bg5 Bb7 ( The other popular branch is 5... h6 6.Bh4 Bb7 with many transpositions, but probably the main line would be 7.e3 Bxc3+ 8.bxc3 d6 9.Nd2 Nbd7 10.f3) This move because fashionable lately.
6.Nd2 (6.e3 is by far most played here, and then 6... h6 7.Bh4 g5 8.Bg3 Ne4 9.Qc2 Bxc3+ 10.bxc3 was almost a tabia for many years.)
6... h6 7.Bh4 Nc6!? Now this is something rare, more played are c5 (Adams, Nisipeanu), Bxc3 (Karpov, Akopian), even 0-0. (7... c5 now 8. a3 is main, but 8.d5 Bxc3 9.bxc3 d6 10.e4 e5 11.Bd3 looks like a nice version of Leningrad variation for white.)
8.a3!? (8.e3 almost exclusively played, and then we get to see the idea behind Nc6 8... Ne7 9.f3 Nf5 10.Bf2 c5)
8... Bxc3 9.bxc3 Qe7! Novelty! In those few games with 8. a3, black continued with "regular" (9... Ne7 10.f3 Nf5 11.Bf2 and now since c5 is not effective 11... d5)
10.e3 (10.f3 O-O-O 11.e4 g5 12.Bg3 e5)
10... g5 Black idea is probably to push e5 at some moment. Then after d4-d5 Na5, pawn on c4 is already well protected because white Knight is on d2, unlike most of Saemish and Leningrad variations. Or, Carlsen can wait with e5 and play 0-0-0 with pawn advance on the kingside.
11.Bg3 d6!? 12.h4 This is a standard prophylactic move that prevents black's pawn advance. Bacrot will hold some tension there, keeping the option to take on g5 when it suits him best.
12... O-O-O 13.Be2 Nd7!? Interesting plan, black still wants to push kingside pawns! White can hardly stop it as 14. e4 is met by f7-f5 anyway, and on 15. d5 goes Nce5.
14.Nb3!? Bacrot is not wasting time and prepares a4-a5 and c5. These pawn breaks are standard in this position, white should open up some diagonals for Bishops. Meanwhile, it looks like Gashimov will be happy with a draw, as he played Petroff against Adams. This gives a chance to Wang Yue to play for a win with white and claim clear first place.
14... f5 15.Qc2 15...Nf6 is possible, and black shouldn't be afraid of 16. d5 as Ne5 is still good. The other plan could be Qf7 (or Qf6).
15... Rhf8!? Abandoning h-file, but clearly wants to push f4 before anything else. White can take on g5 and then castle long, since f4 can be met by exf4 and Bh4.
16.f3 e5!? It looks kinda odd while Queen is still on e7, because Nc6 can only go back to b8 if Bacrot plays d5. Now we see that Rhf8 was played to protect f5 pawn, so maybe Queen to f7 or f6 was more flexible? In that case, Nc6 would have e7 for retreat. But maybe Carlsen will surprise us with yet another unexpected plan :)
17.hxg5 hxg5 Carlsen will be top seeded player at the Aerosvit tournament that takes place middle June in Ukraine. The field also includes Ivanchuk, Svidler, Shirov, Van Wely, Onischuk, Nisipeanu...On Thursday, Mtel Masters 2008 is starting in Sofia, Radjabov and Cheparinov will go directly from Baku.
18.O-O-O!? Rde8 19.Bd3 Qf7 20.Rh6 Ba6!? Teasing white to play d5...Perhaps Bacrot could even consider 21. c5!? (20... f4 would have been a promising exchange sacrifice 21.exf4 gxf4 22.Bg6 Qxc4 23.Bxe8 Rxe8 with still equal position but wonderful piece play for black.)
21.Nd2 Obviously both players are reluctant from pushing central pawns...Now 21...Na5 would add more pressure on c4. (21.d5 Ne7 22.Rdh1 f4 23.Rh7 looked good.)
21... exd4 22.exd4 Na5 23.Rdh1 Perhaps Carlsen rushed with the attack on c4, as pawn can't be taken at this moment - white has nasty Qa4 and Rh7, depending on how black takes the pawn.
23... Re7 24.Qa4 (24.Rh7 would cause more problems for black to solve 24... Qxh7 (24... Qe8 25.Bxf5 Bxc4 26.Nxc4 Nxc4 27.Rxe7 Qxe7 28.Re1 black light-squares are horribly weak and white has strong pair of Bishops.) 25.Rxh7 Rxh7 26.Bxf5 Rh1+ 27.Kb2 Nxc4+ 28.Nxc4 Bxc4 29.Qe4! with advantage to white.)
24... Re3 Still playing very aggressive! (24... Kb8 and position is all level, because if 25.Rh7 Qxh7! 26.Rxh7 Rxh7 is much better version compared to earlier comment, because black saves f5 pawn and light squares are better covered.)
25.Rh7 Qe8 26.Qc2 Nf6!? (26... f4 27.Bf2 Re7 with some small advantage to white.)
27.R7h6 Now 27...Ne4! looks very strong! (27.Rg7! was better 27... f4 (27... Ne4 doesn't work here 28.Bxe4 fxe4 29.Rhh7!) 28.Bf2 Re7 29.Rxg5)
27... Kb7 (27... Ne4 28.fxe4 (28.Bxe4? fxe4 29.Nxe4 Bxc4) 28... Rxg3 29.exf5 Rxg2 is roughly equal...)
28.Bf2 Rxd3! Of course, Carlsen rarely misses opportunity to create material imbalances! His target are weak white pawns - c4, c3 and a3. 28...Re7 was equal, quiet position.
29.Qxd3 Nd5! This Knight jump gives more calculation load on Bacrot, therefore more possibility to go astray :) ( Also possible was 29... Qa4!? 30.Qc2 Qxa3+ 31.Qb2 Qxb2+ 32.Kxb2 Nxc4+ with wonderful ending for black.)
30.Re1 Qa4 31.Qc2 Qxa3+ 32.Qb2 Qxb2+ 33.Kxb2 Nxc4+ 34.Nxc4 Bxc4 After the forced line, Carlsen has reached a slightly better endgame. His Bishop is much better than white opponent and Knight is dominating the board. There are some tactical motifs because white's clumsy pieces allow dangerous fork threats. Black can stabilise with Rg8 and then slowly advance passed queenside pawns.
35.Be3 g4!? (35... f4 36.Bd2 Rg8 and a5...)
36.fxg4 fxg4 37.Rg6?! Running into series of forks. Now 37...Re8! attacking the Bishop, and after 38. Bd2 Rxe1 39. Bxe1 Nf4! and Ne3+
37... a5 Carlsen missed it, but quick a-pawn marsh should be also winning, only in longer terms.
38.Rxg4 a4 39.Rg3 a3+ Carlsen saw this pawn advance as very strong and played it instantly, without exploring other plans. Otherwise, he would have seen 37...Re8. Still, this is also great for black.
40.Kxa3?! Ra8+ 41.Kb2 Ra2+ 42.Kc1 Nxc3 43.Bd2 Ne2+ 44.Rxe2 Bxe2 Bacrot was forced to give the exchange back, otherwise his King would end up caught in the mating net (with Nc3, Bb3 and Rc2). Now this ending should be winning for black, but with some effort. His Bishop is still much better, but white will be hoping for g-pawn advance.
45.Rg7 Ra4 46.Bc3 b5! 47.g4 47...b4 with idea Bc4, Ra8, Bd5 looks like the way to do it.
47... Bf3 48.g5 b4 49.Bb2 Ra5!? Probably wants to put his Rook behind the pawn after Bacrot pushes to g6. Or if white delays, Rook goes to f5 and Bishop to e4/d5 to harass white King.
50.Kc2 Bd5 51.Re7 Bc4 52.Bc1 Now the g5 square is not available to black Rook. Perhaps Ra8 or Rf5-f2-g2!?
52... Rf5 53.Bd2 Rf2 54.g6 Rg2 55.g7 Kc6 Perhaps Bd5 was safer, just to eliminate the possibility of d4-d5 sacrifice. White is not seeing much use of that pawn anyway...Also, b3+ might be needed sometime, and then Kc3 wins tempo by attacking Bc4.
56.Re8 Bf7! Back on the track, b3+ comes in next. Carlsen has to save his b-pawn in order to win.
57.Rb8 (57.Re7 would end up in zugzwang after 57... b3+ 58.Kc3 Bd5)
57... b3+ 58.Kc3 Rxg7 59.Kb2 Bc4 60.Kc3 Kd5 61.Rb7 Rg3+ All over now...
62.Kb2 Kxd4 and Bacrot resigned in this hopeless endgame! This now puts Carlsen in position to share the first place if Wang Yue doesn't win against Mamedyarov. Fantastic finish from young Norwegian! Thank you everyone for following Chessdom live coverage, come back in few hours for the final report and join us again from Thursday when 2008 Mtel Masters starts.
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