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Good day everyone, welcome to the Chessdom live coverage of Biel International 3rd round. We apologize for the technical difficulties on Monday, everything is back in order for today's round. Bacrot is very solid player who is mostly angling for Marshall attack or Slav defence with Black pieces. Carlsen won their last-round encounter at the Baku Grand Prix, but Bacrot was already on a losing streak. While we are waiting for the game to start, take a look at the interesting list of players signed for the World Mind Sports games.
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 e6!? Bacrot specialized in Chebanenko Slav which features 4...a6, but he already lost in this line to Evgeny Alekseev in the first round.
5.Bg5 Carlsen is aiming for the sharpest lines in the Semi-Slav. 5. e3 would take the game into also popular Meran defence.
5... Nbd7!? Avoiding the ultra-sharp Botvinnik Slav with 5...dxc4 and Anti-Moscow with 5...h6 6. Bh4 dxc4. The selected Cambridge-Springs is not without venom though. Vassily Ivanchuk also liked to use it from time to time.
6.cxd5!? Good practical decision to transpose into Exchange variation of the Queen's Gambit Declined. After the main 6. e3 Qa5, White would have to deal with pins against the King and possible tactics against Bishop on g5.
6... exd5 7.e3 Be7 8.Qc2 Nh5!? The "normal" 8...0-0 is more popular, but Bacrot wants to solve the issue of dark-squared Bishops before turning to something else. The tempi lost on this operation is not really significant as Black will be able to complete his development.
9.Bxe7 (9.h4 Believe it or not, Vladimir Kramnik played this adventurous move against Garry Kasparov! It was in a blitz game though, and it ended in a draw.)
9... Qxe7 10.O-O-O A move typical for Carlsen, who will even in this "boring" Carlsbad pawn structure seek for an opportunity to attack. The long castle was played in this position as early as on 1928!
10... Nb6 11.h3 ( Loek Van Wely and Antoaneta Stefanova have tried 11.Ne5 here)
11... Be6 Bacrot is rushing to castle long. Some other players, including Ivanchuk, have tried to execute regular plan of 11...g6 with Ng7 (after White's Bd3) and Bf5.
12.Bd3 O-O-O 13.Kb1 Kb8 14.Nd2 g6 While White Knight is being transfered to the queenside, Black is now building a post on f5. If 15. g4 Ng7, Black will continue with h7-h5 which should bring some relief.
15.Nb3 Ng7 16.f3 With idea to meet Be6-f5 with e4. This might cause some problems if Bacrot manages to exploit now slightly weakened dark squares. 16...Nf5!? is looking good.
16... Bf5 Bacrot decided to provoke e4. The mighty-looking center could also turn to be vulnerable, particularly if Black hits d4 somehow.
17.Bxf5 This brings the Knight to f5 and Carlsen will have to spend some moves in supporting e3 pawn or preparing e4-push. The point is that e3 is the forking square for Qc2 and Rd1.
17... Nxf5 18.Rhe1 18...Nxe3 is risky because Black Queen is on the line with Re1 and Black will have hard time to untangle the pin. After 18...Nc4 Carlsen will have to play Qc1 before trying to push e3-e4. This gives some time to Bacrot to maybe even increase the pressure. The other Biel International participant, Alexander Onischuk, has been selected to represent USA at the 2008 Chess Olympiad.
18... Nc4 19.Qc1 Bacrot is probably taking his time to double-check consequences of immediate Nxe3. Safer road is 19...Qg5.
19... Qg5 ...and he decided not to test Carlsen's calculating skills. It is still possible to play 20. g4 and drag Bacrot into complications after Nxe3. 20. e4 Qxc1+ 21. Rxc1 dxe4 leaves White equal but with broken pawns.
20.g4!? Risky and sharp, just like Magnus likes it :)
20... Ng7!? It is possible that Carlsen's huge energy and self-confidence sometimes scare his opponents. Bacrot had more active possibilities, like Nxe3 or Nh4, but he decided to retreat. This presents Carlsen with opportunity to consolidate his pawn structure and transform it into real asset.
21.f4!? Still following the narrow path! 21. e4 was safer but Carlsen wants to avoid the trade of Queens when storming with pawns, even if it includes a pawn sacrifice.
21... Qh4 22.e4 Qxh3 23.exd5 cxd5 Probably only now Carlsen noticed that intended 24. Nxd5 is met by sneaky 24...Qxg4! 25. Qxc4 Qf5+ and Black regains the Knight.
24.Nc5 So he switches to different plan. The Knight is adding on b7 and White wants to play Re7 if Black is greedy (Qxg4).
24... Ne6! ( Better than allowing the unpleasant 24... Rhe8 25.b3 Nd6 26.Nxd5 Qxg4 27.Na6+)
25.b3! It is important to drive the Knight to weaker position before dealing with d5 or executing some tactics against Black King.
25... Nxc5 Bacrot had a number of alternatives, but he decided to eliminate the Nc5 that was breathing on his King's neck. However, now that d-file is open for White Rook, it is no longer possible to rely on Qxg4-f5 in holding Nc4's position and if White decides to push his b-pawn the Kb8 might again come under fire.
26.dxc5 Na5 27.b4 Exactly! Carlsen is not missing this chance.
27... Nc4 Bacrot is taking serious risk being short on time. Perhaps better was Nc6.
28.Nxd5 Na3+ 29.Ka1! Precision! 29. Kb2 Qg2+ (attacking on Nd5) complicates matters.
29... Rhe8? Re1-e3 was threatening, but now c5-c6! comes in with great force! Black is immediately lost.
30.c6! bxc6 31.Qxc6 Bacrot's position collapsed within only a couple of moves! Probably already 25...Nc5 was imprecise and 27...Nc4 was serious mistake. Black was doing fine, perhaps he was even slightly better at some point, but Carlsen's sharpness and persistence once again forced his opponent to lose the control. Thank you everyone for following Chessdom live coverage of Biel International, join us again for round 4 on Thursday at 14:00 CET (Tomorrow is rest day).
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