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God day everyone, welcome to the Chessdom live coverage of the World Chess Cup. Magnus Carlsen and Arkadij Naiditsch have played six games so far, Carlsen winning two, the rest were drawn. They were mostly employing various open games (Ruy Lopez), and the only game where Magnus was white saw the English setup. Carlsen can play just about any opening and he's not afraid to dive into complications, but we shouldn't underestimate Naiditsch's counterattacking skills either. Enjoy!
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Qc2 Capablanca variation, one of the most popular lines against Nimzo-Indian defence. Main idea is to save pawn structure intact.
4... d5 One of the many possibilities. Most popular alternatives are 4...c5 and 4...0-0.
5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.Qxc3 c5 ( Interesting line is 6... Ne4 7.Qc2 Nc6 with e5 next)
7.dxc5 d4 8.Qg3 Nc6 Naiditsch sacrificed pawn for fast pieces development and strong pressure in the center and queenside. White has pair of bishops, but there is no obvious benefit at the moment.
9.Nf3 ( Taking another pawn might be too much 9.Qxg7 Rg8 10.Qh6 Na5! (10... Rg6 11.Qh4 Qa5+) 11.b4 (11.e3 d3) 11... Nxc4 and Black has strong initiative)
9... e5! Novelty! Main point is that 10.Ne5 Qa5 11.Bd2? (11.Kd1 only move) Qd2! 12.Kd2 Ne4 13.Kd3 Ng3 and Ne5 wins a piece. In two earlier games, only 9.. .0-0 10. Bh6 was tried.
10.Nxe5 (10.e4!? Nxe4? (10... dxe3 11.Bxe3) 11.Qxg7 Qf6 12.Bh6! and White is better)
10... Qa5+ 11.Kd1!? Black has mul tiple choice here, the safest being 11...Ne4 12. Qf4 Qa4 13. Ke1 Qa5 14. b4!? (14. Kd1 gives perpetual, but we doubt Carlsen will opt for that) Nxb4 15. axb4 Qxa1 16. Qxf7 with sharp but roughly equal game. ( Alternative to 12.Kd1 was 11.Bd2!? Qxd2+ 12.Kxd2 Ne4+ 13.Ke1! Improvement over the above mentioned line, Ke1 is protecting f2 pawn 13... Nxg3 14.Nxc6 Nxh1 15.Nxd4 b6 16.c6! Be6 17.e3 White is rook down, but it is unclear if Black can save Nh1.)
11... Nxe5?! ( Somehow inconsistent with the earlier sharp play, now Black will be slightly inferior without too much counterplay. More to the point would be 11... Ne4 12.Qf4 Qa4+ (12... f5 13.Nxc6 bxc6 14.Kc2 and White is ok) 13.Ke1 Qa5+ 14.b4 Nxb4 15.axb4 Qxa1 16.Qxf7+ is equal but still playable) ( also possible was 11... O-O 12.Nxc6 and White might be slightly better once he settles the king on safe place.)
12.Qxe5+ Be6 13.Bd2?! Returning the favor. Better was 13.Kc2 and then 14. Bd2 where white will have b3 against Qa4 check.
13... Qa4+ 14.Ke1 Now king will be stuck in here for awhile.
14... Rd8 (14... O-O! 15.Qxd4 Rfd8 16.Qf4 Qc2 with certain pressure.)
15.c6! Excellent reaction! White is behind with development and his pawns are shaky, therefore he decided to force open a3-f8 diagonal for dark bishop.
15... Qxc6 16.Qb5 (16.Bb4 looked strong 16... Qxc4 17.Qg5 Rg8 18.Rc1 h6 (18... Qd5 19.Rc7! Qxg5 20.Re7+ Kf8 21.Rxe6+) 19.Rxc4 hxg5 20.Rc7)
16... Bxc4 17.Qxc6+ bxc6 Now the material is even and White still has only symbolic advantage due to pair of bishops and better pawn structure. On the other hand, d4 pawn is seriously limiting White's activity and he still has to figure how to complete the development.
18.Rc1 Bb5 19.Bb4 19...Rd5 or 19...Ne4 should hold it equal for Black.
19... Kd7 ( Wants to clear e8 for the Rh8 and defend queenside pawns at the same time. Now 20. Bc5 d3 21. exd3 Re8+ 22. Be3 seems to be favoring White. Worthy alternative is 19... Rd5 20.Bc5 ( better is 20.g3) 20... Kd7 21.Bxa7 Re8 with strong pressure on the unfortunate Ke1.)
20.Bc5! Ke6 (20... d3 21.exd3 Rhe8+ 22.Be3)
21.f3?! ( Bad follow-up. Carlsen obviously wants to prevent possible counterplay with Ne4, but f3 is losing precious tempo. Much better was 21.Bxa7 Rd7 22.Bb6 Rb8 23.Ba5 Ne4 24.g3) ( or 21.g3 a6 22.Bh3+ Ke5 (22... Kd5? 23.Be7!) 23.b4)
21... a5 Only, but good enough. Black got rid of this bad weakness and has equalized once again.
22.Kf2 Rd5 Obviously calling for e4.
23.e4 dxe3+ 24.Bxe3 Bxf1! ( Good move order. After 24... Rhd8 25.Bc4! Bxc4 26.Rxc4 and Rd8 is on the wrong place (should be on b8))
25.Rhxf1 Kd7 26.Rc2 Rb8 Naiditsch has sufficient counterplay over the b-file, compensating for c6 weakness.
27.Rfc1 Rd3 28.Ke2 Simply Rdb3 or Rd6 now. Carlsen has 13 minutes left to complete 40 moves, Naiditsch only 6.
28... Rd6 29.Bf4 Re6+ 30.Kf2 Nearly impossible for Carlsen to make progress. Naiditsch is firmly defending the only weakness on c6, holding counterplay on b2, and soon, Knight will establish itself on the d5 stronghold.
30... Rb3?! 31.Rd2+ Nd5 32.Rc5 Ke8?! ( Better was 32... Ke7)
33.Bg3 f5 (33... a4 34.Ra5 Nb6 35.Bc7 Nd5 36.Ra8+! Ke7 37.Rxa4 Nxc7 38.Ra7)
34.Kg1 f4 35.Bf2 It seems like Naiditsch can't protect a5 pawn, 35...a4 36. Rc4.
35... Ne3 36.Rxa5 Nc4?! 37.Ra8+ Kf7 38. Rd7 now, white is much better
38.Rd4! Rxb2 39.Rxf4+ Kg6 40.Rxc4 (40.h4!)
40... Rb1+ 41.Be1 Rbxe1+ 42.Kf2 Time control has passed. Carlsen still has an advantage but now 42...R6e2+ 43. Kg3 Rg1 might make it harder to win. White has 44. Rg4+ and 45. Kh3. It appears like moves broadcast from Khanty-Mansiysk is down (again). Sorry for the delay, we'll be back as soon as possible.
42... R6e2+ 43.Kg3 Rg1 44.Rg4+ Kf6 45.Kh3 g6 An expected, almost forced line. Black also have to take care of his pawns and try to disturb White Rg4.
46.Rf8+ Kg7 47.Rc8 h5 48.Rg5 Rc1 49.a4 Kf6 With two rooks on the board, Black can always find some counterplay. Carlsen should try to exchange one pair of rooks, but how? Now 50.f4 or 50.Ra5
50.f4 Rc3+?! ( Better was 50... Ra2 to destroy dangerous passed pawn. 51.Rg8 Rxa4 52.R8xg6+ Kf7)
51.Rg3 Black will avoid rooks exchange, probably with Rc4. But the problem is that careless Rc3 check gave important tempo to White. On 51...Rc4 52. Ra3 could follow.
51... Rxg3+ We stand corrected, Naiditsch decided to trade the rooks. But now it should be easier for Carlsen.
52.hxg3 Rc2 53.a5 Kf5?! (53... c5)
54.a6 Ra2 55.Rxc6 Ra1 56.Kh2 Ra5 57.Kg1 g5 Trying to reduce number of pawns
58.fxg5 Kxg5 59.Kf2 Ra3 60.Ke1 Ra2 61.Kd1 Kg4 62.Kc1 Kxg3 63.Kb1 Ra5 64.Rg6+ Kf2 65.g3?! This could be inacuracy, but after Kb2 Black is not obliged to run after white's rook (65.Kb2 Ke3?! (65... h4 looks better 66.Kc3 (66.Kb3 logical but wrong, white king is a bit too far now 66... Rxa6! 67.Rxa6 Kxg2 and draw) 66... Ra4! and white king is cut off, as on Kb3, Ra6 is coming) 66.Kb3 (66.Rg3+ Kd2 67.Ra3 Rb5+ 68.Ka2 Kc2!) 66... Ke4 67.Kb4 Ra1 68.Kb5 which should be winning)
65... Ke3 66.Kb2 Ke4 67.Kb3 Kf5 68.Kb4 Ra1 69.Rc6 Kg4 70.Rh6 ( Immediately drawing. Only other try was 'rook behind the pawn' and quick march 70.Rc4+ Kxg3 71.Rc3+ Kg2 72.Ra3 Rb1+ 73.Kc5 Rb8 74.Ra4 Kg3 75.Kd6 h4 and Black will survive.)
70... Kxg3 A very interesting game where both players had some shiny moments. We can expect similar sharp battle tomorrow in the 2nd game of the mini-match. This closes our live coverage for today, stay tuned for results and other information. See you again tomorrow at 5am EST/ 11am CET for another live broadcast!
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