While World Champion Viswanathan Anand burnt time trying to find a clear

win Carlsen defended with computer-like precision and pounced on a

moment of chess blindness. It was a shattering turnaround, with GM Rustam
Kasimdzhanov writing in his notes for chess24: As cold showers go, this one
is liquid hydrogen.
Anand had taken advantage of the rest day to gather his forces for one final
do-or-die effort. He chose 1.d4 rather than trying to topple the Berlin Wall
and followed the pre-match recommendation of our Spanish editor IM David
Martinez by playing 4.f3 against the Nimzo-Indian.
Carlsen surprisingly chose the sharpest response and Peter Svidler,
commentating with Sergey Shipov forChessTV, felt Anand couldnt have
imagined getting such a good position, adding:
The way Carlsen has set out to play this game speaks of his confidence that
nothing can go wrong in this match. There were lots of other options
Rustam Kasimdzhanov describes a game that very nearly did go wrong for
the Norwegian Champion elect:
1. d4 f6 2. c4 e6 3. c3 b4 4. f3 Vishy finally summoned up enough
energy to go for a fight! One can't help but wonder if he shouldn't have done
it some games earlier...
4... d5 5. a3 xc3+ 6. bxc3 c5 7. cxd5 exd5 But this is kinda unusual!
After 7...Nxd5 we'd get the very main line of 4. f3, which Vishy has already
played several times with White; Black has a variety of solid setups there.
The choice of 7...exd5 makes me wonder if Magnus felt like being solid at
all. Now we get a structure made famous by a Botvinnik-Capablanca game.
Sharp stuff...
8. e3 c4 And this is sharper still! Black gains superiority on the queenside
and stops Bd3, but White will have a free hand on the kingside and in the
centre! Normal play would have been
8... 0-0 9. d3 b6 10. e2 a6 11. 0-0 and these positions are considered
(or used to be considered ) somewhat easier for White to play.
9. e2 c6 10. g4! An excellent move, and in fact the only plan; the
knight belongs on g3 but going there too early only blocks White's play.
10... 0-0 11. g2 a5 12. 0-0 b3 13. a2 b5

13... h6 is indicated by comps, but looks very dangerous to the human eye you don't create targets like that! I was surprised to find out that this
transposes to the
game 14. g3 d7 15. e1 e816. e4 dxe4 17. fxe4 xg4 18. f4 1-0
(32) Kasparov,G (2820)-Polgar,J (2670) Tilburg 1997, which White won after
a tense struggle.
14. g3 a5 15. g5 e8 16. e4 xc1 A sign that things may not be ideal
for Black. The knight moved b8-c6-a5-b3 only to take the bishop, which still
hadn't moved. On the other hand, Be3 was a threat, keeping the two
bishops and a great position...
17. xc1 a6 18. e5 An interesting move, played quite quickly. At this
point in the game Vishy was playing faster and more confidently than
Magnus. Another option was
18. f4 dxe4 19. xe4 d6 (19... f5 20. c5 ) 20. c5 b6 21. e2 b4 ,
but in fact it's not clear why White deviated from his plan of delivering
checkmate
18... c7 A truly unbelievable move, in my opinion - Magnus leaves the
kingside unprotected and just proceeds with his plans to play b5-b4. While I
didn't find a forced win after 18...Nc7 I still feel that 18...g6 would be safer
and probably also simply better.
18... g6 19. f4 g7 and I don't really see White developing his attack
here. 20. h4 (20. af2 b621. f5? xf5 22. xf5 xf5 23. xf5 gxf5 ; 20.
b2 b6 21. d2 e6 ) 20... g4
19. f4 b4

20. axb4 The first difficult and important decison for Vishy in the game! I
remember thinking White shouldn't exchange rooks just yet, and in fact 20.
f5 might well have been stronger...
20. f5 b5 (20... b3 21. af2 must be really bad for
Black. 21... h8 22. h5 ) 21. axb4(21. f6 xc3 22. af2 g6 23. f4 d7
24. h4 h5 25. h3 d8 26. xh5 e8 27. f4 could also be extremely
promising for White.) 21... axb4 22. xa6 xa6 23. f6
a) 23... xc3 24. fxg7 (24. f4 ) 24... xg7 25. e3 h8 26. e6
b) 23... g6 24. f4 b6! White has many possibilities, and although I
couldn't find mate this looks insane for Black.
(24... xc3 25. h4 h5 26. xh5 )

20... axb4 21. xa6 xa6

21... xa6 22. cxb4+/=
22. f5 Very logical. The "safer"
22. cxb4 xb4 23. f5 c6 24. e3 g6 gives Black good counterplay - the
pawn on d4!
22... b3 23. f4
23. f6 g6 would probably just transpose to the game, but (23... gxf6 should
be avoided due to 24.h5 )
23... c7 24. f6
24. h4 g6
a) 25. h6 xf5! kills the attack completely
- 26. xf5 (26. xf5 gxf5 27. h3 e6! ) 26...e6
b) 25. f6 transposes.
24... g6
24... gxf6 was mentioned at the press conference, but actually feels
reasonably safe for
Black. 25.h5 (25. gxf6 h8 ; 25. exf6 h8 ) 25... fxg5 26. f6+ h8 27.
xg5 g8!
25. h4 e8! Quite unbelievable, but this might not be lost for Black; hats
off to Magnus' intuition - most players in the history of chess would assume
the worst here.
26. h6
26. e2 b2 27. f4 a5! 28. xd5 e6 is also far from clear
- 29. e7+ h8 30. f2 (30.h6 g8 31. d5 f5! ) 30... xc3 31. d5 c7
32. dxe6 xe6 and it doesn't look like White is playing for a win.
26... b2 27. f4 A crucial try and a spectacular move - Black is allowed to
queen with check.
27. e2 a5 (27... b6 28. f4 ; 27... f5 28. f4 b1Q+ 29. f2+ ) 28.
f4 e6 29.xe6 fxe6 30. h3 a6! (30... b6 31. b1 is good for
White) 31. b1? f7! and suddenly Black is doing great!
27... b1Q+

28. f1
28. f1! d1 29. h4 (29. e2 was mentioned at the press conference,
but Black has a wide array of winning moves
here...) 29... h5 30. xh5 gxh5 31. xh5 f5 32. g6! (The idea

of 32.h3 g6 33. e6 fails

to 33... xf6 34. gxf6 xf6 35. e7 xe7 36. e5 a3 and Black is
fine.) 32... xg6 33. g5 Here both
33... xf6 (and 33... a5 34. g3 a3 35. h4 h8 36.h5 e4 ) 34. exf6
xf6 look highly unclear, but should probably be about balanced.
28... e1! As cold showers go, this one is liquid hydrogen. Vishy resigned.
0-1