World Championship - Game 4

The match really came alive in game 4 in a really tense and dramatic struggle worthy of the stage.  Carlsen varied and instead of the Caro Kann he played the Berlin Defense, a line he has used a number of times before.  Anand must have been prepared for this and yet played the opening quite weakly even allowing Carlsen to grab a not so hot pawn on a2 (shades of Fischer - Spassky, 1972 Game 1).

After this though Anand defended tenaciously and Carlsen missed a couple of opportunities to apply a bit more pressure - repaying the favour shown to him in game 3.  Around move 40 the game could have fizzled out, but as is typical of Carlsen he continued to set his opponent difficult problems right to the end.  Finally though Anand was able to extinguish all of the threats and earnt a hard fought draw.

Annotations from TWIC with some of my own comments ***[AL]

Anand,Viswanathan (2775) - Carlsen,Magnus (2870) [C67]
WCh 2013 Chennai IND (4), 13.11.2013

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.0-0 Nxe4 5.d4 Nd6 6.Bxc6 dxc6 7.dxe5 Nf5 8.Qxd8+ Kxd8

Kasparov talked on twitter about the Berlin Defence that caused him so many problems. "The Berlin is a sharp & rich middle-game, not an ending. This was Kramnik's discovery, or re-discovery, vs me in 2000 that I didn't grasp. Nor did most others then. Berlin is more than a wall. After I lost to Kramnik & failed vs his Berlin in 2000, many said it was still lousy, only good against me. Now every top player uses it! Berlin also has benefit of rendering most machine analysis useless. Human chess, deep strategic planning only way. Great from both players." Kasparov has written an essay for Informant 118 on this issue.

***I have played the Berlin a couple of times but never really felt entirely comfortable with it.  In fact my results have been better on the white side

9.h3

[9.Nc3; 9.Rd1+]

9...Bd7  (it was this specific move and the plan of ...Kc8, ...b6, ...Kb7 that was so popularised by Kramnik in his match against Kasparov in 2000 - AL)  10.Rd1 Be7

Magnus Carlsen

Viswanathan Anand

Position after 10...Be7

Diagram

Quite a rare continuation.

[10...Kc8 has been played a lot here - though white has some sharp ideas here AL]

11.Nc3 Kc8 12.Bg5 h6 13.Bxe7 Nxe7 14.Rd2

[14.a4 a5 15.Rd2 c5 16.Rad1 Bc6 17.e6 fxe6 18.Ne5 Re8 19.Nb5 Bxb5 20.axb5 Nd5 21.c4 Nb6 22.h4 a4 23.h5 a3 24.b3 a2 25.Ra1 Rd8 26.Rdxa2 Rxa2 27.Rxa2 Rd1+ 28.Kh2 Rb1 29.Ra3 Nd7 30.Ra8+ Nb8 31.Ra3 Nd7 32.Ra8+ Nb8 33.Ra3 Nd7 1/2-1/2 Berg,E (2587)-Hammer,J (2630)/Achaea GRE 2012/The Week in Chess 921]

14...c5 15.Rad1N

Magnus Carlsen

Viswanathan Anand

Position after 15.Rad1

"Something went horribly wrong in the opening - I made one illogical move after the next" - Anand. This is the first new move in the game. One can assume Anand's comment refers some if not all of this and the next couple of moves.  ***White's position looks at first glance the more pleasant, but the bishop should not be underestimated in this position.  Blacks queenside pawns, though currently doubled, can also become active. 

15...Be6 16.Ne1?! Ng6 17.Nd3 b6 18.Ne2

Magnus Carlsen

Viswanathan Anand

Position after 18.Ne2

"I just missed something after 18.Ne2 and suddenly I was basically lost." - Anand who expanded on the theme later saying that he played the move "just to be consistant" and that he thought there might be tactics with a timely e6 that turned out not to work.

[18.f4; 18.b3]

18...Bxa2

The bishop cannot be rounded up. White has some compensation for the pawn but almost certainly not enough.

19.b3 c4 20.Ndc1 cxb3 21.cxb3 Bb1 22.f4 Kb7 23.Nc3 Bf5 24.g4 Bc8 25.Nd3 h5

[25...Ne7 "I don't think there's anything wrong with 25...h5 but I thought 25...Ne7 was even stronger. 26.f5 Nc6 Anand said he "didn't see how I could get anything" in this position.]

26.f5 Ne7 27.Nb5 hxg4 28.hxg4

Magnus Carlsen

Viswanathan Anand

Position after 28.hxg4

[28.Rc1 was a suggestion of Boris Gelfand's in commentary. 28...Nd5 The only move that promises any advantage. (28...Nc6 29.Rdc2 is what white is hoping for.) 29.Nc5+ bxc5 30.Rxd5 Bxf5 31.Rdxc5 Rac8 is better for black but I'm not sure by how much. "It just seemed to me some kind of fantasyland" said Anand about his rejection of this line although he showed a rather different set of ideas than this line. But he obviously considered it for some time.]***I have to say that blacks position does 'look' very precarious, but this is one of the reasons the Berlin is such a difficult opening as appearances can be deceptive.  Despite having pieces huddled on the back rank, some of them are active (Bishop on c8, Rook on h8) and if he can bring the a8 rook into the game (via ...a5 perhaps) then the additional pawn may be decisive [AL]

28...Rh4!?

[28...Nc6 29.Rc1 Rh4 30.Nf2 a5 (30...g6) ; 28...a6 If Carlsen wants to drive away the white knight then this proves to be the last chance to do it.]

29.Nf2

Forced.

29...Nc6 30.Rc2

[30.Rc1]

30...a5

[30...g6!?]

31.Rc4 g6 32.Rdc1 Bd7 33.e6 fxe6 34.fxe6 Be8 35.Ne4

Magnus Carlsen

Viswanathan Anand

Position after 35.Ne4

"Curious that - 35.Ne4 was the only move Kasparov wanted to analyse ten minutes ago in Chennai" Ian Rogers on twitter.

[35.R1c3 is an alternative.]

35...Rxg4+ 36.Kf2 Rf4+

[36...Rd8!? may be the best but maybe Carlsen missed it due to the rather rare tactical idea involved. 37.Ned6+ (37.Ke3 is the best white has and black is better.) 37...cxd6 38.Rxg4 Ne5!! when black is threatening at least three things and is winning.]

37.Ke3 Rf8?!

Magnus Carlsen

Viswanathan Anand

Position after 37.Rf8

[37...g5! maintains black's advantage.]***One possible line is 38.Ncd6+ cxd6 39.Nxd6+ Ka6 40.Nxe8 Rxc4 41.Rxc4 Rxe8 42.Rxc6 Kb5 43.Rd6 Kc5 winning the e6 pawn and the game [AL]

38.Nd4!

Carlsen looked very unhappy when this appeared on the board.

38...Nxd4 39.Rxc7+

Anand commented that he was lucky that here and on move 59 he had checks to take him to time control when short of time.

39...Ka6 40.Kxd4 Rd8+ 41.Kc3 (41.Ke3 was simpler - AL) 41...Rf3+ 42.Kb2 Re3 43.Rc8

There was the expectation that the players would soon agree to a draw but Carlsen kept the problems going for another 20 moves.

43...Rdd3!

Magnus Carlsen

Viswanathan Anand

Position after 43...Rdd3

[43...Rxc8 44.Rxc8 Bc6 45.Rxc6 Rxe4 46.Rd6 Kb5 47.e7 Rxe7 48.Rxg6 and the ending is a simple technical draw for a player of Anand's class.]

44.Ra8+

This finesse may or may not be an improvement over directly capturing the bishop straight away.

44...Kb7 45.Rxe8 Rxe4 46.e7 Rg3

Magnus Carlsen

Viswanathan Anand

Position after 46...Rg3

Black needs to hang on to the g-pawn if he is to have any chance to win.

47.Rc3 Re2+ 48.Rc2 Ree3 49.Ka2 g5!?

Again the most taxing.

[49...Rxb3? 50.Rb8+ wins for white.]

50.Rd2 Re5 51.Rd7+ Kc6 52.Red8 Rge3 53.Rd6+ Kb7 54.R8d7+ Ka6 55.Rd5 Re2+ 56.Ka3 Re6!?

Magnus Carlsen

Viswanathan Anand

Position after 56...Re6

setting up a final rather evil plot.

57.Rd8

[57.e8N Rxe8 58.Rxg5 R8e6 59.Rgg7; 57.Rxg5?? b5 and mate or ruiness loss of material follows. Anand said he thought he had checked everything before this final problem turned up.]

57...g4 58.Rg5 Rxe7 59.Ra8+

a welcome check to take Anand to the time control.

59...Kb7 60.Rag8 a4 61.Rxg4 axb3 62.R8g7

In spite of getting more time Anand played very fast at the end showing he had everything under control.

62...Ka6 63.Rxe7 Rxe7 64.Kxb3 1/2-1/2

The final position is a simple draw.  As it is a b-pawn white can even use the back rank (or passive) defence to draw.

A really high class struggle and I'm not sure who will take the most confidence away from a game like this.  On one hand this was the first game where Carlsen was on top and further more he has had no difficulties at all with black to date.  On the other hand it showed that Anand looks to be in pretty good shape to be able to hold Carlsen at bay in a complicated struggle such as this.

The "warm-up" is well and truly over and I'm really loking forward to battle commencing tomorrow.  Carlsen will have the white pieces - will he stick with 1.Nf3 or will we see 1.d4 or even 1.e4?  One thing is for sure, he will be desparate to put Anand under some pressure in this game as Anand has had two comfortable games with black to date

Match score

Anand    2

Carlsen  2