Carlsen joins Aronian in lead after Candidates Round 4 win against Grischuk

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FIDE World Chess Championship Candidates London 2013 (4)

Carlsen joins Aronian in lead after Candidates Round 4 win against Grischuk

Mark Crowther - Wednesday 20th March 2013

Carlsen catches Aronian in the lead after beating Grischuk. Photo © Ray Morris-Hill

Carlsen catches Aronian in the lead after beating Grischuk. Photo © Ray Morris-Hill | http://www.rmhphoto.eu

The FIDE World Chess Championship Candidates in London is led by the two pre-event favourites Magnus Carlsen and Levon Aronian on 3/4. Carlsen professed himself to be right where he wanted to be after defeating Alexander Grischuk. Carlsen didn't think he had any advantage out of the opening and it was only after 17...f5 that he began to get chances. Indeed Grischuk thought he was better in playing this move but soon realised that his bishop on f8 wasn't playing any part in the game and that he had overestimated his chances. Grischuk used more and more time until he was "completely lost on time" with 4 minutes to make 18 moves. Grischuk's desperate counter-attack was very dangerous but Carlsen had an hour extra on the clock and is a fine calculator. He always thought he had enough resources to resist the attack although "You can never be completely sure." Carlsen said "It's good. I wasn't overly happy with the first two games but now I've got two wins I'm right where I need to be." Peter Svidler's excellent preparation was again shown today. He played the Queen's Gambit Accepted for the first time since the 1990s and caught leader Levon Aronian completely unawares. Svidler said that Aronian's approach was not at all high on his list of worries and Aronian too admitted "I somewhat forgot what my intention was and tried to remember but failed." Svidler pointed out afterwards that although this was an easy draw it had taken a lot of pre-game work to make it as easy as that. Boris Gelfand and Vassily Ivanchuk already look destined to be at the tail-end of the field. They've met around 100 times in their career and most problably none of them have been in the Chigorin Defence Ivanchuk chose today. There was very wild play, a fantastic offer of a piece by Ivanchuk which would have led to a draw, and finally a draw by perpetual check. Exciting but not really what you expect in a Candidates tournament. Teimour Rajdabov lost the initiative as white against Vladimir Kramnik but was solid enough to hold the draw in a fairly dull game.. Round 5 Wednesday 20th March: Ivanchuk-Carlsen, Svidler-Gelfand, Kramnik-Aronian and Grischuk-Radjabov.

Carlsen 1-0 Grischuk

Carlsen-Grischuk. Photo © Ray Morris-Hill http://raymorris-hill.smugmug.com/.

Carlsen,Magnus - Grischuk,Alexander [C65]
FIDE Candidates London ENG (4.4), 19.03.2013

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.d3 Bc5 5.c3 0-0 6.0-0 d6 7.h3 a6 8.Bxc6 bxc6 9.Re1

[9.d4 1-0 Karjakin,S (2786)-Grischuk,A (2764)/Moscow RUS 2013/The Week in Chess 954 (55)]

9...Re8 10.Nbd2 d5!? 11.exd5 Qxd5 12.Nb3 Bf8 13.c4 Qd6 14.Be3 Nd7 15.d4 e4 16.Nfd2

Alexander Grischuk

Magnus Carlsen

Position after 16.Nfd2

Black should be doing fine here according to Carlsen.

16...a5

[16...Qg6 17.Bf4]

17.a4 f5?!

Alexander Grischuk

Magnus Carlsen

Position after 17...f5?!

"I didn't like f5 somehow. I was happy to see it. Now I get to do what I want to do." Carlsen. "I completely overestimated my position. I just thought black is better. Bishop on f8 is very bad." - Grischuk.

18.c5 Qg6 19.Nc4 Nf6 20.Bf4 Nd5 21.Qd2 Be6

[21...Nxf4]

22.Nbxa5 Reb8?

Alexander Grischuk

Magnus Carlsen

Position after 22...Reb8

"I was completely lost on time." Grischuk. "I thought he should somehow play to destabilise my centre." - Carlsen.

[22...Be7 23.Ne5 Qh5 24.Naxc6 Bh4 25.Bh2 e3 26.Rxe3; 22...Nxf4 23.Qxf4 Qf6]

23.Ne5 Qf6 24.Bh2 Rxa5 25.Qxa5 Rxb2

Alexander Grischuk

Magnus Carlsen

Position after 25...Rxb2

Desperate try but very tricky.

26.Rab1 Ra2 27.Qa6 e3

"He has to go for e3" - Carlsen who had it all worked out.

28.fxe3 Qg5 29.Re2 Nxe3 30.Nf3!

Alexander Grischuk

Magnus Carlsen

Position after 30.Nf3!

A final moment of accuracy from Carlsen.

30...Qg6 31.Rxa2 Bxa2 32.Rb2 Bc4 33.Qa5 Bd5 34.Qe1 f4 35.Bxf4 Nc2 36.Qf2 Bxf3 37.Rxc2 1-0

Aronian draw Svidler

Aronian-Svidler. Photo © Ray Morris-Hill http://raymorris-hill.smugmug.com/.

Aronian,Levon - Svidler,Peter [D22]
FIDE Candidates London ENG (4.2), 19.03.2013
[Crowther,Mark]

1.d4 d5 2.c4 dxc4 3.Nf3 a6 4.e3 b5 5.a4 Bb7 6.b3 e6 7.bxc4 bxc4 8.Bxc4 Nf6 9.Nbd2 Nbd7 10.Rb1 Rb8

Peter Svidler

Levon Aronian

Position after 10...Rb8

[10...Ra7 1-0 Kazhgaleyev,M (2589)-Ismagambetov,A (2471)/Astana KAZ 2012. Isn't as good for black and Svidler said he spent quite some time trying to make this work before abandoning it.]

11.0-0 Be7 12.Qe2 0-0 13.Bb2 c5 14.Bxa6 Bxa6

Svidler believes that black equalises with a bit of accuracy after taking this pawn early.

15.Qxa6 Ra8 16.Qb5 Ra5 17.Qb3 Qa8 18.Ra1 Rb8 19.Qc2 cxd4

Peter Svidler

Levon Aronian

Position after 19...cxd4

20.Nxd4

[20.Bxd4 e5 (20...Rb4 21.Bc3 Rc5; 20...Qa6) 21.Bc3 Rc5]

20...Rc8 21.Qb1 Rxa4 22.Rxa4 Qxa4 23.Rc1 Qa6 24.Rxc8+ Qxc8 25.h3 h6 26.Qc2 Qxc2 27.Nxc2 Nd5 28.Ba3 Bxa3 29.Nxa3 Nc5 30.Nc2 Kf8 31.Kf1 1/2-1/2

Gelfand draw Ivanchuk

Gelfand-Ivanchuk. Photo © Ray Morris-Hill http://raymorris-hill.smugmug.com/.

Gelfand,Boris - Ivanchuk,Vassily [D07]
FIDE Candidates London ENG (4.3), 19.03.2013

1.d4 d5 2.c4 Nc6 3.Nf3 Bg4 4.Nc3 e6 5.Bf4 Bxf3 6.gxf3 Bb4 7.e3 Nge7 8.Qc2

[8.Qb3 1-0 Gerhold,M (2209)-Grabher,H (2279)/Austria AUT 2006/The Week in Chess 595 (46)]

8...dxc4 9.Bxc4 Nd5 10.Bg3 h5 11.h3 Qd7 12.0-0-0 0-0-0 13.Ne4 Kb8 14.Kb1 h4 15.Bh2 Bd6 16.f4

[16.Nxd6 cxd6]

16...f5!

Vassily Ivanchuk

Boris Gelfand

Position after 16...f5

Only way to get counterplay.

17.Ng5 Na5 18.Be2 Rc8 19.Qd2!

[19.e4 fxe4 20.Bg4 Rh6 21.Rhe1 Nb4 22.Qc3 Qa4 23.a3 Nd3]

19...Bb4 20.Qd3 c5 21.dxc5 Rxc5 22.e4

[22.Rc1 Rhc8 23.Rxc5 Rxc5]

22...Rhc8

Vassily Ivanchuk

Boris Gelfand

Position after 22...Rhc8

I thought I would find something. - Gelfand

23.Rc1

[23.exd5 Rxd5 24.Qf3 Rxd1+ 25.Rxd1 Qxd1+ 26.Bxd1 Nc4 27.Qe2 Nd2+ 28.Qxd2 Bxd2 with a draw]

23...Nc4 24.Rxc4 Rxc4 25.exd5 exd5 26.Qb3 Qc6 27.Bxc4 dxc4 28.Qf3 Qb5 29.Qe2 Re8 30.Qc2 c3 31.bxc3

Vassily Ivanchuk

Boris Gelfand

Position after 31.bxc3

This allows a forced draw.

31...Bxc3+ 32.Qb3 Qd3+ 33.Qc2 Qb5+ 34.Qb3 Qd3+ 35.Qc2 Qb5+ 1/2-1/2

Radjabov draw Kramnik

I missed the press conference for this game but it didn't seem that interesting. Radjabov lost the initiative as white but not enough to be threatened with the loss. Game in the PGN section.

FIDE Candidates London (ENG), 15 iii-1 iv 2013																			cat. XXII (2787)
					1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8
1.	Carlsen, Magnus	g	NOR	2872	*	*	½	.	.	.	½	.	.	.	1	.	1	.	.	.	3	2973
2.	Aronian, Levon	g	ARM	2809	½	.	*	*	½	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	1	.	1	.	3	2972
3.	Svidler, Peter	g	RUS	2747	.	.	½	.	*	*	½	.	1	.	½	.	.	.	.	.	2½	2889
4.	Kramnik, Vladimir	g	RUS	2810	½	.	.	.	½	.	*	*	½	.	½	.	.	.	.	.	2	2794
5.	Radjabov, Teimour	g	AZE	2793	.	.	.	.	0	.	½	.	*	*	.	.	½	.	1	.	2	2763
6.	Grischuk, Alexander	g	RUS	2764	0	.	.	.	½	.	½	.	.	.	*	*	.	.	½	.	1½	2709
7.	Gelfand, Boris	g	ISR	2740	0	.	0	.	.	.	.	.	½	.	.	.	*	*	½	.	1	2614
8.	Ivanchuk, Vassily	g	UKR	2757	.	.	0	.	.	.	.	.	0	.	½	.	½	.	*	*	1	2583

Round 4 (March 19, 2013)
Carlsen, Magnus	- Grischuk, Alexander	1-0	37	C65	Ruy Lopez Berlin
Aronian, Levon	- Svidler, Peter	½-½	31	D22	QGA
Radjabov, Teimour	- Kramnik, Vladimir	½-½	50	E54	Nimzo Indian
Gelfand, Boris	- Ivanchuk, Vassily	½-½	35	D07	Tchigorin Defence