Carlsen edges closer to Karjakin with Round 6 win against Radjabov in Norway

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Norway Chess 2013 (6)

Carlsen edges closer to Karjakin with Round 6 win against Radjabov in Norway

Mark Crowther - Wednesday 15th May 2013

Carlsen-Radjabov Round 6. Photo © Norway Chess.

Carlsen-Radjabov Round 6. Photo © Norway Chess. | http://norwaychess.com

Magnus Carlsen ground out a win against Teimour Radjabov for the second time in a row from a virtually equal position to move within half a point of the leader Sergey Karjakin who managed to hold on for a draw against Viswanathan Anand.

"I'm really very satisfied I managed to squeeze something out of this and am now fully in the tournament. It's a very welcome turn of events for me." - Carlsen.

Carlsen said that he didn't want to let Radjabov play a sharp game but it too him quite some time to put pressure on and it seems Radjabov was close to completely equalising at a number of points before the pressure finally allowed Carlsen to score the full point.

Levon Aronian moved to a plus score against a clearly disappointed Jon Ludvig Hammer. Hammer isn't a regular Gruenfeld player and had hoped Aronian might try for a side-line, instead 8.Rb1 came which was precisely the variation he didn't want to see. He had intended to play 12...b6 but found some problem in his preparation. Instead he ended up in a position where Aronian knew in detail what he was doing and Hammer didn't. Allowing 14.d5 was a bad error and Hammer went down to a rather depressing loss.

Veselin Topalov was again surprised by his opponent Wang Hao's choice of the Tarrasch Defence and chose a line where he was going for his opponent's queenside pawns. If Topalov could have won the b-pawn then he would have been winning but it seems that with accurate play this isn't possible and Wang Hao held in 32 moves.

Hikaru Nakamura surprised Peter Svidler with the choice of the Ponziani but having been used by Carlsen recently Svidler at least knew it would arrive at some point from someone. Svidler said he hadn't really looked at it since Carlsen used it but his former coach was an expert and he knew quite a bit about it. Svidler's first task was to find a decent move that would stop Nakamura blitzing out his moves. His 9...Bg4 achieved that (9...c5 seems to have been Nakamura's focus) then play became very concrete with both players having to play well which is seems they did. Their press conference was just a wonderful demonstration of the game and should be watched when it comes into the archive.

Viswanathan Anand was somewhat frustrated that he couldn't beat Sergey Karjakin in spite of being "incredibly close". This was a manoeuvring Ruy Lopez where Anand reduced his opponent to passivity but there certainly were no easy missed chances.

Round 6 Standings: Karjakin 4.5pts, Carlsen 4pts, Nakamura, Aronian 3.5pts, Anand, Svidler 3pts, Topalov, Radjabov 2.5pts, Wang 2pts, Hammer 1.5pts

Round 7 15th May 2013 2pm BST: Wang-Aronian, Hammer-Carlsen, Svidler-Topalov, Radjabov-Anand, Karjakin-Nakamura.

I will be in commentary on ICC with Alex Yermolinsky for the 7th round. Looking forward to it.

Carlsen,Magnus (2868) - Radjabov,Teimour (2745) [A35]
Supreme Masters 2013 Sandnes NOR (6.4), 14.05.2013

1.c4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e3 e6 5.d4 d5 6.cxd5 exd5 7.Bb5 Bd6 8.0-0 0-0 9.dxc5 Bxc5 10.b3 Bg4 11.Bb2 a6 12.Bxc6 bxc6 13.Rc1 Ba7

[13...Bd6 0-1 Ashley,M (2460)-De Firmian,N (2595)/New York USA 1996 (75)]

14.Ne2

Teimour Radjabov

Magnus Carlsen

Position after 14.Ne2

"This feels very natural." Carlsen. This is a reverse Nimzo-Indian but Carlsen having been somewhat surprised in the opening doesn't have very much.

[14.h3 1/2-1/2 Tsiganova,M (2221)-Fomina,T (2254)/Tallinn 2008/CBM 123 Extra (64); 14.Na4 0-1 Nielsen,U (2385)-Sax,G (2520)/Vejle 1994/CBM 040 (46)]

14...Qd6 15.Be5

"Here I couldn't make anything work really." Carlsen. 15,Be5 is "Forcing matters"

[15.Ne5 Rac8 16.Nxg4 Nxg4 17.Ng3 f5 with serious counterplay.; 15.Bd4 Bxf3 and it's not too much for white.; 15.Ng3 Rfe8]

15...Qe7 16.Ned4

[16.Rxc6 Bxf3 17.Bxf6 Qd7]

16...Bxf3

[16...c5 17.Nc6 Qe6 18.Bxf6 (18.Nxa7 Bxf3 19.Qxf3 Qxe5 is no good for white.) 18...Qxc6 19.Be7 Bxf3 20.Qxf3 Rfc8 21.Rfd1 (21.Bxc5 Bxc5 22.b4 Qb6 23.bxc5 Rxc5 24.Rxc5 Qxc5 25.Rd1 and try to press a little bit in this endgame - Carlsen.) 21...Qe6 22.Bh4 d4]

17.Nxf3 Rfc8 18.Qd3 a5

[18...Ne4 19.Qxa6 Bxe3 (19...f6 20.Rxc6) 20.Rxc6 works tactically for white.]

19.Bxf6 Qxf6 20.Rc2 Rd8 21.Rfc1

[21.Nd4 c5 22.Nb5 Bb6 and Carlsen couldn't see what to do.]

21...c5 22.e4 Qg6 23.Re1

[23.Re2 Isn't any better.]

23...dxe4 24.Qxe4 Qxe4 25.Rxe4 Rd1+ 26.Re1 Rxe1+ 27.Nxe1 Rd8

Teimour Radjabov

Magnus Carlsen

Position after 27...Rd8

"Rd8 is very precise and now he gets to go a4." Carlsen.

28.Kf1 a4 29.bxa4 Rd4 30.a5 Ra4 31.Rd2

"Rd2 was essentially just a cheap trick I should have gone Nd3." - Carlsen.

[31.Nd3 Rxa5 32.Ne5 with tempi up on the game although it's probably drawn anyway.]

31...Kf8 32.Nd3 f6 33.Nb2

Teimour Radjabov

Magnus Carlsen

Position after 33.Nb2

[33.Nf4 Rxf4 34.Rd8+ Ke7 35.Ra8 Bb8 36.Rxb8 Ra4 37.Rb7+ Kf8 "and there's nothing I can do." Carlsen.]

33...Rxa5

[33...Rxa2 "I think he could also have taken on a2." Carlsen. 34.Nc4 Ra4]

34.Nc4 Ra4

"Here he was a little short of time fortunately and I don't think what he did was the best plan. Better just to put the bishop on c7 immediately." Carlsen.

35.Rc2 Ke7 36.Ke2 Ke6

[36...Bb8 37.a3 Bc7 38.Kd3 Kd7 This just looks like a draw to me - Carlsen.]

37.Kd3 Kd5 38.a3

Teimour Radjabov

Magnus Carlsen

Position after 38.a3

"What helped most of all was that he was a little short of time and it turns out the king is a little misplaced on d5." - Carlsen who is waiting until black has to move either the rook or the king once the kingside is pushed.

38...h5 39.h3 h4 40.Rc1 g6 41.Rc2 g5 42.Rc1 Ra6

[42...f5 43.f3 with some slight chances.]

43.Re1 Bb8 44.Re7

Teimour Radjabov

Magnus Carlsen

Position after 44.Re7

"I thought this was a nice setup. I really don't want to allow him to go Ra7 because that helps his coordination a lot." - Carlsen.

44...Bf4 45.Kc3

"At this point his rook doesn't have any moves and he has to spend time on f5, g5 which allows me to go Kb3 and then push the pawn." - Carlsen.

[45.a4? Rxa4 46.Nb6+ Kd6 47.Nxa4 Kxe7]

45...f5 46.Kb3 g4 47.a4 gxh3 48.gxh3 Rg6

I think what he did was quite OK. Carlsen.

[48...Kd4 49.a5 Kd3]

49.a5 Rg1 50.a6 Rb1+ 51.Kc3

[51.Ka2 Rb4 leads nowhere. 52.Nb2 (52.a7 Ra4+ 53.Kb3 Rb4+ 54.Ka3 Bc1+ 55.Ka2 Ra4+ 56.Kb1 Rb4+ 57.Kxc1 Rxc4+ "I think he just keeps on checking and this rook ending has to be a draw." - Carlsen.) 52...Rb6 "I wasn't too optimistic about converting this one." - Carlsen.]

51...Rc1+ 52.Kd3 Rd1+ 53.Ke2

All of this is forced if white is playing for a win.

53...Ra1 54.Nb6+ Kd6 55.Rg7 Kc6

[55...Rxa6? 56.Rg6+ and the king doesn't have any squares.]

56.Rg6+ Kb5 57.Nd5

Teimour Radjabov

Magnus Carlsen

Position after 57.Nd5

57...Be5?!

"Maybe Be5 is a mistake" - Carlsen.

[57...Ra2+ 58.Kf3 Bd2 59.Rb6+ Kc4 60.Ne7 Be1 61.Nc6 Bxf2 62.a7 Bd4 63.Kf4 Kd5 64.Kxf5 Rf2+ 65.Kg4 Rg2+]

58.Rb6+ Kc4 59.Ne3+

Now it's very difficult for black.

59...Kc3

[59...Kd4? 60.Nc2+]

60.f4

[60.Nxf5 Ra2+ 61.Kf3 Bd4]

60...Bd4 61.Nxf5 c4 62.Rc6

Teimour Radjabov

Magnus Carlsen

Position after 62.Rc6

I see the computer doesn't yet show any major advantage which is a little bit surprising to me. I couldn't really see a defence for him here. - Carlsen.

62...Rh1

[62...Bg1 63.Nd6 (63.Ne3 I thought this sort of rook ending should be winning. - Carlsen.) 63...Kd4 64.Nxc4 Kd5 65.Ne5 Bd4]

63.Nd6 Rh2+ 64.Kf3 Kd3 65.Rxc4

Teimour Radjabov

Magnus Carlsen

Position after 65.Rxc4

Now I think I'm winning more or less by force - Carlsen.

65...Rxh3+ 66.Kg4 Rh1

[66...Rg3+ 67.Kxh4 Rg6 68.Ra4 Rxd6 69.a7 Bxa7 70.Rxa7 Ke4 71.Kg5 Rd5+ 72.Kg4 and this rook ending is winning as the king will be cut off on the next move. - Carlsen.]

67.Ra4 Bf2

Carlsen didn't understand this move but the game is gone anyway.

68.Ra3+ 1-0

Supreme Masters 2013 Sandnes NOR (NOR), 8-18 v 2013															cat. XXI (2766)
					1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	0
1.	Karjakin, Sergey	g	RUS	2767	*	0	.	1	½	.	.	1	1	1	4½	2953
2.	Carlsen, Magnus	g	NOR	2868	1	*	½	.	½	½	½	1	.	.	4	2897
3.	Nakamura, Hikaru	g	USA	2775	.	½	*	0	1	½	½	.	1	.	3½	2851
4.	Aronian, Levon	g	ARM	2813	0	.	1	*	½	½	.	½	.	1	3½	2798
5.	Anand, Viswanathan	g	IND	2783	½	½	0	½	*	½	1	.	.	.	3	2797
6.	Svidler, Peter	g	RUS	2769	.	½	½	½	½	*	.	.	0	1	3	2765
7.	Topalov, Veselin	g	BUL	2793	.	½	½	.	0	.	*	½	½	½	2½	2696
8.	Radjabov, Teimour	g	AZE	2745	0	0	.	½	.	.	½	*	½	1	2½	2708
9.	Wang, Hao	g	CHN	2743	0	.	0	.	.	1	½	½	*	0	2	2617
10.	Hammer, Jon Ludvig	g	NOR	2608	0	.	.	0	.	0	½	0	1	*	1½	2578

Round 6 (May 14, 2013)
Carlsen, Magnus	- Radjabov, Teimour	1-0	68	A35	English Symmetrical
Nakamura, Hikaru	- Svidler, Peter	½-½	31	C44	Scotch Gambit
Aronian, Levon	- Hammer, Jon Ludvig	1-0	24	D85	Gruenfeld Defence
Anand, Viswanathan	- Karjakin, Sergey	½-½	57	C65	Ruy Lopez Berlin
Topalov, Veselin	- Wang, Hao	½-½	32	D40	Semi-Tarrasch Defence

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Carlsen edges closer to Karjakin with Round 6 win against Radjabov in Norway

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