FWCM 11: A Tale of Two Pawn Structures

[Event "WCC"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2016.11.27"]
[Round "11"]
[White "Karjakin, Sergey"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C77"]
[WhiteElo "2772"]
[BlackElo "2853"]
[Annotator "Nihal Sarin"]
[PlyCount "67"]
[EventDate "2016.??.??"]
[SourceDate "2003.06.08"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 {No Berlin Wall! Magnus did not play Berlin in
any black games in this WC Match.} 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 {After the loss in
the eighth round, Magnus had tried the Arkhangelsk variation, but Sergey
played well and Magnus was worse.} 6. d3 {Karjakin goes for this tricky system
with Nc3.} (6. Re1 O-O 7. c3 b5 8. Bb3 {is the main line, but maybe Karjakin
wanted to avoid the Marshall.}) 6... b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. a3 {Important move,
freeing a square for the bishop.} (8. h3 $6 Na5 $1 {Black is OK here, as
he gets the bishop on b3.}) 8... O-O 9. Nc3 Be6 (9... Bg4 10. Be3 {and the pin
is nothing to worry about. White could play h3 and g4 somewhere.} Qd7 11. h3
Bh5 12. Nd5 Nxd5 13. Bxd5 {And g4.}) 10. Nd5 {I think the idea of Nc3 is to
meet Be6 with Nd5.} Nd4 {Magnus strikes back in the center with his knight.}
11. Nxd4 (11. Nxe7+ Qxe7 12. Nxd4 exd4 13. Bg5 Bxb3 {ended 0-1 (41) Ivanchuk,V
(2755)-Svidler,P (2769) Thessaloniki 2013}) 11... exd4 12. Nxf6+ Bxf6 13. Bxe6
fxe6 {Many pieces have been exchanged off.} 14. f4 {With the idea to get some
pawn thrusts. But this also leads to mass exchanges as we shall see.} (14. Qg4
{is the precise move according to Peter Svidler.} Qd7 ({Here,} 14... Qc8 {
was played by Gabriel Sargissian.}) 15. b3 c5 16. a4 {is Svidler's suggestion.
He himself suffered with the black pieces in 2013 against Dominguez from this
position.}) (14. a4 {was tried by Anand and Dominguez against Svidler, both
the games occurring in 2013. While Svidler held the former, he lost to the
latter.} c5 ({Svidler tried} 14... Qd7 {against Dominguez} 15. b3 c5 16. Qg4 {
reaching a position which he thinks is the best chance for white as suggested
in the previous note.}) 15. Qg4 Qd7 16. axb5 axb5 17. Bd2 {A somewhat similar
structure arose in the game as well.} c4 {1/2-1/2 (35) Anand,V (2783)-Svidler,
P (2747) Paris/St Petersburg 2013}) 14... c5 {Black does the same. He wants to
play c4.} 15. Qg4 Qd7 16. f5 Rae8 17. Bd2 c4 {The position is balanced} 18. h3 {
White plays a sensible move, protecting the queen in future and also clearing
the h2 square for the king (also in future!)} c3 {Black is aiming to change
the pawn structure.} (18... d5 {looks interesting as well.} 19. fxe6 (19. Bb4
Rf7 20. fxe6 Rxe6 21. exd5 Qxd5 22. Rae1 Rxe1 23. Qc8+ Qd8 24. Qxd8+ Bxd8 25.
Rxe1 Rd7 26. Re6 a5 $11) 19... Rxe6 20. Rae1 dxe4 21. Rxe4 Re7 $11) (18... e5
$5 {was suggested by Anish Giri online.} 19. b3 d5 20. a4 $13 {/=}) 19. bxc3 d5
$1 {Black strikes in the centre.} 20. Bg5 {Now the complications fizzle out to
be a draw.} Bxg5 21. Qxg5 dxe4 22. fxe6 Rxf1+ 23. Rxf1 Qxe6 24. cxd4 e3 {
After an almost forced sequence, black is a pawn down, but he has a very
strong passed pawn.} 25. Re1 h6 26. Qh5 e2 27. Qf3 a5 28. c3 {Holding back
Black's pawn thrusts.} ({A note for kids: White cannot win the e2 pawn with
something like} 28. Kf2 $4 Rf8 $19) 28... Qa2 29. Qc6 Re6 30. Qc8+ Kh7 31. c4
$1 {This move breaks the connection between the queen and the rook, forcing a
draw.} Qd2 32. Qxe6 Qxe1+ 33. Kh2 Qf2 34. Qe4+ $11 {Black can't avoid a
perpetual. A high-quality game full of precise moves. The h3 move became
useful after all! Magnus' d5 was an interesting move almost forcing a draw. An accurate game. It
remains to be seen how much longer can they remain accurate.} 1/2-1/2