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Karjakin beats Anand for the first time

by ChessBase India - 15/03/2016

They have played 26 games against each other (including blitz, rapid and classical) and Karjakin has never been able to win a single game against Vishy Anand. “I am very happy as today is my first classical win against Anand”, that’s what Sergey said when he was asked how he felt about the game. Anand made a few inaccuracies and the resulting ending was so passive for Black that Karjakin could take his own merry time to deliver the final blow. An impressive victory for Sergey. Analysis by IM Sagar Shah

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[Event "Candidates 2016"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2016.03.15"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Karjakin, Sergey"]
[Black "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A13"]
[WhiteElo "2760"]
[BlackElo "2762"]
[Annotator "Sagar Shah"]
[PlyCount "85"]
[SourceDate "2016.03.15"]
{Prior to this game Anand and Karjakin have played against each other 26 times
in different formats of the game -Blitz, Classical, Rapid. There have been
eight decisive results all in the favour of Vishy Anand. Naturally the Indian
ace has a psychological edge when facing the young Russian.} 1. Nf3 {Karjakin
sticks to his policy of beginning the game with 1.Nf3 as he did against
Svidler and Nakamura.} d5 2. e3 $5 {Although not completely silly, this is a
highly unambitious move. In a way it takes away quite a bit of flexibility in
from White's setup and makes d4 lines pretty harmless. Karjakin's natural
inclination was towards avoiding Vishy Anand's preparation.} Nf6 3. c4 e6 4. b3
Be7 5. Bb2 O-O 6. Nc3 c5 7. cxd5 Nxd5 {The game has transposed into a well
known position and it looks like we would follow some of the classical games
in this position like the ones played by Botvinnik, Larsen, Smyslov etc.
However, Sergey gives this position, his own modern touch!} 8. Qc2 $5 Nc6 9. h4
$5 $146 {The highly interesting novelty. The idea of this move is to prepare
Ng5 at some point and force white to weaken his kingside with a pawn move.} b6
10. a3 (10. Ng5 f5) 10... f5 {Anand tries to be safe and shuts the b1-h7
diagonal. What he should be really careful about is the fact that he is
extending his position and some of the squares might become weak due to these
pawn moves.} 11. Bb5 Bb7 12. Nxd5 exd5 (12... Qxd5 {was definitely a worth
alternative.} 13. Bc4 Qd6 14. Ng5 Bxg5 15. hxg5 Na5 {Should not be such a huge
problem for Black.}) 13. d4 {After playing the move h4, suddenly Karjakin
switches to positional chess! Something has not really gone according to his
plan, or has it?!!} Rc8 14. dxc5 bxc5 15. O-O {After the game I was curious as
to why Sergey who seemed all aggressive and wanted to blow Anand of the board,
had suddenly become positional and played moves like d4 and 0-0. Well the
reason is as simple as Karjakin explains after the game. "I wanted to provoke
him into playing f5 and that's what he did!"} Bf6 (15... f4 16. Bd3 $1 $16) 16.
Rfd1 (16. Bxf6 Qxf6 17. Qxc5 Ne5 $44) 16... Ne7 17. Bxf6 Rxf6 18. g3 {The
position is around equal at this point. It is a well know fact that the side
with the isolated or hanging pawns must keep more pieces on the board. Anand's
next move breaks this rule and looks clearly like a positional error.} Ba6 $6 {
More the pieces get exchanged, more the c5 and d5 duo start becoming weak.} 19.
Bxa6 Rxa6 20. Qc3 Rb6 21. Rac1 Qd6 $6 {Another inaccuracy. The queen is not at
all well placed on d6. As Sergey shows Ne5 will threaten moves like Nc4 and
Nd3.} 22. Ne5 $1 Rb7 23. Nd3 $1 {And this is what we were talking about. The
hanging pawns become super weak. The c5 pawn advances and the rest is just
pain for the Indian champion.} c4 24. bxc4 Rxc4 25. Qe5 {The queens have to be
exchanged.} Qxe5 (25... Qc6 26. Rxc4 dxc4 27. Nc5 $18) 26. Nxe5 Rxc1 27. Rxc1
$16 {White has a better knight, a better rook, a better pawn structure and a
clear plan of improving his king. Rest as they say is a matter of technique
for a strong player like Karjakin.} g6 28. Rc5 Kg7 29. Ra5 Kf6 30. Nd3 Rc7 31.
Ra6+ Kg7 32. Nf4 Rd7 33. Kf1 Ng8 34. Ne6+ Kf7 35. Nd4 Ne7 36. Nb5 Nc8 37. a4
Rb7 38. Rc6 Ne7 39. Ra6 Nc8 40. Rc6 Ne7 41. Rd6 Rb6 42. Rd7 a6 43. Nc3 {
Anand resigned in this equal material position. Although his resignation was
not at all premature.} (43. Nc3 Re6 44. Nxd5 Ke8 45. Rxe7+ Rxe7 46. Nxe7 Kxe7
$18) 1-0

 

Sergey Karjakin explains some of his decisions in the game

Round three article in the popular online news website : Firstpost 

Click on the image below to read the entire article