Norway R07: Magnus Carlsen: 2818, Vladimir Kramnik: 2812
Magnus Carlsen is just one game away from losing his world number one spot. Just six Elo points separate him and Vladimir Kramnik after the latter defeated the World Champion in the seventh round of the Norway Chess 2017. Vishy Anand drew his game against Nakamura. Levon Aronian continues his fairy tale run and is now the sole leader with 5.0/7. Two rounds to go and there is everything to play for. In this report we have annotated all the decisive games, along with brilliant pictures by Lennart Ootes and video analysis by Daniel King.
Photos by Lennart Ootes
| Round 7: June 14, 2017 in Stavanger Concert Hall | ||
| Wesley So |
½-½
|
Fabiano Caruana |
| Vishy Anand |
½-½
|
Hikaru Nakamura |
| M. Vachier-Lagrave |
0-1
|
Anish Giri |
| Sergey Karjakin |
0-1
|
Levon Aronian |
| Vladimir Kramnik |
1-0
|
Magnus Carlsen |
Rejuvenated after a day’s rest, the participants of the Altibox Norway Chess resumed play at a new venue, the Stavanger Concert Hall. Just as it had happened after the previous rest day, round 7 brimmed with excitement as three out of the five games ended decisively. Levon Aronian continued his outstanding form and beat Sergey Karjakin with the black pieces; Anish Giri won against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in a complicated Sicilian Dragon; Vladimir Kramnik staged a stunning comeback and beat World Champion Magnus Carlsen; while Vishy Anand and Wesley So held Hikaru Nakamura and Fabiano Caruana respectively to a draw.
Nakamura has always been an extremely difficult opponent for Anand and has, on quite a few occasions, beaten the Indian. But Vishy’s chances could never be discounted, especially after his win with the black pieces in the previous round against Caruana and having had a day of rest.
In the game, Anand, once again, asserted his belief in the Italian opening. Talking to GM Nigel Short about this opening, which apparently is pretty much in vogue, he said, “The Italian is one area which you can say the computers have revolutionized, and it seems we gave up (on it) way too early”. However, around move 21, he said he felt unsure whether he was “in control or if he was losing the plot a bit”. But despite some complications in the middle-game, Anand was able to exchange pieces and go for a rook endgame which was no less sharp. While Nakamura had passed two pawns on the king-side, Anand’s passers were rolling down the board on the queen's wing.
After the game, both players showed some very tricky lines and concluded that the position was so complicated that any of the three results was possible. A critical point where Anand could have posed some real problems to Nakamura came on the 39th move where instead of going after black’s queen rook pawn, Anand said he should have pushed his own pawn to a5. But this too was very tricky and may well have backfired. Hence, after 46 moves of play, the two shook hands having repeated the position.
[Site "Stavanger NOR"]
[Date "2017.06.14"]
[Round "7.1"]
[White "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C50"]
[WhiteElo "2786"]
[BlackElo "2785"]
[PlyCount "92"]
[EventDate "2017.06.06"]
Ba7 9. h3 Ne7 10. Nbd2 Ng6 11. Bb3 Be6 12. d4 Bxb3 13. Qxb3 Qd7 14. Nf1 (14.
Qxb7 Bxd4 $1 15. Qb3 Ba7 $11) 14... exd4 15. cxd4 d5 16. e5 Ne4 17. N1d2 c5 $1
(17... Nxd2 18. Bxd2 c5 19. dxc5 Bxc5 20. Be3 $14 {is a pleasant position for
White to play.}) 18. Nxe4 (18. dxc5 Nxc5 $17) 18... dxe4 19. Rxe4 cxd4 20. e6 (
20. Bd2 $5) 20... fxe6 21. Rxe6 Kh8 22. Bg5 Qf7 23. Qd5 Rae8 24. Rae1 h6 25.
Bd2 d3 26. Rd6 Qxd5 27. Rxd5 Re2 $1 {The d3 pawn is falling, but Black makes
use of it while it's still on the board.} 28. Rxd3 (28. Rxe2 dxe2 29. Be1 Nf4 {
It is not so easy to win the e2 pawn.} 30. Re5 Nxh3+ 31. gxh3 Rxf3 32. Kg2 Rf4
33. b4 $11) 28... Bxf2+ 29. Kf1 Rxe1+ 30. Nxe1 (30. Bxe1 Bxe1 31. Kxe1 Nf4 32.
Rd2 Nxg2+ $17) 30... Ne5 31. Rb3 {Anand ensures that there are no dangerous
discovered checks.} Be3+ 32. Ke2 Bxd2 33. Kxd2 Rf2+ 34. Kc3 Re2 35. Nd3 Nxd3
36. Kxd3 Rxg2 37. Rxb7 Rg3+ 38. Kc4 Rxh3 39. Ra7 (39. a5 $5 g5 40. b4 g4 41. b5
axb5+ 42. Rxb5 Ra3 43. Kb4 Ra2 44. Kb3 Ra1 45. Kb2 Rf1 46. a6 Rf2+ 47. Kb3 Rf3+
48. Kb4 Rf4+ 49. Ka5 Rf1 $11) 39... Rh4+ 40. Kb3 g5 41. a5 Rf4 42. Rxa6 Kg7 43.
Ra7+ Kg6 44. Ra8 Kg7 45. Ra7+ Kg6 46. Ra8 Kg7 1/2-1/2
In a 66-move-long battle that arose out of a Queen’s Gambit Accepted, So tried to convert his extra pawn in a rook and bishop versus rook and bishop endgame. But with the existence of opposite coloured bishops Caruana was able to defend successfully and save half a point.
Anish Giri, who once shared the bottom spot with Anand in the tournament, has come back strongly and played some high quality chess after his win against Anand in the fourth round. Yesterday, he was paired against the French number one, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. With the black pieces, Giri essayed the Dragon variation of the Sicilian defense which isn’t seen often in top level games.
As the game progressed, the Dutch Grandmaster showed that he was thoroughly prepared for a fight and went into an extremely complicated line wherein both his and his opponent’s king was in danger of being checkmated. After the game, Giri said that he had prepared this variation and since the moves were so forcing, he expected the game to end in a draw quickly. When asked whether he had also analyzed this variation, Vachier-Lagrave said that he had seen it but not before the game. At one point both players agreed that Lagrave should have forced an endgame with a queen exchange. But that didn’t happen and Giri won a nice game in 33 moves.
[Site "Stavanger NOR"]
[Date "2017.06.14"]
[Round "7.2"]
[White "Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime"]
[Black "Giri, Anish"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B35"]
[WhiteElo "2796"]
[BlackElo "2771"]
[PlyCount "66"]
[EventDate "2017.06.06"]
Bb3 d6 9. f3 Bd7 10. Qd2 Nxd4 11. Bxd4 b5 12. a4 (12. h4 {is the main move.})
12... b4 13. Nd5 Nxd5 14. Bxg7 Kxg7 15. exd5 Qb6 16. h4 h5 17. O-O-O Qa5 {
This position has been reached in 13 games before including the correspondence
games.} 18. g4 Bxa4 19. Kb1 {The first new move that has never really been
played.} (19. Qd4+ Kg8 20. Kb1 Bxb3 21. cxb3 Qc5 {leads to a round about even
position.}) 19... Bxb3 20. cxb3 Rh8 21. Rc1 Rae8 22. Rc6 Qb5 23. Rc7 $6 (23.
Ka2 $5) 23... a5 (23... e5 $1 24. dxe6 Rxe6 $17) 24. g5 a4 25. Qd4+ Kh7 26.
bxa4 Qxa4 27. Re1 Rhf8 28. Ra7 Qb5 29. f4 Kg8 30. f5 gxf5 31. Kc2 b3+ 32. Kd1
Rc8 33. g6 Rc5 (33... Rc5 34. gxf7+ Kh7 $19 {It's not so easy to pin point
where White went wrong, but Giri played a nearly flawless game.}) 0-1
Levon Aronian has shown tremendous form at this event so far and was leading the tournament along with Hikaru Nakamura before the start of round 7. In this round, he was playing with the black pieces against Sergey Karjakin. The game, as many others in this round, began with an Italian opening. The Armenian came up with an interesting idea in the opening on move 13 where, instead of immediately recapturing his opponent’s pawn on f5, he chose to come up with a neat knight maneuver.
But it was much later in the game, on move 28, that Karjakin felt he made the biggest mistake of the game by moving his rook to g6. Capitalizing on this, Aronian was able to trap that rook on its new post. And when Karjakin made efforts to bring the rook back to safety, Aronian broke through on the king-side forcing the Russian to resign after 41 moves of play.
Karjakin - Aronian (Analysis by GM Lenderman)
[Site "Stavanger"]
[Date "2017.06.14"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Karjakin, Sergey"]
[Black "Aronian, Levon"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C50"]
[Annotator "Aleksandr Lenderman"]
[PlyCount "82"]
[EventDate "2017.??.??"]
game but also a very high quality game by Levon who is in excellent form in
this tournament.} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 {These days the Italian game has
probably taken over in popularity over the Ruy Lopez, mostly because of the
Berlin and the Marshall.} Bc5 4. O-O Nf6 5. d3 O-O 6. a4 a5 {The Aronian
speciality. Aronian has already played this move in several games, despite not
being the most common move. According to my database the most common move is
the less committal 6...a6} (6... a6) (6... d6) (6... h6 {were also played.}) 7.
Bg5 (7. c3 {was also played a few times against Aronian without great opening
success.} d5 8. exd5 Nxd5 9. Re1 Bg4 10. Nbd2 Nb6 11. Bb5 Bd6 12. h3 Bh5 13.
Ne4 (13. Bxc6 bxc6 14. Ne4 f5 15. Ng3 Bxf3 16. Qxf3 Qd7 $15 {Was already very
comfortable for Black.1/2 (80) Nepomniachtchi,I (2767)-Aronian,L (2785) Doha
QAT 2016}) 13... f5 14. Ng3 Bxf3 15. Qxf3 Ne7 16. Bg5 c6 $17 {And Black got an
excellent opening even though in the end Black lost the game.1-0 (41) Vachier
Lagrave,M (2804)-Aronian,L (2785) London ENG 2016}) 7... h6 8. Bh4 Be7 9. Bg3
d6 10. h3 Kh8 $5 {This move is already a foray into rare territory, and
according to my database is a novelty. Aronian is attempting to improve on his
own play. Before, two times against the same opponent, Fabiano Caruana,
including in the prelimiarly blitz event before the main tournament in Norway,
Aronian played 10...Nd7!?} (10... Nd7 11. Nc3 {White was a tiny bit better
here but Black can probably hold this.} (11. Re1 Kh8 12. c3 Nb6 13. Bb3 f5 14.
exf5 Bxf5 15. d4 (15. Na3 $5 {Might've been an improvement for White.}) 15...
e4 16. Nfd2 d5 17. f3 Bh4 $17 {was very good for Black in... 1/2 (25) Caruana,
F (2808)-Aronian,L (2793) Stavanger NOR 2017}) 11... Nb6 12. Bb3 Kh8 13. d4
Nxd4 14. Nxd4 exd4 15. Qxd4 Bf6 16. e5 (16. Qd2) (16. Qe3) 16... dxe5 17. Qxd8
Rxd8 18. Rfe1 Be6 19. Bxe6 fxe6 20. Ne4 (20. Bxe5) 20... Kg8 21. Nc5 Rd5 {
was already good for Black. 1/2 (61) Caruana,F (2817) -Aronian,L (2774)
Karlsruhe GER 2017}) 11. c3 Nh7 {This is the point of Kh8. Now Black tries to
play for the kingside initiative.} 12. Qb3 f5 $1 {According to Playchess,
Black spent 12 minutes here. This is a pawn sacrifice though.} (12... Qe8 {
Maybe Black also considered something like this but of course this is an
awkward move and a concession.} 13. Nbd2 $14) 13. exf5 Bf6 $5 (13... Bxf5 {
was also probably possible.} 14. Nbd2 (14. Qxb7 {This is a bit dangerous for
White.} Bd7 15. Bd5 (15. Qb3 Rxf3 $1 16. gxf3 Rb8 17. Qc2 Bxh3 18. Re1 Bh4 $36
(18... Qf8 $36 {Black has a strong initiative.})) 15... Rb8 16. Qa6 Rb6 17. Qc4
Nf6 {Here Black is fine.} 18. Nbd2 (18. b3 $2 Nb8 $1) 18... Nxd5 19. Qxd5 Rxb2
$11) 14... Rb8 15. Rae1 {with a playable position for both.}) 14. Be6 {The
principled move.} (14. Nbd2 $5 {was also possible.}) 14... Ne7 15. Nh4 Qe8 16.
Bxc8 Rxc8 17. Ng6+ Nxg6 18. fxg6 Qxg6 19. Qxb7 Ng5 $5 {Black continues to play
ambitiously, down a pawn for long-term compensation in view of piece activity
and initiative. It worked great in this game. Very brave play by Aronian!} (
19... Qxd3 20. Qb5 e4 (20... Qxb5 21. axb5 Ra8 22. Nd2 $16 {is of course not
great for Black since White simply has the better game without facing much
counterplay.} Rfb8 23. c4 Ng5 24. Ra2 $14 {And Black's pawn on a5 is weak as
well as his bishop on f6 can be a problem with all Black's pawns on the dark
squares.}) 21. Qxa5 (21. Qxd3 exd3 22. Na3 {Here only White can be better.})
21... e3) 20. h4 Ne6 21. Qe4 Qh5 22. Nd2 Nf4 $1 {Of course Black has to play
energetically here to try to prove he has compensation for his pawn.} 23. Bxf4
exf4 24. Qf3 $6 {This move seems to be the first inaccuracy by White since
eventually the queen on f3 might not be ideally placed and Black will take on
h4 eventually anyway.} (24. d4 $5 g5 $1 {Seems like Black's best reply.} (24...
Bxh4 25. b4 $1 $14 {The point of d4. Now White wants to create quick
counterplay thanks to a passed a-pawn and White seems to be doing well now.}) (
24... Qxh4 25. Nf3 $16) 25. Rfe1 (25. hxg5 hxg5 26. Qd5 Kg7 $36 {is a bit
dangerous for White.}) 25... Qxh4 26. f3 {with a complex game but White seems
fine, if not better still.}) 24... Qxh4 25. Rfe1 Rb8 (25... g5 {This move
right away was also interesting.}) 26. Nc4 (26. Rab1 g5 27. Qc6 g4 28. Qxc7 Be5
29. Rxe5 dxe5 30. Qxe5+ Kg8 {is also very unclear and as such is unlikely to
be an improvement for White.}) 26... g5 $1 {Now Black starts his initiative.
Objectively the position is roughly equal but probably Black is for choice
here since he has the initiative.} 27. Re6 Bg7 28. Rg6 $6 {Now this is
probably already a serious practical inaccuracy since now the e-file goes to
Black and Black at the very least will have a serious initiative if not
already an advantage.} (28. Qh3 $11 {This was the simplest route to clean
equality.} Qxh3 29. gxh3 d5 30. Nxa5 Rxb2 31. d4 $11) (28. Rae1 g4 29. Qe4 f3
30. g3 Qh3 31. Ne3 Rxb2 32. Re8 {is also level.}) (28. Nxa5 $4 {On the other
hand is just a blunder because of} g4 29. Qd5 (29. Qe4 d5 30. Qxd5 g3 $19)
29... g3) 28... Rbe8 $1 29. d4 Kh7 $1 30. Qd3 Kg8 {After this nice sequence of
moves White is already in some trouble. However White's next move doesn't make
it easier for him.} 31. d5 $6 (31. Qf3 $1 {Here White should've paused Black's
initiative at least for now.} Kf7 32. Qd3 Qh5 33. Qf5+ Kg8 34. Qd5+ Kh8 35. Re6
Rxe6 36. Qxe6 g4 37. Re1 g3 38. Qh3 Qg6 $15 {Black is a bit better but White
can still fight.} 39. Na3 f3 40. Rf1 $1 {And White is still defending
succesfully although Black is for choice.}) 31... f3 {This move is good enough
for an advantage and it's very difficult for White to play, but I wanted to
mention that Black seemed to have another interesting viable alternative here.}
(31... g4 $5 {would also be quite hard to meet.} 32. Rd1 $1 {Seems like
practically the only move.} (32. g3 $2 Qh5 33. Re6 Rxe6 34. dxe6 fxg3 35. Qxg3
Rf3 $19) (32. Nxa5 $2 Re5 $19) (32. Rf1 Re7 33. Re6 Ref7 $1) (32. Rb1 Qh5 33.
Re6 g3 34. Qf3 Qh2+ 35. Kf1 Qh1+ {Because of this line, it's really important
for White to play Rd1.}) 32... Kh8 $3 {This move was very hard to find though,
and it Black would still be much better.} (32... Qh5 {is less effective.} 33.
Re6 g3 34. Qf3 gxf2+ 35. Kxf2) (32... Re7 33. Re6 Rxe6 (33... Ref7 34. Nxa5 g3
35. Qf3 {Here also White defends succesfully.}) 34. dxe6 $15) 33. Re6 (33. g3
fxg3 34. Qxg3 (34. fxg3 $2 Qh3 $19) 34... Qxg3+ 35. fxg3 Re4 36. Nxa5 Rf3 $17)
33... Rxe6 34. dxe6 g3 35. Qf3 Re8 36. Re1 Qh2+ 37. Kf1 Qh1+ 38. Ke2 Rxe6+ 39.
Ne3 Qh4 40. fxg3 fxg3 41. Qa8+ Kh7 42. Qxa5 Qe4 43. Kd2 d5 $17 {And Black is
much better thanks to his long-lasting initiative against White's weak king.})
32. gxf3 $6 {This makes matters worse for White.} (32. g3 Qh3 33. Qf1 Qf5 34.
Qb1 $2 (34. Re6 Qxd5 35. Re3 $1 $15 {White is still almost ok, only slightly
worse.} (35. Rxe8 Rxe8 36. Ne3 Qd2)) 34... Qxd5) 32... Rf4 33. Kg2 $6 {Likely
following a faulty plan. At this point Sergey was already in serious time
pressure and this position is very unpleasant to play. Sergey probably missed
some of Levon's ideas.} (33. Nd2 {After this more resiliant move White can
still fight, although honestly speaking probably not for that long either.} Qh3
$1 {This is probably why Sergey played Kg2.} 34. Qf1 Qh5 35. Re6 Rb8 $19 {
And Black is winning but at least White doesn't have to resign right away.
He's not losing by force yet.}) 33... Ref8 $1 {The only winning move. Which
means probably Levon had to see it when he played 31... f3} (33... g4 $2 34.
Rxg4 Rxg4+ 35. fxg4 Qxg4+ 36. Kf1 $11) 34. Nd2 (34. Rh1 {Important of course
is that Rh1 doesn't work because of} Rg4+ 35. fxg4 Qxf2+ 36. Kh3 Rf3+ 37. Qxf3
Qxf3+ 38. Kh2 Qf2+ 39. Kh3 Qh4+ 40. Kg2 Qxg4+ 41. Kh2 Qh4+ 42. Kg2 Qe4+ $19)
34... g4 {Now it's completely over.} 35. Kg1 R8f5 $1 36. Ne4 Rxf3 37. Qd4 Re5
$1 38. Ng3 Rxg3+ $1 39. fxg3 Qxg3+ 40. Kf1 Kh7 41. Rxg7+ (41. Rxg4 Rf5+) (41.
Qxg4 Qd3+) 41... Kxg7 {And White resigned since After Kg6, the only way to
stop a mating attack would be to give up the queen. Brilliant game by Levon
and now he's in prime position to win such a super tournament!} 0-1
It seems Vladimir Kramnik found some magical potion on the rest day to regain his form. It was quite evident in his last game that he was not in his element when he blundered quite a few times against Aronian. But just after a day’s break, Big Vlad came back with a bang! Playing against Magnus Carlsen, he won a very well controlled game in which he came up with a strong piece sacrifice on move 23. As the game progressed, the former World Champion continued playing aggressively and although Carlsen was able to exchange queens towards the end, Kramnik had calculated that he was winning by force.
[Site "Stavanger NOR"]
[Date "2017.06.14"]
[Round "7.3"]
[White "Kramnik, Vladimir"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C53"]
[WhiteElo "2808"]
[BlackElo "2832"]
[PlyCount "79"]
[EventDate "2017.06.06"]
O-O 9. h3 Ne7 10. d4 Ng6 11. Nbd2 c6 12. Bd3 $5 {This is the interesting idea
that Kramnik had prepared for the game. It was played in 2016 by Sjugirov
against Eliseev.} Re8 (12... Nf4 13. Nf1 $5 (13. Bf1) 13... Nxd3 14. Qxd3) 13.
Bc2 h6 14. Nf1 exd4 15. cxd4 c5 16. d5 {Now we have a Benoni like position
which is clearly in White's favour.} b5 17. axb5 axb5 18. Ng3 Bd7 19. Be3 Bb6
20. Rxa8 Qxa8 21. b4 Qa7 $6 (21... Qb8 $1 $11) 22. Qa1 $1 Qc7 23. Bxh6 {
Magnus said after the game that he had overlooked this move. It doesn't lose
material just as yet.} cxb4 24. Bxg7 $5 Qxc2 (24... Kxg7 25. Nh5+ $18) 25. Qxf6
Qxf2+ (25... Bxf2+ 26. Kh2 Qc3 27. Re2 Qxf6 28. Bxf6 Bc5 {According to Kramnik
this is a winning position for White. The engines claim it is equal. I am not
sure who is right! Perhaps in a practical game the White player's chances of
winning are much better than a draw.}) 26. Kh2 Bd8 27. Qxd6 Nh4 28. Nxh4 Bxh4
29. Nh5 Bxh3 (29... Qxe1 30. Qh6 $18) 30. Rg1 $1 (30. Kxh3 Qxe1 $19) 30... Bg5
31. Bf6 Bg4 32. Bxg5 Bxh5 33. Qh6 Rxe4 (33... Bg6 34. d6 $18) 34. Qxh5 Qf5 35.
Qh6 b3 36. Bf6 Qf4+ 37. Qxf4 Rxf4 38. d6 Rxf6 39. Rd1 Rh6+ 40. Kg1 {A fine
game by Kramnik.} 1-0
This will be a great morale booster for Kramnik not only because he has come back after a loss but also because he hadn’t beaten Carlsen since 2011! For Carlsen, on the other hand, things are looking really grim. It’s not just his standing in the tournament but the world no. 1 spot which is at stake now. With his win today, Kramnik’s live rating has reached 2812.2, which is only narrowly short of Carlsen’s 2818.6.
After 7 rounds, Levon Aronian has taken sole lead with his win against Karjakin and stands at 5.0/7. Hikaru Nakamura is right behind with 4.5/7, while Vladimir Kramnik and Anish Giri are another half point behind at 4.0/7. Wesley So is the only one on the third spot with a score of 3.5/7. Anand is sharing the fourth spot along with Karjakin and Caruana who’ve scored 3.0/7 each. With their losses today, Maxime Vachier Lagrave and Magnus Carlsen share the bottom most spot with a score of 2.5/7.
There are two more rounds to go and the contention for the title is mainly between the top four players: Aronian, Nakamura, Kramnik and Giri. As for Anand, there is hardly any realistic chance of winning. Although he has fought hard and has even staged an excellent comeback in the last round with his win against Caruana, the tournament has been a difficult one for him. One can easily gauge how tough the tournament is when the current World Champion himself is at the bottom-most spot.
Replay all the games:
Coverage on Firstpost:
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R1: Altibox Norway Chess: Viswanathan Anand should be buoyed by draw with black pieces in 1st round
R2: Altibox Norway Chess: Viswanathan Anand hurt by misjudgment against Vladimir Kramnik in 2nd round
R3: Viswanathan Anand up to the task as Sergey Karjakin tests his memory, preparation
R4: Altibox Norway Chess: Viswanathan Anand's position grim after 2nd loss, but can't count him out yet
R6: Altibox Norway Chess: Viswanathan Anand shows he is far from 'over' with Round 6 comeback