Tata steel round 3,,Carlsen vs Aronian 1 -0

Carlsen,Magnus - Aronian,Levon [D31]
74th Tata Steel GMA Wijk aan Zee NED (3.5), 16.01.2012
[Crowther,Mark]

1.c4 e6 2.Nc3 d5 3.d4 Be7 4.cxd5 exd5 5.Bf4 c6 6.Qc2 Nf6 7.h3 g6

[7...0-0 8.e3 Bd6 9.Bxd6 Qxd6 10.Bd3 Be6 11.Nge2 Re8 12.g4 g6 13.Ng3 Na6 14.Bxa6 bxa6 15.g5 Nd7 16.Kf1 c5 17.Rd1 f5 18.Nge2 c4 19.Nf4 Bf7 20.h4 Nb6 21.Kg2 Rab8 22.Rh3 Qe7 23.Rdh1 Kg7 24.h5 Rh8 25.Qb1 a5 26.R1h2 a6 27.Qh1 Qxg5+ 28.Kf1 Rhg8 29.hxg6 hxg6 30.Rg3 Qd8 31.Rh7+ Kf8 32.Ne6+ Bxe6 33.Qh6+ Ke8 34.Rxg6 Rxg6 35.Qxg6+ 1-0 Kononenko,T (2305)-Sharevich,A (2266)/Vladimir RUS 2004/The Week in Chess 528]

8.e3 Bf5 9.Qd2 h5 10.Bd3 Bxd3 11.Qxd3 Nbd7 12.Nge2 a5 13.0-0 0-0

Levon Aronian

Magnus Carlsen

Position after 13...0-0

Carlsen has chosen an interesting setup which is surprisingly hard for black to meet.

14.f3 b5 15.e4 dxe4 16.fxe4 Nc5 17.Qf3 Ne6 18.Be3 b4 19.Nb1 Nh7 20.Nd2 Rc8 21.Rad1 Bh4 22.g3 Bf6 23.Nc4 Bg7 24.b3 Qe7

[24...f5 25.e5 doesn't work for black.]

25.Qg2 Nc7 26.Nxa5 Rfe8 27.e5 Nd5 28.Bd2 Red8 29.Nf4 Qa7?

Levon Aronian

Magnus Carlsen

Position after 29...Qa7

This seems to be the start of black's real troubles. Probably Aronian overestimated his chances based on white's king position on the same diagonal as black's queen.

[29...Qc7 30.Nc4 Ra8 31.Be1]

30.Nxc6 Rxc6 31.Nxd5 Rc2

[31...Qxd4+ 32.Be3 Qxe5 33.Bf4 is better for white.]

32.Kh1

[32.Nxb4 Rxd4 is better for black.]

32...Bf8 33.e6! Qa8 34.exf7+

[34.e7 Rxd5 35.e8Q Qxe8 36.Qxd5 Rxa2 37.Rde1 Qc8 (37...Qa8 38.Qxa8 Rxa8 39.Ra1 Rd8 40.Be3 Re8) 38.Qxf7+ Kh8 39.Rf2]

34...Kh8 35.Nf4 Qxg2+

Levon Aronian

Magnus Carlsen

Position after 35...Qxg2

36.Kxg2

Perhaps the start of things going wrong for Carlsen.

[36.Nxg2 Rxd4 37.Bc3 bxc3 38.Rxd4 Rxa2 39.Rc4 Bg7 40.Nf4 Nf8 41.Nd5 Rb2 42.b4 Be5]

36...Rxd4 37.Rf2 Rd6 38.Bc1 Rxf2+ 39.Kxf2 Rxd1 40.Bb2+ Nf6 41.Bxf6+ Kh7 42.Ne6 Bd6 43.Be5 Be7 44.f8Q Bxf8 45.Nxf8+ Kh6

Levon Aronian

Magnus Carlsen

Position after 45...Kh6

Suddenly white has a lot of work to do in order to win. It might be that white is still winning but this ending would need a lot of work to establish that.

46.Ne6 g5 47.h4 gxh4 48.gxh4 Kg6 49.Nd4 Rd3 50.Nc6 Rd2+ 51.Ke3 Rxa2 52.Bd6 Ra1 53.Kd4 Rg1 54.Kc5 Kf5 55.Nxb4 Rc1+ 56.Kd4 Re1 57.Nc6 Re4+ 58.Kd5 Rxh4

Levon Aronian

Magnus Carlsen

Position after 58...Rxh4

The point of many of these lines is that white can afford to give this pawn up, win the rook for the b-pawn and easily stop black's h-pawn.

59.b4

[59.Nd4+ is more accurate according to Carlsen.]

59...Rh1 60.b5 Rb1 61.Nd4+ Kg4?!

[61...Kf6 was black's last chance to make life difficult according to Carlsen.]

62.Kc6 Rc1+ 63.Kd7 Rb1 64.Kc7 h4 65.b6 Kh3 66.b7 Kg2 67.Nf5 h3 68.Nh4+ 1-0