[Event "Tata Steel-A 78th"] [Site "Wijk aan Zee"] [Date "2016.01.22"] [Round "6"] [White "Carlsen, Magnus"] [Black "Tomashevsky, Evgeny"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "D02"] [WhiteElo "2844"] [BlackElo "2728"] [Annotator "Nielsen,Peter Heine"] [PlyCount "59"] [EventDate "2016.01.16"] [EventType "tourn"] [EventRounds "13"] [EventCountry "NED"] [EventCategory "20"] [SourceTitle "CBM 171"] [Source "ChessBase"] [SourceDate "2016.03.14"] [SourceVersion "2"] [SourceVersionDate "2016.03.14"] [SourceQuality "1"] {[%evp 0,59,19,34,29,22,32,25,49,38,36,24,28,22,34,17,11,8,3,4,2,9,25,14,33,26,17,13,15,10,10,7,22,-21,-37,-74,12,-79,-87,-109,72,47,133,151,136,154,127,128,128,130,130,118,134,137,156,172,170,169,166,157,171,174]} {Like in 2015, Magnus had a rather slow start in Wijk, and again had to wander along some dangerous paths to beat Loek van Wely. But like last year, that triggered an excellent streak, both in the number of points, as well as in quality of play.} 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 e6 3. Bf4 $5 {The London System. A few years back almost looked at with disgust, and in no way treated as a serious opening, but with Grischuk's and Kramnik's efforts recently the verdict has changed. Even so not to the extent that every professional has a ready-made solution planned against it, and Tomashevsky did spend quite some time on the upcoming moves.} b6 ({Maybe inspired by Magnus' success in this game, both Karjakin and Giri decided also to give the London a try, but now Black seemed tipped off, and we actually saw a theoretical debate in the London System(!). After} 3... d5 4. e3 c5 5. c3 Nc6 6. Nbd2 Bd6 $5 {Against Karjakin, but eventually lost.} 7. Bg3 O-O 8. Bb5 $5 {Against Karjakin, but eventually lost.}) 4. e3 Bb7 5. h3 {For those caring about the finer points of the move orders, its worth mentioning that Kramnik here seems to have preferred to play 5.?bd2 first on a couple of outings. It's hard coming up with a strong reason for either move, but maybe Kramnik wanted to avoid Alekhine's idea against Rubinstein? With the knight on d2, instead of the pawn on e3, Alekhine played 5...?d6!? and went on to win an instructive game, covered in his game collection. So maybe only playing h3, when Black has committed ...?e7 is the point.} Be7 6. Bd3 O-O 7. O-O c5 8. c3 Nc6 9. Nbd2 d5 {Both players have developed sensibly, and one could argue that the fact that neither side has obvious plans, but just have to make small common-sense additions to their positions, should be a small success for Black.} 10. Qe2 $5 Bd6 {Tomashevsky blinks first, and tries to force concrete action. Waiting with e.g. ...?ac8 would make sense, but White could still improve his position by bringing the rooks to d1 and e1, making it hard for Black to come up with similar useful moves which makes Black's decision easily understandable.} 11. Rfe1 $5 {Even so, Magnus do not take the bait, but puts the ball back in Tomashevsky's court. White has many plans, but it is much harder to see positive options for Black, so instead Black tries forcing White to take on d6.} Ne7 ({Taking on f4 looks strategically risky, as after} 11... Bxf4 12. exf4 cxd4 13. Nxd4 $1 Nxd4 14. cxd4 {White by swapping knights, removed the option of ...?b4 based counterplay, and despite having doubled pawns, gets a lot in return. f5 might be an option, transferring the knight to e5 too, or maybe ?e3-g3-h4 followed by ?e3 and ?ae1.}) 12. Rad1 Ng6 13. Bxg6 $1 hxg6 14. Bxd6 Qxd6 15. Ne5 $1 {Yes, White has given a bishop for a knight, and even allowed Black to capture towards the centre. But the black pawn-structure, while looking healthy, actually is a major drawback. Due to the weakness of g6, Black can never realistically push the knight away from e5, meaning White will have a powerful knight, and Black a rather limited bishop. Tomashevsky keeps playing logical and sensible moves, heading for ...?d7 exchanging the powerful knight, but not wanting 15...?d7 16 f4! and instead tries to stop White from advancing the f-pawn.} g5 16. f4 $5 {Played quickly, almost like saying: did you miss this? But while of course White could still probably be slightly better with like e.g. 16.?f3, sending an invitation to the following fascinating complications is not only tempting, but also objectively good.} gxf4 {.} 17. Rf1 $1 {This is the point. White wants the f-line open, to sacrifice the rook on f6, and deliver mate.} Nd7 (17... fxe3 $5 {would be the logical way of trying to prove White's concept flawed. After} 18. Rxf6 exd2 $1 (18... gxf6 $2 {loses immediately as} 19. Qg4+ Kh7 20. Rf1 $3 {just mates. The threat is to bring the rook into the attack on f4, as a response to 20...exd2 and if 20...fxe5 then the simple 21.?h5+ ?g7 22.?g5+ ?h7 23.?f6 mates.}) {Does all this mean that Black's position is actually objectively fine? Not really, as the less imaginative, but simply strong} 19. Rf4 $1 {does keep an edge. The threat is ?h5 and ?h4 with a mating attack, and Black's only chance is to fight with} (19. Qh5 {An obvious try, forcing Black to take on f6, but after} gxf6 20. Qg4+ Kh8 21. Qh4+ Kg7 $1 {however there is no good follow-up as} 22. Ng4 ({and after} 22. Qg3+ {Black just goes to h7 with the king, not falling for 22...?h8?? 23.?g6+ winning the queen.}) 22... Qf4 $1 {protects both f6 and h6,}) (19. Rdf1 $5 {comes much closer to breaking Black's defences. f7 cannot be defended, and taking on f6 allows a decessive attack along usual patterns. But Black has the fantastic} Ba6 $3 {which exploits the fact that the white queen needs to be on the kingside for the attack to succeed, meaning that 20.?xa6 gxf6 works, or even better, first 20...d1?! as pointed out by the computers. After:} 20. Qh5 {or the more sophisticated} d1=Q $5 ({The obvious} 20... gxf6 $6 21. Qg4+ Kh8 22. Rf4 Bd3 23. Nxd3 d1=Q+ 24. Qxd1 Rg8 25. Ne5 $1 Kg7 26. Rxf6 $1 {is still very promising for White}) ({but either the simple} 20... Bxf1 21. Nxf7 Rxf7 22. Qxf7+ Kh8 $1 (22... Kh7 $2 23. Qg6+ {followed by ?f7})) 21. Rxd1 gxf6 22. Qg4+ Kh7 23. Qh4+ Kg7 {just leads to a draw.}) 19... f6 20. Ng6 {but it obviously does not look very appealing.}) 18. Qh5 $1 {Not a neccessity, as also} (18. Nxd7 Qxd7 19. Rxf4 {gives White a promising attack, but somehow keeps the spirit of the 2 previous moves, and continues the direct attack.}) 18... Nf6 19. Qh4 Qd8 $6 {Again quite logical, trying to swap off queens, in order to stop the white attack.} (19... Nh7 $5 {probably was a better chance, even if White has a promising position after} 20. Rxf4 ({or even just} 20. exf4)) 20. Rxf4 Ne4 $2 {A blunder, and a decisive one.} ({The same idea would be much better, but with} 20... cxd4 21. exd4 {interpolated. Then after} Ne4 {White can not play like in the game, as there is now no dxc5! but instead has} 22. Qg4 $5 {when Black has no choice but to play the weakening} f5 {, where after} 23. Qg6 Rf6 24. Qh5 Qe8 {does avoid immediate disaster, but after} 25. Qxe8+ Rxe8 26. Nxe4 {it makes a huge difference having forced ...f5, as the white knight now dominates on e5, leaving him excellent winning chances in the ensuing ending.}) 21. Nxe4 Qxh4 22. Rxh4 dxe4 23. dxc5 $1 bxc5 24. Rd7 Rab8 25. b3 $1 {Black is basically in a zugzwang. playing...f6 allows ?g6 and mate on h8. The f-rook defends f7, the other, the bishop on b7, which can't move, as then a7 would fall. So what is left, is to move the a-pawn.} a5 26. Rc7 a4 27. bxa4 Ba8 28. a5 Rb7 29. Rxc5 Ra7 30. Nc4 {Here Tomashevsky resigned. Maybe a bit premature, but there is no doubt that White's position is clearly winning with the 2 extra pawns, and while Black certainly could prolong the game for a while, the result is not really in doubt.} 1-0