[Event "Tata Steel-A 80th"] [Site "Wijk aan Zee"] [Date "2018.01.21"] [Round "8"] [White "Carlsen, Magnus"] [Black "Jones, Gawain C B"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B76"] [WhiteElo "2834"] [BlackElo "2640"] [Annotator "Nielsen,Peter Heine"] [PlyCount "83"] [EventDate "2018.01.13"] [EventType "tourn"] [EventRounds "13"] [EventCountry "NED"] [EventCategory "20"] [SourceTitle "CBM 183"] [Source "ChessBase"] [SourceDate "2018.03.14"] [SourceVersion "1"] [SourceVersionDate "2018.03.14"] [SourceQuality "1"] {[%evp 0,83,17,17,35,36,77,50,50,42,32,36,67,47,38,39,39,33,32,26,75,39,25,47, 47,32,28,28,28,28,28,25,30,21,20,-217,-160,-200,-182,-182,-203,-194,-173,-174, -182,-193,-116,-77,-134,-15,0,-222,-48,28,-6,30,40,143,184,194,168,161,172,184, 197,199,204,203,204,226,226,235,246,246,246,248,266,489,501,267,573,525,666, 388,371,378]} 1. e4 {Golubev,M} c5 {A slight surprise as recently Jones have preferred the indeed more solid 1...e5. But as these days publicity is what matters even Nakamura played the Dragon in order just to get in one funny tweet, why wouldn't Jones use his opportunity at the stage vs. the World Champion to advertise his two books on the subject?} 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 $5 { Somewhat impratical, as one could argue Magnus would be an even bigger favourite if a theoretical battle was out of the picture with any random move like 3.Bb5+, but again, that would indeed be predictable.} cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6 6. Be3 Bg7 7. f3 Nc6 8. Qd2 O-O 9. O-O-O {A few years back when Magnus himself played the Dragon as Black 9.Bc4 was the line he was most tested in, but Leko did play this move agianst him in their match at Miskolic 2008.} d5 10. Qe1 $5 {This is the pet-line that Leko used to cause get opening advantages yet no wins against Magnus in the match, but later both did collect the full point against Lawrence Trent at Isle of Mans.} e5 {On my own repertoire DVD I recommended 10...e6 for Black, but since then White has found improvements and in his book Jones rightfully preferred 10...e5.} 11. Nxc6 bxc6 12. exd5 Nxd5 {Magnus took with the c-pawn - 12...cxd5 - but after 13.Bg5 Be6 14.Bc4 it has now been established that Black just suffers, which the games illustrated well.} 13. Bc4 Be6 14. Kb1 $5 {Especially two games by Wei Yi in 2013 made this particular move popular as Black just seemed to suffer. In his book Jones recommends 14...Rb8 which even was played shortly after this game in Gibraltar against Duda. Gawain however cunningly deviates from his own recommendation, obviously taking the World Champion by surprise, as he now started spending considerable amounts of times for his next moves:} Re8 $5 15. Ne4 f5 $1 {A strong novelty.} 16. Ng5 Bc8 $1 {This is the point. Surprisingly there is no way White can really exploit Black's loss of time. From a practical point of view its tempting for White to try and find a move that might push Black out of his preparations and force "man vs. man" situations, and after a few minutes Magnus lashed out with:} 17. g4 $4 {This is logical, as after 17...h6 18.Ne4 why wouldn't it be better that White immediately threatened to open the gfile? However 17.h4 was not only an aggressive move, it also had the advantage of protecting the knight at g5, which means that after...} ({The computer indicates the logical} 17. h4 {but concluding that after} Rb8 $5 {willingly sacrificing the a7-pawn, Black has sufficient counterplay:} 18. Bb3 h6 19. c4 hxg5 20. cxd5 Rxb3 $1 {being a principled line. }) ({One more idea is} 17. Bb3 $5 {Golubev,M} f4 18. h4 ({Black should be able to survive also} 18. Ne4 fxe3 19. c4 Be6 $1 20. cxd5 cxd5 21. Qxe3 $11) 18... fxe3 19. c4 e4 $5 20. cxd5 Qf6 {and White has an easy draw, for example,} 21. dxc6+ Kh8 22. Nf7+ Kg8 23. Ng5+ {(where Black should avoid} Be6 $2 24. Bxe6+ Rxe6 25. Qb4 $1 $18 {) but probably no more. Hopefully, Black is OK everywhere. But before entering all these lines in a practical game, the safest is to check them with AlphaZero. One way or another, one can see how dangerous is to play the Dragon these days, if your opponent isn't a lazy world champ but someone who is well prepared.}) 17... f4 $1 {...the shocking reality is that Black is winning a piece! Magnus in an interview afterwards admitting to that simply having blundered.} 18. h4 $5 {After all Fischer had a point. It's all about h4-h5 and mate against the Dragon!} ({Else a possible explanation could be invented that} 18. Bxf4 exf4 19. Rxd5 cxd5 $1 ({but not} 19... Rxe1+ 20. Rd1+ $1) 20. Bxd5+ Qxd5 21. Qxe8+ Bf8 {is sufficient as Black's queen covers the f7-square thus leaving White with no effective follow up. Even more interesting, online spectators where speculating that Magnus was inspired by the sensational attacking games of Alphazero where material considerations seemed to be less important to artificial intelligence that humans so far had seemed to appreciate. Still right now that's a stretch, Black is just a piece up and resignation would in principle be a viable option for White, but as the World Champion stated in the post game interview that the psychological situation had completely changed. White has indeed lost a piece, but also any kind of expectations for a result, while for Jones obviously the reverse must have been true. All pressure is now on the Englishman:}) 18... fxe3 19. Qxe3 h6 20. Qc5 Bb7 $1 {Objectively the strongest move,} ({but} 20... hxg5 {was worth considering. White gets back one piece with some interest after} 21. Qxc6 Be6 22. Bxd5 Bxd5 23. Rxd5 {but} Qb6 24. Qc4 Qe6 $1 {while being less advantages based on engine-evalution still should be plenty to win the game as after} 25. hxg5 e4 {the black Dragon bishop comes to life and after all, is an extra piece!}) 21. Ne4 Re6 22. h5 Qb6 $2 {Somewhat understandably Gawain wants ot exchange queens, and simultaneously puts it on a logical square eying the b-pawn in the open b-line.} ({However} 22... g5 $1 {would effectively shut down White's counterplay on the kingside, and while it does weaken the f5-square and the white squares in general, its not nearly enough for a piece.} ) {Now however:} 23. g5 $1 {Norwegian Grandmaster Johan Salomon got it spot on here, while tweeting that things has turned 180 degrees predicting a white win, while the engines indeed still shows Black is safely winning. Black is still a piece up, but he has gone from having the kingside under control, to now entering chaos.} hxg5 $2 ({The primary problem of course is that} 23... Qxc5 { while it does exchange the queens, does lose material immediately after} 24. Nxc5 {as} Re7 25. Nxb7 Rxb7 26. Rxd5 $1 {wins.}) (23... Bf8 $1 {would have prevented White's next move, and while} 24. Qg1 $1 Qxg1 25. Rdxg1 {still is a decent initiative for White, the lack of queens does make a noticeable difference.}) 24. Qa3 Rb8 25. b3 $1 {A great move. Sure it blocks White's queen from the 3rd rank, but it can be regrouped via c1 if neccesary, and mainly now it's all about king safety: Black's will be exposed, while White now having removed the weakness of b2, to the safely defended b3, will not have to bother in the sligthest about a black counterattack in the process. Stockfish despite being a piece down already gives 0.00 indicating equality, but I'm sure, were Alphazero not busy with new important research projects, it would tell us White already is winning as his long-term initiative is unstoppable.} Qd8 {Technically the losing move. 25...gxh5 or 25...g4 was a better chance.} 26. Qxa7 $1 {It's not so much the pawn, but more the attack along the 7th rank that matters, as well as again the queen could go to g1 attacking along the g-file if need be.} gxh5 27. Rxh5 Rg6 28. Rxg5 Rxg5 29. Nxg5 {Exploiting that the rook on b8 is unprotected should Black take the knight on g5.} Qc8 30. Rg1 Ra8 31. Qb6 Ra6 32. Qc5 Qd7 33. Ne4 Kh8 34. Qf2 Qe7 35. Bxa6 {Direct attack also would have decided the game, but almost with a touch of irony, Magnus gets materialistic in the end.} Bxa6 36. Qh2+ Kg8 37. Qh6 Qa7 38. Qe6+ Kf8 39. Rg5 Ne3 40. Qd6+ Kf7 41. Nc5 Bc8 42. Rxg7+ {As 42... Kxg7 43.Qxe5+ followed by 44.Qxe3 leaves White a healthy 3 pawns up, Black resigned.} 1-0