[Event "World Championship"]
[Site "Dubai"]
[Date "2021.12.08"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Nepomniachtchi, Ian"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C42"]
[WhiteElo "2856"]
[BlackElo "2782"]
[Annotator "Monokroussos,Dennis"]
[PlyCount "81"]
[EventDate "2021.11.27"]
[EventCountry "UAE"]
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 {The Petroff (and 1...e5 more generally) was a surprise to
Carlsen, who expected sharper openings. As he put it in an interview before
the presser, "I guess he was in damage limitation mode."} 3. Nxe5 {As in game
4; game 8 saw 3.d4.} d6 4. Nd3 {Played to get the queens off. Funny enough,
Nepomniachtchi has himself played this a couple of times.} ({The more usual} 4.
Nf3 {was played in game 4.}) 4... Nxe4 5. Qe2 Qe7 6. Nf4 Nf6 (6... Nc6 {
is more common in super-GM play, and here there are two main directions.} 7.
Nd5 {, when Black is almost forced to play} (7. c3 Nf6 8. d4 {is the other way,
transposing to the game.}) 7... Nd4 8. Nxe7 (8. Qc4 $4 {is a nice way to lose
a game.} Nc3+ 9. Nxe7 Nxc2#) 8... Nxe2 9. Nd5 Nd4 {Visually striking and
exciting, but after} 10. Na3 Ne6 11. f3 N4c5 12. d4 Nd7 13. c3 c6 14. Nf4 Nb6
15. Bd3 d5 16. Nc2 Bd6 17. Nxe6 Bxe6 18. Kf2 {the scintillating play is
finished and the grinding begins.} h5 19. h4 Nc8 20. Ne3 Ne7 21. g3 c5 22. Bc2
O-O 23. Rd1 Rfd8 24. Ng2 cxd4 25. cxd4 Rac8 26. Bb3 Nc6 27. Bf4 Na5 28. Rdc1
Bb4 29. Bd1 Nc4 30. b3 Na3 31. Rxc8 Rxc8 32. Rc1 Nb5 33. Rxc8+ Bxc8 34. Ne3 Nc3
35. Bc2 Ba3 36. Bb8 a6 37. f4 Bd7 38. f5 Bc6 39. Bd1 Bb2 40. Bxh5 Ne4+ 41. Kg2
Bxd4 42. Bf4 Bc5 43. Bf3 Nd2 44. Bxd5 Bxe3 45. Bxc6 Bxf4 46. Bxb7 Bd6 47. Bxa6
Ne4 48. g4 Ba3 49. Bc4 Kf8 50. g5 Nc3 51. b4 Bxb4 52. Kf3 Na4 53. Bb5 Nc5 54.
a4 f6 55. Kg4 Ne4 56. Kh5 Be1 57. Bd3 Nd6 58. a5 Bxa5 59. gxf6 gxf6 60. Kg6 Bd8
61. Kh7 Nf7 62. Bc4 Ne5 63. Bd5 Ba5 64. h5 Bd2 65. Ba2 Nf3 66. Bd5 Nd4 67. Kg6
Bg5 68. Bc4 Nf3 69. Kh7 Ne5 70. Bb3 Ng4 71. Bc4 Ne3 72. Bd3 Ng4 73. Bc4 Nh6 74.
Kg6 Ke7 75. Bb3 Kd6 76. Bc2 Ke5 77. Bd3 Kf4 78. Bc2 Ng4 79. Bb3 Ne3 80. h6 Bxh6
{1/2-1/2 (80) Carlsen,M (2835)-Caruana,F (2832) London 2018}) 7. d4 Nc6 $146 (
7... Qxe2+ $14) 8. c3 {After this "it was pretty boring" (Carlsen...and for
many spectators, too). This transposes to the line given in the note on move 6.
} (8. Be3 {Carlsen thought about this for 20 minutes. It's the most testing
try, but Carlsen understandably preferred to keep risk down to an absolute
minimum.} g5 (8... Bf5 9. Nc3 O-O-O $14 {/= is a sane alternative.}) 9. Nd3 {
followed by Nc3 and 0-0-0 seems to give White the better game. The play will
be livelier, and while Carlsen would have more winning chances than in the
game, and probably a higher winning percentage than he would after the game
continuation, Black would also have more winning chances. So, safety first.})
8... d5 $146 (8... g5) ({and} 8... Bf5 {have both been played by elite GMs in
recent games, with success. (Generally meaning that they drew, but Black won
at least once, too.)}) 9. Nd2 Nd8 10. Nf3 Qxe2+ 11. Bxe2 Bd6 {Precise.} (11...
Ne6 $143 12. Nxe6 Bxe6 13. Bf4 $14 {gives White an edge at the expense of
Black's dark-squared bishop.} O-O-O 14. Ng5) 12. O-O O-O 13. Bd3 Re8 14. Re1
Rxe1+ 15. Nxe1 Ne6 16. Nxe6 Bxe6 17. g3 {Carlsen thought he might be getting a
slight edge at this point, but felt that he needed to be a little more patient
later on to maintain a tiny advantage.} g6 {"A little slow", according to
Nepomniachtchi. Black is going for the same sort of plan White is: put a
knight on g2/g7 (remember game 1!) and swap off the semi-bad bishop on f4/f5.
White has a slight lead in that race, and Black may not manage to make the
swap - not that it's such a big deal in this quasi-ending.} ({Nepo preferred}
17... Re8 18. Ng2 Bg4 {afterwards, keeping his light-squared bishop from
getting restricted later on.}) 18. Ng2 Re8 19. f3 {Preventing ...Bg4 (see the
next note), but allowing Black to impede White's idea in turn.} (19. Bf4 Bxf4
20. Nxf4 Bg4 $11) 19... Nh5 {Stopping Bf4 for the moment, while looking to
possibly returning the favor with ...Ng7 and ...Bf5.} 20. Kf2 c6 21. g4 {
It wasn't clear if Nepomniachtchi meant it here or earlier, but he said he
thought Carlsen might play a4-a5 before continuing with g4.} Ng7 22. Bf4 (22.
Bh6 $5 Bxh2 $5) 22... Bxf4 23. Nxf4 g5 {More or less necessary, as otherwise
White plays h4 and gains a serious grip on the kingside.} 24. Ne2 f5 25. h3 (
25. gxf5 Bxf5 26. Bxf5 Nxf5 27. Rg1 {might get Carlsen fans excited for a
moment, but Black can put out the fire with} h6 28. f4 Nd6 $1 29. fxg5 Ne4+ $11
) 25... Kf7 26. Rh1 h6 27. f4 fxg4 {From here on out almost every move was
played instantly. The real battle is over, and now it's just a matter of
making it to move 40 without blundering so a draw can be offered (and accepted)
.} 28. hxg4 Bxg4 29. Rxh6 Bf5 30. Bxf5 Nxf5 31. Rh7+ Ng7 32. fxg5 Kg6 33. Rh3
Kxg5 34. Rg3+ Kf6 35. Rf3+ Ke7 36. Nf4 Kd6 37. Ng6 Re6 38. Ne5 Ne8 39. Rf7 {
The odds that Black will miss 40.Rd7# are microscopically small, but that's no
reason not to give it a shot.} Rf6+ 40. Rxf6+ Nxf6 41. Ke3 1/2-1/2
