Sergey Karjakin vs Magnus Carlsen (2008)

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Sergey Karjakin vs Magnus Carlsen
Amber Tournament (Rapid) (2008) (rapid), Nice FRA, rd 3, Mar-17
Alekhine Defense: Modern. Larsen Variation Miles Line (B04) · 1-0

ANALYSIS [x]

FEN COPIED

Given 6 times; par: 65 [what's this?]

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Mar-17-08		whiteshark: What happened here ? Maybe 36...f6 would have been a better choice ?

Mar-17-08		percyblakeney: Carlsen seems to start going wrong with 35. ... Qh7. After Qe7 instead it doesn't seem as if white has anything devastating, for example 36. Qc2 Qh4 and the black queen is glancing towards e4 and e1. Nc3 is another bad move, even if it's easy to make mistakes in uncomfortable positions, and then Qg6 finishes the game. A well played finish by Karjakin, especially considering that he had much less time left by then.

Mar-17-08		waustad: This makes more sense. The move posted in the official site at the time was something about the rook taking the queen at g5. It made no sense at all.

Mar-17-08		whiteshark: <percyblakeney> You are right, black's 35th move is the critical one!

Mar-18-08		sallom89: Eek! now i believe that he got a huge talent! :O

Mar-18-08		Splittet: From his father's blog: "As black in the rapid Magnus chose the Alekhine defence and white got an advantage due to the bishop pair and more space. Magnus felt that he never had serious problems in the middle game and was starting to be very optimistic in the unbalanced game after h4 gxh4. Karjakin had little time left and Magnus considered the position easier to play for black than for white. However, soon after Magnus blundered a full piece as he has simply missed Rg2! in the end. 1-0 and 1-1 in the mini-match just as in Bilbao blindfold in October. Well, the equilibrium maintains the tension ahead of their next encounter!"

Mar-18-08		Atking: <whiteshark: <percyblakeney> You are right, black's 35th move is the critical one!> I agree Black looks ok until 35...Qh7 Indeed Black plays an interesting gambit and White was under a little pressure until this move. 35...Re6 maybe the test as f7 could be covered by Rd7.

Mar-23-08		Augalv: click for larger view Here we have position from game Karjakin Sergey - Carlsen Magnus, Amber Tournament, 3rd round Rapid. 24.f4 was last move, stopping black's idea h4, reply would be 25.g4 and still black cannot take control of the f4 square. One ICC member said something like "if this is as good as it gets for White then how come top grandmasters aren't playing Alekhine defence?" Answer is very simple, counterplay is everything in modern chess.That's why we see Sicilian so often, it gives counterchances and fights for win from first move. Here is a different story.Black is lacking counterplay here, he is cramped, he cannot exchange pieces with is advisable in such position.He cannot even play b5 in some moments, it would be a suicide, it would turn Bg2 into beast.He can't do anything, he can just wait and see what will happen.Ok, he can hope for White's mistake :) 24..Bd6,25.Ne5.. 25.Qf2 is also fine. 25..Ne7 26.c5.. Here Sergey stops the waiting policy.26.Qf2 is quiet option. 26..Bxe5 27.fxe5 Nfd5 28.Qe2 Nf5 29.Rd3 h4 30.gxh4 b6 31.Be4 bxc5 32.dxc5 Qe7 33.Bxf5 exf5 34.Rxf5 Qxh4 35.Bc1 Qh7 36.Rdf3.. click for larger view 36..Nc3? Carlsen lost his temper, maybe it was time trouble.Better was 36..Rd7 or 36..f6!? Rybka goes for f6, it looks a bit risky doesn't it? 37.Qc4 Rd1+ 38.Kh2 Qg6?? Just a blunder, 38..Nd5 is necessary with lines such as 39.Rxf7 Qg6, black is two pawns down but he has annoying counterplay, Rd1 and Qg6 are posted very good.Here Black have chances, especially in time trouble. 39.Rg5 Qc2+ 40.Rg2 1-0 Extracted from blog about Sergey Karjakin.

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