[Event "World Championship Match"]
[Site "https://lichess.org/study/GnRCQlP4/t8BBFDaa"]
[Date "2021.12.05"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Nepomniachtchi, Ian"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[Annotator "Abasov"]
[BlackElo "2855"]
[ECO "C88"]
[Opening "Ruy Lopez: Closed, Anti-Marshall"]
[UTCDate "2021.12.04"]
[UTCTime "21:08:28"]
[Variant "Standard"]
[WhiteElo "2782"]

{ Chess friends, what shall we expect to see in today's game? An all-in game by Ian, or rather a calm and "pass" game? Let's try to analyze first what happened yesterday. After the blockbuster game, Nepo had very little time for recovering. Not only physically (as the game lasted nearly 8 hours and finished past midnight local time) but also mentally. Despite that fact, Ian was looking cool in the press conference, but as a friend of mine said "it's tough to be Ian tonight". He didn't just lose a game yesterday, but the battle of emotions and endurance. I guess it has happened to many chess players, after such emotional defeat it gets hard even to fall asleep, not to mention playing a game the next day. I don't feel like going all-in today is the right timing for Ian. This might cost him whole intrigue in the match. I feel we are going to see pretty much a similar scenario that we saw in the previous games Ian had the White pieces. } 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 O-O 8. a4 { As we assumed, Ian is not changing his strategy and enters the lines he had tried already. } 8... Rb8 { Magnus also is sticking to his choice. } ( 8... Bb7 { is a more popular continuation here. } ) 9. axb5 axb5 10. h3 d6 11. d3 { New move in the match. In Game 5 Nepo chose the more popular move 11.c3 } ( 11. c3 { but Carlsen handled it well, playing } 11... b4 12. d3 bxc3 13. bxc3 d5 { and Black seemed solid } ) 11... h6 { Covering -g5 is always a useful move. } 12. Nc3 $5 { Interesting way of handling the position. Nepo develops his -b1 Knight in not quite a standard way. What's the idea behind it? Besides the maneuver via e2 to g3 White additionally gets the possibility of jumping to -d5 at a certain point. But what's the disadvantage of Nc3 then? If you recall, in annotations to Game 5 we discussed how the c6-Knight of Black's is restricted in a given variation. Now, since there's no white pawn on -c3, Black can hop with the Knight on b4! } ( 12. Nbd2 { is what we are used to seeing more often in the Ruy Lopez. The Knight is being transferred via d2 to f1 and later either to -e3 or -g3. } 12... Re8 13. c3 Bf8 14. Nf1 Ne7 15. Nh4 g5 16. Nf3 Ng6 17. Ng3 c5 18. d4 c4 19. Bc2 Qc7 20. d5 Nf4 21. Nh2 b4 22. cxb4 Rxb4 23. Nhf1 Bd7 24. Ne3 Rc8 25. Nef5 Rb7 26. Ra3 Qd8 27. h4 gxh4 28. Nxh4 c3 29. Rxc3 Rxc3 30. bxc3 N6xd5 31. Bxf4 Nxf4 32. Nhf5 Be6 33. Nh5 Nxh5 34. Qxh5 Qg5 35. Qd1 h5 36. Re3 h4 37. Ba4 d5 38. Bc6 Rb6 39. Bxd5 Bxd5 40. Qxd5 Rb1+ 41. Kh2 Qf4+ 42. Ng3 Qxf2 43. Nf5 Qf4+ 44. g3 Qf1 45. gxh4 Qh1+ 46. Kg3 Rg1+ 47. Kf2 Qg2# { 0-1 (47) Robson,R (2667)-Caruana,F (2828) Chess.com INT 2019 } ) 12... Re8 ( 12... Nb4 $5 $146 { could have been an interesting alternative. With this move Black fights for the d5-square and is ready to grab some space in the center with ... -c5. } 13. Ne2 c5 14. Ng3 Be6 15. Bxe6 fxe6 16. c3 Nc6 17. Be3 Qd7 { Surprisingly, from a different move order, this position occurred in Nepo's team member's practice 14 years ago. Karjakin, facing former FIDE World Champion Veselin Topalov had this position with Black in Bilbao 2007. In that game Sergey got into some trouble after some moves. So, was it Sergey's suggestion for Ian to play this variation today or it is a pure coincidence? } 18. Qd2 Nd8 ( 18... Ra8 $132 { Black has to be careful all the time about breakthroughs in the center such as d3-d4 or tactics on h6 with Bxh6. } ) 19. d4 exd4 20. cxd4 c4 21. d5 exd5 22. e5 { and White was much better in that game. } ) 13. Nd5 Bf8 { Another funny fact is, the fourth elite player born in 1990 (Besides the players of the match and Sergey Karjakin, whose name we mentioned above) the Frenchman MVL had this position in a match against Telecom Sud Paris back in 2013! } ( 13... Nxd5 { looks passive for Black } 14. Bxd5 Nb4 15. Bb3 c5 16. c3 Nc6 17. Nh2 $5 { typical Knight maneuver } ( 17. Bd5 Qc7 $132 ) 17... Be6 $2 18. Bxe6 fxe6 19. Qg4 $18 { and Black loses a pawn } ) 14. Nxf6+ $146 ( 14. c3 { was MVL's choice } 14... Be6 15. Nh2 Bxd5 16. exd5 Ne7 17. Qf3 Ng6 18. Be3 Nh4 19. Qe2 Qc8 20. Ng4 Nxg4 21. hxg4 g5 22. g3 Ng6 23. Bc2 Bg7 24. Ra7 { and White eventually won that game. } ) 14... Qxf6 15. c3 Ne7 { Not the first time we are seeing this move by Magnus. I cannot tell why he didn't play ...-Be6 immediately though. } ( 15... Be6 { offering Bishop trade looked natural as well. } 16. Ra6 Ne7 ) 16. Be3 ( 16. Ra7 { The Rook invasion is being met by simple } 16... c5 { Black defends c7-pawn, grabs some more space, and with the next move is ready to play ...-Be6 } 17. Be3 Be6 18. Bxe6 Qxe6 { Bishops are traded off and Black is ready to fight for the a-file with ...-Ra8 with the next move. If White tries to stop it with Bishops are traded off and Black is ready to fight for the a-file with ...-Ra8 the next move. If White tries to stop it with } 19. Qa1 { Black kicks out the annoying Rook with } 19... Nc6 20. Ra6 ( 20. Rc7 $6 { is not really good as after } 20... d5 { Black by playing ...-Qd6 threaten to trap the Rook. threatening to play ...-Qd6 and trap the Rook. } 21. Qa6 { is being met my a beautiful tactical motif } 21... Nd4 $1 22. Qxe6 Nxe6 23. Rc6 d4 $15 { and Black is better thanks to space advantage. } ) 20... d5 $1 21. Nxe5 Qxe5 22. Rxc6 dxe4 23. d4 Qd5 24. Qa6 cxd4 25. Bxd4 Ra8 26. Qb7 Reb8 27. Qc7 b4 { with equal play. } ) 16... Be6 17. d4 { after this move position simplifies. } ( 17. Ra6 { with the tactical idea in case of } 17... Ra8 18. Qa1 $1 { would be really interesting variation to see! } 18... Rxa6 19. Qxa6 Bxh3 $5 ( 19... Bxb3 { is losing due to double-attack after } 20. Qxb5 $18 ) 20. Qxb5 c6 21. Qb4 $1 { keeping an eye on -d6 pawn } ( 21. Qb7 Qg6 22. Nh4 Qg4 ) 21... Bg4 ( 21... Qg6 { in this case is not really good for Black due to } 22. Nh4 Qg4 23. Qxd6 $1 Qxh4 24. gxh3 Nd5 ( 24... Qxh3 25. Qxe5 $18 { Queen joins the defence. } ) 25. Qd7 $1 { The most precise. With this move Queen defends the -h3 pawn. } ( 25. Qxc6 { gives Black a chance to shift the Rook on -g6. } 25... Re6 26. Qxe6 $5 { could have been a nice reply from Nepo on Magnus' R+N vs Q endgame. } 26... fxe6 27. exd5 Qxh3 28. dxe6 Be7 29. Bd5 $14 { White must be better here. } ) 25... Re7 ( 25... Re6 26. exd5 Rg6+ 27. Kf1 $18 { and White King is safe } ) 26. Qc8 Rc7 27. Qf5 ( 27. Qg4 { leads to drawish opposite colour B + R endgame } 27... Qxg4+ 28. hxg4 Nxe3 29. Rxe3 Rb7 30. Ba4 Rxb2 31. Bxc6 Bc5 ) 27... Nxe3 28. Rxe3 Rb7 29. Bc4 $16 { White is definitely better here. } ) 22. Nd2 { looked tiny better for White. } ) 17... exd4 18. cxd4 Bxb3 19. Qxb3 Ng6 { Magnus attacks the e4-pawn and is ready to play c7-c5, getting rid of his backwarded c7-pawn. } 20. Rec1 c5 21. e5 ( 21. dxc5 dxc5 22. Bxc5 Rxe4 ) 21... Qf5 { The easiest } ( 21... dxe5 { could lead to difficulties, yet objectively equal play. } 22. dxc5 e4 23. Nd4 ( 23. Nh2 $5 ) 23... Red8 24. c6 ( 24. Ra7 { a try to keep an eye on f7 } 24... Rxd4 25. Bxd4 Qxd4 26. Qxf7+ Kh7 { is better for Black. } ) 24... Rxd4 25. Bxd4 Qxd4 26. c7 Rc8 27. Qxb5 { otherwise Black plays ...-Qe5, and followed by ...-Bd6 gets decisive advantage. } 27... e3 $1 { getting closer to rivalry King! } 28. fxe3 Qxe3+ 29. Kh1 Bd6 30. Qd7 Qg3 $1 { Leaving c8-Rook unprotected Black maximally approaches the White King. It's almost a checkmate from -h2 but White manages to run away after } 31. Qxc8+ Kh7 32. Kg1 Qe3+ 33. Kf1 Qf4+ 34. Ke2 Qe4+ { And the game ends in a draw with eternal checks. } ) 22. dxc5 dxc5 { and White simply has nothing better than simplifying the position by trading off more pawns and pieces. } 23. Bxc5 Bxc5 24. Rxc5 Nxe5 25. Nxe5 Rxe5 26. Rxe5 Qxe5 27. Qc3 Qxc3 28. bxc3 Rc8 { and now it's an elementary draw. } 29. Ra5 Rxc3 30. Rxb5 Rc1+ 31. Kh2 Rc3 32. h4 g6 33. g3 h5 { I'm not sure if it exists in the English language or not, but the pawn formation that has been built by both players f2-g3-h4 and f7-g6-h5 for White and Black respectively is called "groyne" or "breakwater" in translation from the Russian language. This pawn formation in the endgames is considered to be the 'healthiest'. [%csl Gf7,Gg6,Gh5,Gf2,Gg3,Gh4] } 34. Kg2 Kg7 35. Ra5 Kf6 36. Rb5 Kg7 37. Ra5 Kf6 38. Rb5 Kg7 39. Ra5 Kf6 40. Ra6+ Kg7 41. Ra7 { Calm after the storm. Instead of entering hand-to-hand fighting right after the painful defeat, Ian chooses to heal first. That's exactly how we predicted. And it is totally a professional approach. Next game, Carlsen is playing with the White pieces again. Is he going to enter complications and play a long game or be content with the 1-point lead before the third rest day? We will know tomorrow. The show only begins! Stay tuned! } 1/2-1/2