Shamkir, Turn 6: Karjakin defeats Anand and takes Carlsen

Follow the theory

About ten years ago, it was common to see two elite players plunge into a theoretical line into the middle game. Nowadays, it is all about early deviations and getting a playable position, even if it is not superior with both colors. Magnus effect, we could call it. In the sixth round of Shamkir, however, we saw an explosion of the past, while Sergey Karjakin and Vishy Anand played no less than thirty theoretical moves!

During the first phase of the games … | Photo: Official site

Until shot 12, players repeat a line that had already do not worked for Anand in the second round of the same tournament – Carlsen had defeated Vishy after, just like today, getting a slight advantage late in the game. Apparently, this is a variation that Vishy had as the main weapon of equalization with the Blacks for this tournament, however, he and Karjakin having followed Aronian against Caruana, from the 2018 final of the GCT in London, until shot 30.

Sergey had eliminated all his movements except one, until now, while Vishy had taken his time about seven times until now. In this position, Aronian had played 31.♖xf4 and other simplifications led to a draw of 46 moves. It was a quick match in a very tense playoff tournament – Karjakin was now all the time in the world looking for the slightest chance against Anand.

Sergey needed less than ten seconds to play 31.c5 and in the next five movements, the final phase reached its position after some exchanges:

Without pawns on the board, the black pawn of the Black could be considered an badet, but with the four pawns still alive, it is rather a weakness. In addition, the position of the Black King being slightly weakened, whites can combine the threats against these two weak points to draw something from this seemingly arid position.

And that's precisely what Sergey did, starting with 36♖a6. The Russian put a patient and stubborn pressure on Anand's position until he wins the pawn h:

Vishy did not want to continue defending after 52♖exh5 and resigned a second time in this tournament.

General Manager Daniel Fernandez took a closer look at the game:

Will Vishy continue to try this line in the future? | Photo: Official site

Two players who distinguished themselves by an uncompromising game on both sides of the board were the protagonists of the other decisive game of the sixth round. Veselin Topalov had the white pieces and was facing a Ruy Lopez clbadic presented by Shakhriyar Mamedyarov. The players did not turn to the sideline, White playing the d3 or something similar, and faced the complex mid-level games that have often been played in Spanish over the years.

Come 18 hours, Veselin needed 21 minutes to decide what to do next:

With so many pieces on the board, White has a lot of ways to go – he could play at 18.♕e2 or 18.♕b3, for example. Instead, Topalov chose calm 18♖b1, which was actually the novelty of the game. Another game case going to the bottom of the theoretical path. The battle of maneuvers continued until Shak faltered at movement 29:

Do not hesitate to try your own variations on the diagram above

All sorts of tactics are in the air, with the f6-bishop attacked twice and the e4-rook ready to move and launch a discovery attack against the white queen. It is not surprising that Mamedyarov forgot something in his calculations. The proper way to do it was to protect the bishop with 29 …♛e7, while Shak 29 …♛c5 gave way to a forced prosecution that favored White.

The game continues 30♖dc1 ♜c4 31.♕d1 (a key movement in retreat) ♞e4 32.♗xc4 bxc4 33.♖XC4.

Black actually resigned here, when it was only an exchange and an extra pawn. Mamedyarov must have understood that all the initiative is on the side of White and that it is useless to be duly overtaken by a first clbad player. 1-0.

Veselin is on an equal score | Photo: Official site

The best match of the day in terms of ranking – in fact, the highest possible combined ranking of the tournament – was Ding Liren v Magnus Carlsen. The world champion played against Gruenfeld and deviated from a recent Leko match against Mamedyarov in the 13th movement. When the queens have left the picture, it is true that White is the only one able to put pressure, but it is nevertheless difficult to imagine a loss of Magnus. position like this in a clbadic game:

Carlsen immediately released his position and agreed that it was time to simply defend with 25 … e5. Ding Liren was looking for opportunities, but eventually had to recognize the inevitable and sign the peace treaty.

Giri will play Carlsen in the seventh round | Photo: Official site

Anish Giri and David Navara played the shortest match of the day, having found nothing better than a triple repeat after 26 moves. Alexander Grischuk and Teimour Radjabov, meanwhile, began to take a lot of time out of their clock from point 7. Nevertheless, Grischuk could not get Radjabov to break his draw series at Shamkir, the point being divided after 40 shots.

Click or tap the second game to switch

Karjakin will play two games with Black in the remaining three rounds, while Carlsen will play twice with the Whites. However, the only "white game" for Sergey is his penultimate game against the world champion.

Grischuk is one of six players out of 3/6 | Photo: Official site

Clbadification after the heat 6

Rank	first name	Rtg	FED	pts
1	Sergey Karjakin	2753	RUS	4
	Magnus Carlsen	2845	OR	4
3	Alexander Grischuk	2771	RUS	3
	Teimour Radjabov	2756	AZE	3
	Viswanathan Anand	2779	INDIANA	3
	David Navara	2739	CZE	3
	Ding Liren	2812	CHN	3
	Veselin Topalov	2740	BUL	3
9	Anish Giri	2797	NED	2
	Shakhriyar Mamedyarov	2790	AZE	2

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Review with General Manager Yannick Pelletier

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All the games

Webcast of Round 6 Comments

Commentary by Jeroen van den Berg, Silvio Danailov and Sarkhan Gashimov

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