Hi all there is a very interesting game
that occurred recently between two mega
champions Magnus Carlsen who is of course the
current World Chess Champion and Vishy
Anand playing with the black pieces so
this is at the Gashimov Memorial
round two let's have a look at this game.
d4 from Magnus we see Knight f6 c4 e6
and Magnus Carlsen avoids potential nimzo-indian
variations by playing this the Queen's
indian defence at the moment it transposes into
a Queens gambit declined with Bishop f4
so 5. Bishop f4 the usual move in the
past was Bishop g5 pretty routinely so
for example h6 Bishop dropping back this
kind of position that tries to sort out
the c8 bishop putting it there and it's
thought to be about equal this position
so Bishop f4 has a bit of spice to it
after black castles e3 - if black plays
the routine move Knight bd7 then c5
has been in vogue in recent years at the
super Grandmaster level giving
White's a kind of interesting imbalance
trying to lock down the e5 break from
black whilst having a queen side space
advantage and for example this position
is annoying to  black - if blacks
taking there - White can accept double
pawns as an example with an edge there
so it can be quite dangerous this c5
from white so black plays c5 and it
looks as though isn't black kind of
equalizing after D takes bishop takes
c5 is played before we check out Bishop
takes c5 if D takes c4 just to try and
keep the symmetrical pawn structure
highly symmetrical pawn structure but it
seems here you know there are some
concerns even in this position with the
c8 Bishop getting out so for example if
the bishop has to go there Knight d2
turns out to be pretty
strong to be playing Ne4 hitting
c5 so this is pretty dangerous
you know White is winning that d7 Bishop
there that is totally disastrous play from
black but if Bishop e7 instead here it
seems as though you know White's getting
a significant edge here so black has to
be careful not to kind of play dxc4
it seems that Bishop takes c5 Queen c2
Nc6  here again if D takes c4 it seems as
though white does get something
potentially from this position it looks
as though e4 here with the c8
Bishop underdeveloped - yeah why it's getting
a significant edge so there is some
venom to set up knight c6 a3 we have
Queen a5 here if black had played d4
immediately white could actually
actually Castle queenside so that
pressure on d4 - this is just
desperate you know that's winning
material so this is just horrible after
castling queenside yeah so black really
can't play d4 so Queen a5 rook d1 so
that is actually potentially threatening
b4. b4 was unplayable here because of
just bishop takes that pinned pawn
so Rd1 rook d8 but no even here
this is too dangerous to play with the
king in the center taking as basically
lines it's really really dangerous it's
kind of well-known actually that you
can't play b4 here I believe so
Bishop e2 Knight e4
if d4 is played here
exd4 Knight takes Knight takes
Bishop takes white castles and this is
okay this is actually very nice for
white after b4 here with the idea of
Knight b5 forking Queen and Bishop so
this position -  Bishop takes e5
because on that pin against the rook and
White's getting a big advantage there so
black has to be quite careful here
Knight e4 C takes Knight times B takes
White castles and if we look
at this structurally  - Black has given freedom to
the bishop that's not such a problem
it seems but has the isolated Queens
pawn that could turn out to be a problem
but hasn't white also got fragmented
pawns so overall shouldn't it be equal
it seems there's structural damage on
both sides here black played h6 one
thing which the Knights departure taking
on c3 to cause this it has
potentially meant that this soft spot
which the Queen is eyeing might actually -
there might actually be crude moves like
Knight g5 to tease some more weaknesses
out so h6 kind of prevents Knight g5 in
some variations. By the way if black had
played Queen takes then Ra1
traps the Queen and Bishop takes is is
also ridiculous because it's a self pin
and then Knight g5 and Queen b3
that's gonna be really a quite bad.
yeah there's nothing black is doing there so h6 seems sensible to stop Knight g5
there's a fun line here actually with
Bishop f8  -  lets see -  Knight g5
g6 c4 is really dangerous in this
position
If say h6 then bang Knight takes f7 Cxd5
takes this is super dangerous for black
Bishop c7 for example you can see a lot
of dangers so h6 does seem a very good
move to play. a4 Bishop d6 you might
think well why the exchange of the dark
square bishops well if Bishop f8 yes it
seems as though white could get
something a very comfortable blockading
position on the dark squares
whether it's winning absolutely that's
another matter
so that's exposing an attack on the
rooks and the rook moves back as an
example white does have an annoying edge
so this pursuit of simplification to
avoid this kind of torturous scenario
seems justifiable
it does seem an odd place for the
Queens  in this example variation but
yeah
I mean if you look basically why it is
more comfortable overall with the
structural damage it's actually also
though the c3 pawn acts as a nice
support for that knight
there's prevention of b-five here white
could potentially yeah build up on d5
with things like Bishop f3 and
Rd1 so I think overall it's more
torturous for black so Bishop d6 tries
to like get any excitement out of the
position Magnus obliges rook takes and
now c4 he is able to place C4 - 
that pin on d6 Bishop e6 and now this
would just be a draw I believe C takes
would be a stone cold nothing to play
for draw here because this isn't a real
threat to b7 rook d8 because there's
always Knight d4 if rook takes b7 let's
put that on the board Knight d4 hits the
Queen and and the rook so given that's
the case if white does this then they
can agree draw here but Magnus presses 
on with c5 at move 18 and you might
think as I did yeah I went through the
game twice actually just to make sure I
wasn't missing anything
mega exciting - I am just curious about
super Grandmaster play so I thought I'd
share any insights I had about this game
and okay white has a kind of
bind
I mean it's evident that white has a
nice bind especially on d4 the question
is is it enough and also with this pawn
now eyeing b6 and and d6 there is a
very nice move White's about to play
which kind of reflects the dark square
bind - the Queen goes away from hitting
c5 there if b6 this can lead to trouble
with the Queen there well this just C
takes with Queen takes c6 so the Queen
is not just getting out of any any
problems with tempo gains its protecting
c6 in preparation
dissolving this c5 pawn okay fine but
Queen B2 is the nice move
it keeps the knight a lock-and-key on on
the D pawn put the pressure on b7 now
after Rab8 Nd4 is played
and there might be some ideas of what
well taking might be an idea as well
that's like in a Bobby Fischer vs Boris Spassky World championship 1972 game
- where Fischer took and played e4
for disrupting the black pawn structure
that's that's a legitimate idea Knight
takes and e4 would be disruptive to black's
pawn structure.  Let me just put that on
the board actually improvising now - I
hope this is not really silly but e4
I think is possible
I believe this is possible anyway so
that kind of thing is avoided anyway
black just took on d4 and you and you
must think well you you might think
let's let's go back after Knight default
what is what is White's advantage here
after Queen takes surely it's minuscule
there's absolutely nothing is played for
surely especially if plaques dissolving
the c5 form which is kind of an
aggressive pawn with B 6 surely there's
nothing here also I mean you could argue
I mean a6 Bishop f3 okay why it's got an
annoying edge so maybe you know black
ones that dissolve that c5 pawn and
mission accomplished C takes rook takes
h3 gives some air for the King that's
good to avoid any back row weaknesses
rook c8 rook F D 1 and here but she
plays Queen C fees are getting the
Queen's officers surely there's nothing
to play for here if rook c6 that might
be safer actually just just keeping a
control of that C file for example like
this it would seem well standing guards
like this maybe maybe this is a small
edge for for white structurally it looks
good yeah that there's some play there
for white
okay so Queen c3 understandable
takes takes a5 is played
on rook takes we're really aren't we
just going into dust here because
there's the annoying you know rook a3
 hitting a four so if that's the
case this b6 is not really an
exploitable target so are we going to
dust scenarios well okay
rook takes b1 rook takes b1 it seems to
be approaching dust the interesting
thing in fact the most interesting thing
I discovered about this game you could
say factually is there seems to be free
one to three mistakes in a row here so
from both sides from both sides
it seems this next move is a definite
mistake from a computer perspective so
this next move looks kind of okay
logical to hit the a fight pawn it turns
out black needs to play very precisely
here so this is one of the three - it seems
critical mistakes from an engine
perspective
black needs to play rook c7 so it looks
to be you know guarding the b7 entry
point as the top priority and for
example if a six now Bishop c8 so
guarding that entry point would seem to
be the top priority and could white make
headway here it seems difficult and
another way of doing this is Bishop c8
to guard b7 and again it seems as though
this is going to be very difficult for
white to make headway here however yeah
fascinatingly you could you could say
rook c5 is a mistake and Magnus
responded with a six which is an
inaccuracy it seems from up from a
millennium perspective so rook b8 check
it seems guarantees a significant edge
by playing the rook check first then a6
there's it makes it makes a big
difference
here so
for example well g6 Rb7 yeah
I mean the let's just have a look yeah
rooks c2 - there's Bishop b5 so a7
and once a7 is won -  this is a very
dangerous passed pawn so this would be a
big advantage to White so that's the
principle variation it's it seems as
though white by force is gaining a big
advantage with rook b8 check so this
this is odd I mean it's this is this is
slightly odd to consider yeah just just
from a technical perspective it seems
you know there's also rook e8 to
consider perhaps if if Bishop c8 that's
that's the difference you know there's
differences here from before the a7 is
living on borrowed time here that a 7
pawn so so ace a six-star immediately
yeah that does seem to be two ways they
see that this seems to be an absolutely
critical mistake to play g6 so the two
ways of guarding the entry point here
bishops CA or rock c7 both of which seem
to be variant pods crack for AB CA let's
just put this this on the board it seems
as though black should be okay there's
no big problem there - or Rb7
- we could play if if rook b7 - 
sorry let's just check this out as well
if white try to play this tactic rook b7
this doesn't work because black just
throws in this check then gets behind the
pawn that doesn't work so there doesn't
seem to be any way to actually break
this down yeah it just seems this should
be fine for black
however with g6 we are getting this
scenario where the a7 pawn is in big
trouble
check King h2 Rc2 - we have Bishop
b5 why it's prepared to drop f2 for that
a7 because that is a huge passed pawn and
in fact here now
Kg3 even protects f2 - 
So White is threatening
Bf1 without rook takes f2 so just just
to put this this is the most accurate
king g3 protecting f2 if Bishop
F1 had been played rook takes F2 then
here rook takes a7 is apparently just a
small edge but this is this is making
the most out of the position King G free
with Bishop F1 now as a threat  - so Bishop
c8 was played we have now rook b8 King
g7 rook takes - rook takes so you might
think well isn't this just a drawish rook and pawn ending?
Not quite this this extra pawn is
actually it seems winning technically in
this position let's see the continuation
so a7 the pawn goes to a7 and there's no
time to take on f2 because the rooks
just moving and queening so here this
stops the king from entering the
position and after g3 -  this
enables the White King to much start
moving after g3 and actually the game
ended here so just to demonstrate why
this is this particular rook and pawn ending
position is winning I'll give you a
fictional story oh say the King makes a
journey basically over here to b1
and then starts going up the board and
on on routes hits d5 so the isolated
pawn is a major problem in this scenario
for example and if the King had been
around there's always a checked Queen
the pawn so this kind of scenario once
d5 is picked off this is going to be
absolutely winning with the extra
passed pawn here it's it's going to be
absolutely miserable for black and it's
technically winning. Okay so this is not
the most you know maybe you could say
this is not the most mega exciting game
but it's interesting even in these
simplified positions are even the
absolute strongest grandmasters in the
world played inaccuracy when the
advantages are tiny it seems the need
for precision
and less complacency sort of goes off
and funny enough yeah there were three
critical mistakes in this game so maybe
it should have been a draw but Magnus
managed to get something out of it
despite missing the most accurate line
initially so yeah fascinating but that's
the nature of human chess so um yeah
okay I hope you got something from it if
you enjoyed this game video then please
click on the top left box which should
appear shortly please come to become a
member of Chessworld.net to play
against other youtubers you can also
test yourself on the variations this is
other game videos from the Improve
menu ... puzzle books option as well which
has also a link to the annotated game
Commons questions donations ... see
description likes shares subscribes with
the notification bell really appreciated.
Thanks very much.
