Arctic Securities Chess Stars 2010 (Day 2)
Hammer finally nails Carlsen
IM Malcolm Pein - Tuesday 31st August 2010
Jon Ludvig Hammer and Magnus Carlsen are the same age but it is ten years since Hammer beat Carlsen. However another error from Carlsen was punished this time. Malcolm Pein takes a look.
Justice was done at the Artic Securities Chess Stars 2010 as Norwegian number two Jon Ludvig Hammer took his revenge for any number of defeats at the hands of Magnus Carlsen, his compatriot and world number one. At the pre-tournament press conference Carlsen joked that it was the tenth anniversary of Hammer's last victory against him and it as time for revenge. As we saw yesterday, Hammer missed a trivial one move win against Carlsen before losing.
In the return, Carlsen blundered again but Hammer took his chance - below - to win a piece and shortly after, the game. Carlsen defended with the Hedgehog and had begun hostilities on the kingside. Can you see the winning move for White from the board below ?
Magnus Carlsen
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Jon Ludvig Hammer
Position after 45...Qd4?
Vishy Anand headed the preliminaries but he faces Carlsen in the final. The pair drew twice.
M Carlsen (2826) - V Anand (2800)
Arctic Stars Prelim Kristiansund
Ruy Lopez Berlin 20' + 10" per move
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.0-0 Nxe4 5.Re1 Nf6 6.Nxe5 Be7 7.d4 0-0 8.Nc3 a6 9.Be2 d6 10.Nf3 Re8 11.Bf4 Bf8 12.Qd2 h6 13.h3 Bf5 14.d5 Ne7 15.a4 Qd7 16.Bf1 Ng6 17.Be3 Ne4 18.Nxe4 Bxe4 19.Nh2 Nh4 20.f3 Bh7 21.Bf2 Ng6 22.a5 Rxe1 23.Rxe1 Re8 24.Rxe8 Qxe8 25.Qb4 Qc8 26.Bd3 Ne7 27.Bxh7+ Kxh7 28.Nf1 Kg8 29.Ne3
Viswanathan Anand
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Magnus Carlsen
Position after 29.Ne3
After a quiet opening Carlsen is marginally better as he has more space. 29...g6 was possible but Anand went for activity at the cost of weaknesses and then expertly eliminated them.
29...c5 30.dxc6 Nxc6 31.Qd2 Qd8 32.Be1
(32.b4 d5 33.c3 d4! or 32.Nc4 d5 are fine for Black)
32...b6 33.axb6 Qxb6 34.b3 a5 35.Bf2 Qa6 36.Bg3 Nb4 37.Kh2 Qc6 38.c3 Na6 39.Nc4
(39.Nd5!?)
39...a4 40.Qa2 axb3 draw
After 41.Qxb3 d5 is level.
Solution to puzzle
Carlsen's last move, 45...Qe4-d4? left the b1-h7 diagonal open and after 46.Qc2! threatening Qh7 mate, he was lost. 45...Qg6 was best. The game ended
46.Qc2! Nxg5 47.Qg6+ Bg7 48.Qxg5
(Winning a piece and the game)
48...Rf7 49.Qg6 Rcc7 50.Kg2 Rxf4 51.Qh7+ Kf7 52.Rxf4+ Qxf4 53.Rf1 Qxf1+ 54.Kxf1 Rc5 55.Ne4 1-0
