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Magnus Carlsen vs Ruslan Ponomariov
King's Tournament (2010), Medias ROU, rd 1, Jun-14
Catalan Opening: Closed Variation (E06)  ·  1/2-1/2

ANALYSIS [x]

FEN COPIED

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Kibitzer's Corner
Jun-15-10  paavoh: Easily equalized by Black.
Jun-15-10  ajile: This the same variation I commented on before. White is getting ZERO advantage in this opening.
Jun-15-10  Ulhumbrus: After 15 ...Nd7 White has a lead in development as well as an advantage in space. If White can these count and other things are equal, Black is lost. An alternative to 16 e5 is 16 Bg2 freeing the f pawn to advance.

After 18...Rad8 White can't play 19 f5 as the d4 pawn is pinned, as Rogozenco has pointed out on the chessbase website. This suggests 19 Kh1 unpinning the d4 pawn at once.

21...f5 disturbs Black's King side pawns without necessity.

An alternative to 22 Bg1 is 22 exf6 with the plan of Bb1 and Qc2 attacking the square h7 eg 22 exf6 Bxf6 23 Bb1 Rxd4 24 Qc2.

On 22 Bg1 the move h5 - which disturbs the King side pawns again- keeps the g3 pawn back, or does it?

One interesting possibility is to play g4 as a pawn sacrifice after Rg1 eg 22...h5 23 Rg1 g6 24 g4 hxg4 and now 25 h3.

Jun-15-10  zdiddy: still so much chess to be played in this match...
Jun-16-10  Matsumoto: Carlsen himself says that he would have had a better game with 22. Bf3 rather than the Bb1. This was probably what redirected the game towards a draw.
Jun-17-10  Ulhumbrus: Corrected post:

After 15 ...Nd7 White has a lead in development as well as an advantage in space. If White can these count and other things are equal, Black is lost. An alternative to 16 e5 is 16 Bg2 freeing the f pawn to advance.

After 18...Rad8 White can't play 19 f5 as the d4 pawn is pinned, as Rogozenco has pointed out on the chessbase website. This suggests 19 Kh1 unpinning the d4 pawn at once.

21...f5 disturbs Black's King side pawns without necessity.

An alternative to 22 Bb1 is 22 exf6 with the plan of Bb1 and Qc2 attacking the square h7 eg 22 exf6 Bxf6 23 Bb1 Rxd4 24 Qc2.

On 22 Bb1 the move h5 (which disturbs the King side pawns again) keeps the g3 pawn back - or does it?

One interesting possibility is to play g4 as a pawn sacrifice after Rg1 eg 22...h5 23 Rg1 g6 24 g4 hxg4 and now 25 h3.

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