(1) Ivanchuk,Vassily - Carlsen,Magnus [B78]
Final Chess Masters, Bilbao, 03.09.2008



1.e4 c5 2.Cf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Cxd4 Cf6 5.Cc3 g6 6.Ae3 Ag7 7.f3 Cc6 8.Dd2 0-0 9.Ac4 Ad7 10.0-0-0 Tc8 11.Ab3 Ce5 12.Rb1 a6
It's generally considered that pawn advance a6-b5 it's a little bit too slow for the Dragon, but Carlsen seems to have a different opinion about that. Even though he had already played 12..a6 three time this year, seems that Ivanchuk did not consider seriously that Carlsen were going to repeat it, thus in this positions he thought for more than forty minutes before moving.

13.The1!?N
Placing this rook in the centre, White wants to protect e4 pawn in order to be able to play f4-e5. During the press conference, Ivanchuk said that he found this move during the game, but he recalled a Karpovīs game in a similar position were he also made this rook move. At the same time, Carlsen was surprised by his opponent move, but this did not prevent him to respond quickly to it.

13...b5 14.Ah6 Axh6 15.Dxh6 Txc3!? 16.bxc3 a5!?
For second time, Carlsen did not use too much time to make a move that complicates the waters enormously. It's amazing how fast does he play in positions were "mortals" would need hours.

17.f4 Ceg4 18.Dh4 a4 19.Axf7+ Txf7 20.e5 Cd5 21.e6 Cxc3+ 22.Rc1
[Worth considering was: 22.Ra1!? Axe6 23.Cxe6 Dc8 (is also possible 23...Da5!? ) 24.Td4 Cxa2 but remaining position is unclear, even for the computer. ]

22...Axe6 23.Cxe6 Da5
Position is looks chaotic but tends to draw as many variation leads to perpetual check.

24.Dxg4 Cxa2+ 25.Rb2 Dc3+! 26.Rxa2 Dxc2+ 27.Ra1 Dc3+ 28.Rb1 Db3+ 29.Ra1 Dc3+ 1/2-1/2