In a previous article Previewing The Sinquefield Cup (1): Can Anybody Beat Magnus Carlsen?, I discussed the possibility of Carlsen being his own worst opponent. In this follow-up I want to take a look at the number two on the starting list, Levon Aronian.

Statistics

In the database I found 48 encounters in classical chess between Magnus Carlsen and Levon Aronian. In the head to head Aronian is only a very slight underdog, he scores 47,9%.

Last Encounter

The last encounter in a classical game between the two was during the Olympiad in Tromso earlier this year. I will annotate the game below.

Click on the moves below to start playing and show a chess board:

[pgn_compat]
[Event “Chess Olympiad”]
[Site “Tromso NOR”]
[Date “2014.08.06”]
[Round “5.3”]
[White “Levon Aronian”]
[Black “Magnus Carlsen”]
[Result “1/2-1/2”]
[ECO “D16”]
[WhiteElo “2805”]
[BlackElo “2877”]
[Annotator “Waldemar Moes, Better Your Chess”]
[PlyCount “116”]
[EventDate “2014.08.02”]
[SourceDate “2014.04.06”]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 dxc4 {Magnus plays the “proper” Slav.} 5.
a4 Na6 $5 {and quickly goes for unchartered territory. The move he chooses is
provocative. It does not stop e4 and puts a knight on the rim. On the flip
side is does aim at the weak b4 square.} (5… Bf5 {to control e4 is the main
line.}) 6. e3 $5 {Funny how Magnus’ opponents seem to feel the need to return
the favor by not playing the most principled move. Obviously now Magnus’ plans
have a better chance of succeeding.} (6. e4 $14 {is the most popular move, and
should give White a nice edge.}) 6… Bg4 $5 {Again a slightly more ambitious
move.} (6… Be6 7. Ne5 Nb4 8. Bxc4 Bxc4 9. Nxc4 e6 $10) 7. Bxc4 e6 8. h3 Bxf3
$6 {This is not the first time that I see Magnus give up both his center and
his bishop pair. Something similar happened in his game against Caruana, where
he played the Scandinavian, got in to trouble (logically) but managed to
outwit Caruana in the end game and win. It seems that his style off late is
that of a “provocateur” and “teaser” ;-)} (8… Bh5 {is of course a more
classical approach.}) 9. Qxf3 Nb4 10. O-O Be7 11. a5 {Gaining space on the
queen side and disallowing a7-a5, which would solidly anchor the knight on b4.
For now though this knight can always go to d5 and it is difficult for White
to control d5 with e3-e4, since that would drop the d4 pawn.} O-O 12. Rd1 $14 {
OK, this is the moment for a commentator to write something as follows: “The
opening has more or less finished and White has come out on top. He has more
central control and the pair of the bishops. On the flip side Black has easy
development and no weaknesses.” But what does that mean?! Especially the last
bit: “Black has no weaknesses”. Does it mean that right now White has no
obvious target to attack and should therefore not devise an attacking plan,
but a more strategic plan? But is it true, is Black free from weaknesses? You
could say that he has a weakness in the center, because of his pawn minority
over there and that he is also weak on the light squares, because he lacks
this bishop. So, White should do the following: fully emply all pieces to
support pawn expansion in the center (using his majority) and open up the
position for the pair of bishops, preferable by using a break on the light
squares, where White has the upper hand. Now, let’s follow Aronian, will he
manage to play e3-e4 and d4-d5 at some stage? Or will he choose to use the
center with e3-e4-e5 and try for a light squared attack along the b1-h7
diagonal?} b6 {Magnus tries to do something back on the queen side by
attacking the cramping pawn on a5.} 13. axb6 $6 {This move is of course not a
mistake, but is does trade and releases some of the tension.} ({More ambitious
is:} 13. Bb3 $5 {to prepare e4} bxa5 14. e4 $14) (13. e4 $2 Nc2 {hitting Ra1
and d4}) 13… axb6 14. Rxa8 Qxa8 {The whole queen side transaction has been
favorable for Black. He has managed to trade a pair of rooks (one less white
rook that could get active through the center), he has managed to trade of a
pair of pawns (less pawns to capture for Aronian) may have active
possibilities down the a-file for his queen, and can move his king’s rook to
the center. Not bad.} 15. Bd2 $6 {I’m not sure why Aronian plays this move,
apart from protecting a1. But Qa1 was not a threat. On d2 the bishop blocks
the the rook and loses time to set things in motion before Black does.} (15. e4
{I like this logical move best. The bishop on c1 is fine for now. It may go
the king side in one go later. It is also not likely to be pinned by Qa1,
since Rd1 is well protected and there may be a discovered attack with the
bishop in that case.} c5 $6 16. d5 $1 {is exactly the type of play that White
is angling for.}) 15… Rd8 {Carlsen decides to keep just that tiny little
more play in the position.} (15… c5 {Carlsen could even have considered
exchanging a flank pawn for a center pawn, thereby restoring the equilibrium
in the center.} 16. Qxa8 (16. d5 $2 {is not possible without a pawn on e4 to
support it!}) 16… Rxa8 {and the position is heading for a draw.}) 16. Rc1 {
White has lost the small window of opportunity he had and now makes a move
just because he has to. He no longer has a tangible advantage to work with.}
Nbd5 {Maybe inspired by Aronian’s insipid play, Carlsen does not go for the
nullifying pawn break.} (16… c5 $10) 17. Qd1 h6 (17… c5) 18. Ra1 Qb7 {Both
players dance around a bit.} 19. Qb3 Ra8 {Magnus has enough, it seems.} 20. Rc1
{No thank you, says Levon. What you can do, I can do too.} Nxc3 {Come on,
let’s start exchanging.} 21. Bxc3 {OK, but now my bishop is on the long
diagonal!} Qc7 (21… c5 $2 {is no longer possible.} 22. dxc5 Bxc5 23. Bxf6
gxf6 24. Bxe6 $1 fxe6 25. Rxc5 $16) 22. Be2 {Aronian finds a new target: pawn
c6. And if this pawn tries to move of the light square it allows for d4xc5
which opens up Bc3. White’s position seems to have some prospects again.} c5 {
Magnus has the guts to play this move anyway, rightly thinking that he can
keep everything under control.} 23. Bf3 Rd8 24. Rd1 (24. dxc5 bxc5 {and Bc3
can do no harm on the long diagonal.}) 24… Nd5 {Probably Magnus had enough
and already envisaged the endgame} ({Good was also to interpose a trade on d4
first:} 24… cxd4 25. Bxd4 Nd5 (25… e5 $6 {weakens light squares})) 25. dxc5
{opening up and preparing to capture on d5 three times, winning a pawn.} Nxc3 {
Magnus forces the issue, but with an in-between move White still maintains
some pull in the endgame.} (25… Qxc5 {was probably fine, but allows White to
save his bishop pair:} 26. Be5 $14) (25… Bxc5 $2 26. Bxd5 Rxd5 27. Rxd5 exd5
28. Qxd5 $16 {and White is a pawn up.}) (25… bxc5 $2 26. Bxd5 $16 {again
winning a pawn.}) 26. cxb6 Rxd1+ 27. Bxd1 Qb7 28. bxc3 Bc5 {This is the point
of Magnus’ play: he wants to hold the endgame with opposite color bishops a
pawn down and is up to the task.} 29. h4 Qxb6 30. Qc2 {Of course Aronian keeps
the queens on the board, but is unable to make headway in the remainder of the
game.} Qd6 31. h5 Kf8 32. Bf3 Ke7 33. g3 Qe5 34. Kg2 Qd6 35. Qe4 Qc7 36. Be2
Qd6 37. Bc4 Qc7 38. Bb5 Bd6 39. c4 Bc5 40. g4 Bb6 41. Qa8 Qd8 42. Qa1 Kf8 43.
Qa3+ Kg8 44. Bc6 Qc8 45. Qa4 Bc5 46. Qb5 Be7 47. Kf3 Qd8 48. Ke2 Qd6 49. Qb7
Qb4 50. Qc8+ Bf8 51. Be4 Qc5 52. Qa6 Qg5 53. Bf3 g6 54. hxg6 Qxg6 55. Qa4 Qb1
56. Bg2 Qb2+ 57. Kf1 Qb1+ 58. Ke2 Qb2+ {And draw agreed. An uneventful
encounter. Let’s hope that their encounters at the Sinquefield Cup will bring
more entertainment.} 1/2-1/2
[/pgn_compat]

Considering their head to head count and their last encounter, I don’t think that Aronian is going to hurt Carlsen during the Sinquefield Cup.

To be continued…