Tactics Time Chess Newsletter: Congrats to Carlsen!
Published: Sun, 11/24/13
| Newsletter Issue Congrats to Carlsen | Tactics Time | ||||||||||
| Congrats to Carlsen! | |||||||||||
his position comes from game 9 of the recently completed World Chess Championship between Viswanathan Anand and Magnus Carlsen.
In the position on the right it is Black to move.
Answer below.
This has been an exciting past couple of weeks in the chess world!
The World Chess Championship 2013 just concluded.
It was a match between reigning world champion Viswanathan Anand (winner of the 2012 World Championship) and challenger Magnus Carlsen (ranked No. 1 in the world), to determine the 2013 World Chess Champion. It was held from 9 to 22 November 2013 in Chennai, India, under the auspices of FIDE (the World Chess Federation).
Carlsen won the match 6½-3½ after ten of the twelve scheduled games, becoming the new world chess champion. I had a challenging time watching the games live, because they started around 3AM local time here. I was able to watch and listen to some of the games which went longer.
It is amazing how technology has changed. I was even able to listen to one of the games as I drove to work using my iPhone.
The match started off a little slow with some quick draws, but overall I think the games were very exciting. The match was even covered by the mainstream media, which I thought was great! I even saw it on the front page of Yahoo twice!
I think that having Carlsen as the new world champion is a great thing for chess, and I personally find it very exciting.
Here are some links for more information about the match:
Here is the complete game: [Event "WCh 2013"] [Site "Chennai IND"] [Date "2013.11.21"] [Round "9"] [White "Anand, Viswanathan"] [Black "Carlsen, Magnus"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "E25"] [WhiteElo "2775"] [BlackElo "2870"] [PlyCount "56"] [EventDate "2013.11.09"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. f3 d5 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 c5 7. cxd5 exd5 8. e3 c4 9. Ne2 Nc6 10. g4 O-O 11. Bg2 Na5 12. O-O Nb3 13. Ra2 b5 14. Ng3 a5 15. g5 Ne8 16. e4 Nxc1 17. Qxc1 Ra6 18. e5 Nc7 19. f4 b4 20. axb4 axb4 21. Rxa6 Nxa6 22. f5 b3 23. Qf4 Nc7 24. f6 g6 25. Qh4 Ne8 26. Qh6 b2 27. Rf4 b1=Q+ 28. Nf1 Qe1 0-1 Answer: 28...Qe1! is an important defensive move, which caused Anand to resign.
The key to understanding this position is realizing that Black is up a Queen. White allowed Black to make a Queen, because he thought that his own mating attack on the Kingside would be faster.
The second key to understanding this position is realizing that White wants to play 29. Rh4 and Qxh7#, which is a serious mate threat.
By playing ...Qe1, Black is saying - OK go ahead and play 29. Rh4 - I will just respond with 29...Qxh4 and will be a piece up! The powerful thing about having a second queen like this is that you can give her up for less material, because it is a whole extra piece! So converting to a winning position is made much easier.
Happy Tactics!
Your Friend,
 P.S. The Tactics Time PAPERBACK BOOK is coming out very soon! And you don't even have to camp out in front of best buy for 8 days like this guy: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/21/black-friday-shoppers-lining-up-best-buy-2013_n_4316397.html! Sweet!
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© Copyright 2011-2013 Timothy Brennan, All Rights Reserved.
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The King is dead. Long live the King! ~ a traditional proclamation made following the accession of a new monarch in various countries. 
