Hi all,
Normally a 19 move draw would not be interesting, but this one was an exception for me. I found this in Charlie Storey's
The Sniper.
What interested me is that Carlsen plays a series of VERY non-stereotyped moves in the Dragon, and emerges with a very equal position against the World Champion.
As a long-time Dragon player (on and off OTB with it), I found myself multiple times saying to myself "Whoa, I wasn't expecting THAT move- I thought it was a mistake to do that!"
[Event "Corus"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2010.01.22"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B77"]
[WhiteElo "2790"]
[BlackElo "2810"]
[Annotator "Doe,John"]
[PlyCount "37"]
[EventDate "2010.01.16"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "13"]
[EventCountry "NED"]
[EventCategory "19"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2010.03.17"]
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6 6. Be3 Bg7 7. f3 Nc6
8. Qd2 O-O 9. Bc4 Bd7 10. Bb3 Nxd4 {The idea behind this exchange is to allow black to play ...b5, which is well known, but Carlsen has a deeper plan to reach equality.} 11. Bxd4 b5 12. a4 b4 13. Nd5 Nxd5 {This move surprised me, as generally this kind of exchange favors white. The e7 pawn becomes weak, and white has easy play. Once again, though, Carlsen has a deeper plan.} 14. exd5 Bxd4 {This move was the one that truly surprised me. The idea is that black's remaining bishop will be the better bishop, and his dark squared weaknesses on the kingside can't readily be exploited by Anand.}
15. Qxd4 Qa5 {A nice touch. He protects the b pawn and prepares to move a rook to c8 where he can exchange queens for equality.} 16. O-O Rac8 {He can move this rook because the a-pawn is protected by the queen from his last move.} 17. Rfe1 {This kind of move is why I was surprised my Carlsen's 13th move, but here it is not enough to mean anything.} Rfe8 18. Kh1 Qc5 19. Qh4 {The Dragon is not normally considered a drawing tool, but here Carlsen gets an easy one against the World Champion, so I'd call it a success.} 1/2-1/2