CARLSEN vs DONCHENKO – EUROPEAN CLUB CUP 2018 ROUND 4

Carlsen saves his number one spot on the world rankings, but not by much.

This game is from round 4 of the 2018 European Club Cup. It is between Magnus Carlsen with White against Alexander Donchenko with Black.

This game features a Colle System. To learn more about the Colle System, here is the best instruction book I could find on Amazon.

Carlsen,Magnus (2839) - Donchenko,Alexander (2610)

34th European Club Cup 2018 Halkidiki (4), 15.10.2018

1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 d5 3.e3 c5 4.Nbd2 cxd4 5.exd4 Nc6 6.Bb5 D04: Colle System [6.c3 g6 7.Bd3 Bg7 8.0–0 0–0 9.Re1 Qc7 10.Nf1 Bg4 11.h3 Bxf3 12.Qxf3 e5 13.dxe5 Nxe5 14.Qd1 Nxd3 15.Qxd3 Qc6 16.Be3 Ne4 17.Bd4 1/2–1/2 (45) Karjakin,S (2773)-Vachier Lagrave,M (2779) Saint Louis 2018] 

6...Qb6 7.c4 dxc4 

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8.a4N [8.Qa4 a6 9.Bxc6+ bxc6 10.0–0 Be6 11.Ne5 Qb5 12.Qc2 Bd5 13.Ndxc4 1–0 (48) Kovacevic,V (2505)-Sermek,D (2530) Sibenik 2009] 

8...a6 9.Nxc4 Qc7 10.Bxc6+! Qxc6 11.Nce5 Qd5 12.0–0 Bg4 13.Nxg4 Nxg4 14.a5 Nf6 15.Bg5 e6 16.Ne5 Be7 17.Bxf6 gxf6 

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18.Ng4 [18.Qa4+ is interesting. 18...Qb5 19.Nc4 0–0–0 20.Rfd1 Kb8 21.Ne3] 

18...Rd8 19.Ra4 Qb5 20.b3 f5 21.Ne3 f4 22.Nc4 Bf6 23.Nb6 Qf5 24.d5 

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24...f3 [24...exd5³ keeps the upper hand. 25.Qd2 Be5] 

25.g3 [25.g4± Rg8 26.Kh1 Rxg4 27.Rxg4 Qxg4 28.Rg1] 

25...Be5= 26.Rc4 h5 [26...0–0=] 

27.Re1² Rh6 28.Rh4 [28.Re3!²] 

28...Bc3 

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29.Rf4 [White should play 29.Ree4² ] 

29...Qh3!= The position is equal. 

30.Rxf3 Bxe1 [Don't blunder 30...Bxa5? 31.Qa1+-] 

31.Qxe1 h4 And now ...hxg3 would win. 

32.Qe4 hxg3 33.Qa4+ Kf8 34.Qb4+ Ke8 35.Qa4+ Kf8 36.Qb4+ Ke8 ½–½