CARLSEN vs CARUANA – GAME 6 WORLD CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP 2018

This is game 6 of the World Chess Championship Match 2018, fully annotated. It is between Magnus Carlsen with White against Fabiano Caruana with Black.

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

Carlsen,Magnus (2835) - Caruana,Fabiano (2832)

World Chess Championship 2018 London (6), 16.11.2018

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nd3 Nxe4 5.Qe2 Qe7 C42: Petroff Defence: 3 Nxe5 and unusual White 3rd moves

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6.Nf4 [6.f3 Nc5 7.Nxc5 dxc5 8.Nc3 Bf5 9.d3 c6 10.Be3 Nd7 11.0–0–0 g5 12.Bxg5 Qxe2 13.Bxe2 f6 14.Bd2 0–0–0 15.g4 Be6 16.b3 Be7 17.f4 f5 18.g5 Bf7 19.h4 h5 20.Bf3 Nb6 Ludwig,K-Lehr,H/Dresden 2001/CBM 084 ext/0–1 (52); 6.b3 d5 (6...Nc6 7.Bb2 Bf5 8.Na3 0–0–0 9.0–0–0 f6 10.Nc4 Ne5 11.Ne3 Bd7 12.Nxe5 fxe5 13.Nd5 Qf7 14.Qxe4 Bf5 15.Qf3 e4 16.Qf4 Qxd5 17.Bc4 Qc5 18.d4 exd3 19.b4 g5 20.bxc5 gxf4 21.Bxh8 Pogonina,N (2440)-Molchanova,T (2312)/Sochi 2006/CBM 111 ext/1–0 (41)) 7.Bb2 Be6 8.Na3 Nc6 9.Nb5 0–0–0 10.Nd4 Nxd4 11.Bxd4 Qd7 12.f3 Nf6 13.0–0–0 Ba3+ 14.Kb1 Rhe8 15.Qf2 a6 16.g4 h6 17.h4 Kb8 18.Nf4 Bd6 19.Nd3 Rc8 20.g5 Nh5 Papin,V (2388)-Frolyanov,D (2497)/Internet 2006/CBM 112 ext/0–1 (58); 6.b4 Bf5 7.Bb2 Nd7 8.a4 a5 9.b5 Nb6 10.g4 Bg6 11.Nf4 Nc5 12.Qxe7+ Kxe7 13.Nxg6+ hxg6 14.Nc3 Kd7 15.Bg2 Re8+ 16.Kf1 Kc8 17.d4 Ne6 18.Ne2 Rh4 19.Bc3 Nc4 20.h3 Ng5 Karklins,A (2223)-Ippolito,D (2413)/Philadelphia 2006/CBM 112 ext/½–½ (59)] 

6...Nc6 7.Nd5 White threatens to win material: Nd5xe7 

7...Nd4 Black threatens to win material: Nd4xe2 

8.Nxe7 Nxe2 

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9.Nd5 White threatens to win material: Nd5xc7 

9...Nd4 Black threatens to win material: Nd4xc2 

10.Na3 Ne6 11.f3 N4c5 

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12.d4 White threatens to win material: d4xc5 

12...Nd7 

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13.c3 Secures d4 

13...c6 Consolidates b5 

14.Nf4 Nb6 15.Bd3 d5 16.Nc2 Bd6 17.Nxe6 Bxe6 18.Kf2 h5 19.h4 Nc8 20.Ne3 Ne7 

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21.g3 Prevents intrusion on f4 

21...c5 22.Bc2 0–0 23.Rd1 Rfd8 24.Ng2 cxd4 25.cxd4 Rac8 26.Bb3 Nc6 27.Bf4 Na5 28.Rdc1 Bb4 29.Bd1 

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29...Nc4 Black threatens to win material: Nc4xb2 

30.b3 White threatens to win material: b3xc4 

30...Na3 31.Rxc8 

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31...Rxc8 Black has a king attack 

32.Rc1 Nb5 33.Rxc8+ 

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33...Bxc8 A minor pieces endgame occurred 

34.Ne3 White threatens to win material: Ne3xd5 

34...Nc3 Black threatens to win material: Nc3xa2 

35.Bc2 Ba3 36.Bb8 a6 37.f4 Bd7 38.f5 Bc6 

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39.Bd1 White threatens to win material: Bd1xh5 

39...Bb2 40.Bxh5 

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40...Ne4+ A classical outpost 

41.Kg2 Bxd4 42.Bf4 Bc5 43.Bf3 Nd2 44.Bxd5 Bxe3 45.Bxc6 Bxf4 

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46.Bxb7 Black wins a piece 

46...Bd6 47.Bxa6 Ne4 48.g4 Ba3 49.Bc4 Kf8 

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50.g5 White gets more space 

50...Nc3 51.b4 Bxb4 52.Kf3 Na4 53.Bb5 Nc5 54.a4 f6 55.Kg4 Ne4 56.Kh5 Be1 

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57.Bd3 White threatens to win material: Bd3xe4 

57...Nd6 58.a5 Bxa5 59.gxf6 gxf6 60.Kg6 Bd8 61.Kh7 Nf7 62.Bc4 Ne5 63.Bd5 Ba5 64.h5 Bd2 65.Ba2 Nf3 66.Bd5 Nd4 67.Kg6 Bg5 68.Bc4 Nf3 69.Kh7 Ne5 70.Bb3 Ng4 71.Bc4 Ne3 72.Bd3 Ng4 73.Bc4 Nh6 74.Kg6 Ke7 75.Bb3 Kd6 76.Bc2 Ke5 77.Bd3 Kf4 78.Bc2 Ng4 79.Bb3 Ne3 [¹79...Ke5!?µ] 

80.h6³ 

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80...Bxh6 Double attack: f5/h6. .  ½–½