CARUANA vs CARLSEN – GAME 12 WORLD CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP 2018

This is game 12 of the World Chess Championship Match 2018, fully annotated. It is between Fabiano Caruana with White against Magnus Carlsen with Black.

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

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

World Chess Championship 2018 London (12), 26.11.2018

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e5 6.Ndb5 d6 7.Nd5 Nxd5 8.exd5 Ne7 9.c4 Ng6 10.Qa4 Bd7 11.Qb4 B33: Sicilian: Pelikan and Sveshnikov Variations

XABCDEFGHY
8r+-wqkvl-tr(
7zpp+l+pzpp'
6-+-zp-+n+&
5+N+Pzp-+-%
4-wQP+-+-+$
3+-+-+-+-#
2PzP-+-zPPzP"
1tR-vL-mKL+R!
xabcdefghy

11...Bf5 [11...Bxb5 12.Qxb5+ Qd7 13.a4 (13.Qxd7+ Kxd7 14.g3 Ne7 15.h4 (15.Bg2 g6 16.b3 Bg7 17.Bb2 Rhe8 18.0–0 f5 19.Rfe1 Bh6 20.Re2 Rac8 21.a4 a5 22.Rae1 g5 23.Bc1 b6 24.h4 Rg8 25.Kh2 f4 26.gxf4 gxf4 27.Bh3+ Kc7 28.Bxc8 Kxc8 29.Rg1 Rf8 Suarez Calvo,A (1970)-Bazhenova,D (1910)/Sibenik 2007/CBM 120 ext/½–½ (48)) 15...h5 16.Bh3+ f5 17.a4 g6 18.a5 Bg7 19.0–0 Rhc8 20.Ra4 b5 21.axb6 axb6 22.Rb4 Rab8 23.Bg5 b5 24.Ra1 Rb7 25.Bxe7 Kxe7 26.Rxb5 Rcb8 27.Bf1 e4 Kholmov,R (2465)-Skatchkov,P (2370)/Perm 1997/CBM 058/½–½ (40)) 13...Nh4 14.Ra3 Nf5 15.Qxd7+ Kxd7 16.Rf3 g6 17.g4 Nh6 18.Bxh6 Bxh6 19.Rxf7+ Kc8 20.h4 Bc1 21.Rh3 Bxb2 22.Rb3 Bd4 23.Rbxb7 Bc5 24.g5 1–0 Acosta,A (2210)-Martinez,C (2310)/Bogota 1980/MCD; 11...Qb8 12.h4 (12.a4 Be7 13.Be2 0–0 14.a5 a6 15.Nc3 Nh4 16.0–0 Qc8 17.f4 Re8 18.Rf2 exf4 19.Bxf4 Bf6 20.Rd1 Nf5 21.Bxd6 Bd4 22.Rxd4 Nxd4 23.Bf1 Nf5 24.Bf4 Ne3 25.Bd3 Ng4 26.Rf1 Bf5 Kholmov,R (2445)-Filipenko,A (2370)/Cheliabinsk 1991/CBM 025/1–0 (40)) 12...a6 13.h5 axb5 14.hxg6 fxg6 15.cxb5 Be7 16.a4 0–0 17.Be3 Qd8 18.Qd2 Qe8 19.Ra3 Rf4 20.Bxf4 exf4 21.Be2 Bf6 22.0–0 g5 23.Rc1 g4 24.Rc7 Bd8 25.Rc4 Qe5 26.Bd3 Metz,H-Bewersdorff,O (2270)/Schoeneck 1988/TD/0–1 (61)] 

12.h4 h5 13.Qa4 Bd7 14.Qb4 

XABCDEFGHY
8r+-wqkvl-tr(
7zpp+l+pzp-'
6-+-zp-+n+&
5+N+Pzp-+p%
4-wQP+-+-zP$
3+-+-+-+-#
2PzP-+-zPP+"
1tR-vL-mKL+R!
xabcdefghy

14...Bf5 Twofold repetition 

15.Be3 White threatens to win material: Be3xa7 

15...a6 Black threatens to win material: a6xb5 

16.Nc3 

XABCDEFGHY
8r+-wqkvl-tr(
7+p+-+pzp-'
6p+-zp-+n+&
5+-+Pzpl+p%
4-wQP+-+-zP$
3+-sN-vL-+-#
2PzP-+-zPP+"
1tR-+-mKL+R!
xabcdefghy

16...Qc7 [Worse is 16...Nxh4 17.c5 Ng6 18.Qxb7±] 

17.g3 Prevents intrusion on f4 

17...Be7 

XABCDEFGHY
8r+-+k+-tr(
7+pwq-vlpzp-'
6p+-zp-+n+&
5+-+Pzpl+p%
4-wQP+-+-zP$
3+-sN-vL-zP-#
2PzP-+-zP-+"
1tR-+-mKL+R!
xabcdefghy

18.f3 Covers e4+g4 

18...Nf8 19.Ne4 Nd7 20.Bd3 0–0 

XABCDEFGHY
8r+-+-trk+(
7+pwqnvlpzp-'
6p+-zp-+-+&
5+-+Pzpl+p%
4-wQP+N+-zP$
3+-+LvLPzP-#
2PzP-+-+-+"
1tR-+-mK-+R!
xabcdefghy

21.Rh2 White has an active position 

21...Rac8 22.0–0–0 

XABCDEFGHY
8-+r+-trk+(
7+pwqnvlpzp-'
6p+-zp-+-+&
5+-+Pzpl+p%
4-wQP+N+-zP$
3+-+LvLPzP-#
2PzP-+-+-tR"
1+-mKR+-+-!
xabcdefghy

22...Bg6 Black has a cramped position 

23.Rc2 f5 24.Nf2 Nc5 25.f4 

XABCDEFGHY
8-+r+-trk+(
7+pwq-vl-zp-'
6p+-zp-+l+&
5+-snPzpp+p%
4-wQP+-zP-zP$
3+-+LvL-zP-#
2PzPR+-sN-+"
1+-mKR+-+-!
xabcdefghy

25...a5 Black prepares the advance e4 

26.Qd2 

XABCDEFGHY
8-+r+-trk+(
7+pwq-vl-zp-'
6-+-zp-+l+&
5zp-snPzpp+p%
4-+P+-zP-zP$
3+-+LvL-zP-#
2PzPRwQ-sN-+"
1+-mKR+-+-!
xabcdefghy

26...e4 Black threatens to win material: e4xd3 

27.Be2 Be8 28.Kb1 Bf6 29.Re1 a4 30.Qb4 g6 31.Rd1 Ra8 ½–½