New problems for the Carlsen Variation?

In the upcoming chapter there will be lots of annotated top-level games in the Carlsen Variation, giving a survey on the theory and explaining why I’m not recommending it in my repertoire.  (I’m including it here under the Soltis move order 13.Kb1 a6!?.)

 Of course attention has focused on Anand’s 14.g4! hxg4 15.h5! Nxh5 16.Rdg1!, and probably rightly so.  (I have annotated the critical game Topalov-Carlsen for this chapter, as well as others.  In this important game, I agree with de la Villa’s suggested improvement and assessment.)  I also have Dominguez-Carlsen with 16.Bh6 annotated, and my conclusions are in contrast to what I’ve read elsewhere, thinking that White is much better after the game’s 16…e6 after the “obvious” novelty 20.Qd2!N, mimicking Polgar-Kaidanov.  (Actually it seems to me that this version is even better for White if anything, since Black’s rook is on f8 and he has no escape square yet.)  Instead I think the way to go is 16…Kh7!? and it’s complicated but I think Black’s a little better.  It’s an improved version of Kasimdzhanov’s analagous line with …Re8 instead of …a6, where actually Black’s rook is better placed on f8, guarding f7 so that a critical tactical variation doesn’t work so well. 

Anyway, on to the point of this post, a very interesting 2010 development is the approach 14.Bh6 Nc4 15.Qc1!?, in my opinion an improvement on Anand’s first game against Carlsen’s Dragon.  My impression is that this new approach also gives White an advantage.  You can find the game with this in the notes to Anand-Carlsen below.

[Event “Mainz Classic rap Prelim”]
[Site “Mainz”]
[Date “2008.08.01”]
[Round “1”]
[White “Anand, Viswanathan”]
[Black “Carlsen, Magnus”]
[Result “1/2-1/2”]
[ECO “B78”]
[WhiteElo “2798”]
[BlackElo “2775”]
[Annotator “Juett,Jason”]
[PlyCount “61”]
[EventDate “2008.08.01”]
[EventType “tourn (rapid)”]
[EventRounds “6”]
[EventCountry “GER”]
[EventCategory “21”]
[Source “ChessBase”]
[SourceDate “2008.09.01”]

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 Rc8 11. O-O-O Ne5 12. Kb1 $1 a6 $5 13. h4 h5 14. Bh6 {This is supposed to be harmless, but I found a very recent 2010 game that gives the move new life. Have a look at the note for 15.Qc1!?.} Nc4 {Now we have a position that’s in our repertoire, except this version has Kb1 and …a6 included, which makes it a little more favorable to White.} 15. Bxc4 (15.Qc1 $5 {I really like this idea. White uses the inclusion of Kb1 to find a
retreat square for his king and maintain the tension on the kingside. As
we’ve seen a lot of times, when White trades bishops early, that lets Black
bring his rook over to h8 to defend.} b5 $6 {This lets White very strongly
carry out his kingside attack.} (15… Qa5 $146 {looks like a reasonable
suggestion for an improvement. Besides getting the queen to an active square, the immediate 16.g4? is stopped due to 16…Nxb2!. Still,} 16. Nd5 Nxd5 17.exd5 $14 {looks very good for White, who is ready to strongly play 18.g4! after most neutral moves, and who can answer} Qxd5 {with} 18. Bxg7 Kxg7 19.Rhe1 Rfe8 20. Ne6+ Qxe6 21. Rxe6 Bxe6 $14 {This is an important tactic to keep in mind when the d-pawn is apparently hanging to the queen.}) (15… Kh7 $5 $146 {is also interesting, just trying to get White to trade off the bishop, and arguing that the loss of time isn’t too critical because White’s extra move Qc1 isn’t that useful in itself.} 16. Bxg7 Kxg7 {However, after this tried is achieved, White can play} 17. g4 $1 {with what looks like an improved version of our main line from the next chapter.}) 16. g4 $1 hxg4 17. h5 $1 $16 e5 18. Bg5 $3 $16 exd4 (18… Bh8 19. Nd5 $1 exd4 20. hxg6 fxg6 21. Rxh8+ $1 Kxh8 22. Bxf6+ Rxf6 23. Rh1+ Kg8 (23… Kg7 24. Qh6+ Kf7 25. Qg5 $18) 24. Qg5 Kg7 (24… Rf7 25. Qxg6+ Rg7 26. Nf6+ $18) 25. Nxf6 Qxf6 26. Rh7+ $1 Kxh7 27.Qxf6 $18) (18… gxh5 19. Nf5 Bxf5 20. exf5 $16 Na3+ $6 21. bxa3 Rxc3 22. Bh6 $18 Nh7 23. Bxg7 Kxg7 24. Rxh5 Qf6 25. Rdh1 Rh8 26. Qg1 $18) 19. h6 $1 $18 Bxh6 (19… Bh8 $2 20. h7+ $18 Kg7 21. Bh6+ Kxh7 22. Bg7+ $1 $18) 20. Rxh6 dxc3 21.Qf4 $1 Nh5 22. Bxd8 $1 Rfxd8 (22… Nxf4 23. Bf6 $18) 23. Qg5 Re8 24. Bxc4 Rxc4
25. Rxd6 Bf5 26. Rd8 Rc8 27. Rxe8+ Rxe8 28. Rxh5 gxf3 29. Rh1 {1-0 Kravtsiv,M (2545)-Lokesh,P (2120)/New Delhi 2010/Mega2010 Update 06. An extraordinarily impressive game from GM Kravtsiv. Perhaps an early candidate for the Yugoslav Attack novelty of 2010?}) 15… Rxc4 16. Bxg7 Kxg7 17. Rhe1 $1 {Anand’s novelty. Probably this unambitious positional move is best. One has to admire the thought Carlsen put into preparing this variation, since in this particular position, the tempo …a6 turns out to be more useful than …Re8, as we’ll see in the variations below, where I examine a couple moves that would be critical with Black’s tempi spent the other way around.} (17. g4 $5 {is an interesting try, but Black should be holding his own. After} hxg4 18. h5 $1 Rh8 {, we arrive at a position where Black is the tempo …a6 up on a line in the upcoming chapter on 10.h4 Ne5!? 11.Bb3 Rc8! 12.0-0-0 h5! 13.Bg5 Rc5 14.Kb1. We’ll see that Black is completely fine in that position, and the extra move …a6, inconsequential as it usually is, at the very least shouldn’t hurt Black’s chances. 1-0 Schramm,C (2250)-Berndt,S (2290)/Germany 1993/EXT 2002 (40)}) (17. Nd5 e5 $1 18. Nb3 Nxd5 19. Qxd5 Rc6 $11 {is perfectly acceptable for Black. In a critical line in the 14.Kb1 chapter referred to above, we’ll a situation analogous to this one, but with …Re8 instead of …a6. In that case White will be able to answer …e5 with Nxf6, since it will be hitting the Re8. 1/2-1/2 Rowe,D-Motoewi,R/Istanbul 2000/EXT 2001 (51)}) 17… Re8 18.Nde2 (18. f4 $5 {would put more pressure on Black, who has to contend with the strong idea e4-e5.}) 18… Qa5 $11 {Carlsen now holds the position against the world’s number one rapid player with ease.} 19. Nf4 Rec8 20. Ncd5 Qxd2 21. Rxd2
Nxd5 22. Nxd5 Re8 23. Nb6 Rc7 24. e5 Be6 25. exd6 Rc6 $1 26. Na4 exd6 27. b3 Rec8 28. Nb2 Rc5 29. Ree2 Re5 30. Nd3 Rxe2 31. Rxe2 {In this Mainz rapid mini-match, Carlsen has won the first round of Dragon preparation, but Anand will be back strongly in his next White!} 1/2-1/2