Carlsen vs Gelfand World Championship Candidates (2013). Could Gelfand have held it with 44...Bxf1!

Question

       [FEN "8/5p1k/1P4p1/2P4p/2b4P/5Q2/5PP1/4qBK1 b - - 0 44"]

This position occurred on move 44 in the Carlsen vs Gelfand game in the World Championship Candidates, 2013.

Here, Gelfand played the losing move 44...Qxf1+. However, I analyzed the position after 44...Bxf1! and I do not see a win for White. Black sets up a blockade to stop the queenside passed pawns from advancing.

       [FEN "8/1Q3p1k/1P4p1/2P4p/2b4P/8/5PP1/4qBK1 w - - 0 44"]



        1. Qf3 Bxf1 
        2. Qxf7+ Kh8 
        3. Qf6+ Kh7 
        4. Kh2 Qe8 
        5. Qf4 Qd7
        6. Qf3 Bb5 
        7. b7 Qc7+  
        8. g3 Kg7

And how does White win? Black blockades the passed pawns. If White tries to use his kingside pawn majority, his own king gets exposed and could lead to a perpetual check.

Peter Heine Nielsen annotated this game in New in Chess, but didn't mention `44... Bxf1`. — Dag Oskar Madsen, Feb 15 '14 at 20:54
@DagOskarMadsen hmmm, maybe he missed it (just like Gelfand) or perhaps he saw it was better and might be hiding the fact that Carlsen missed it or maybe something else. Who knows? — NM Wesley Falcao, Feb 15 '14 at 20:57
It seems that my answer is redundant-it states the same thing as yours-therefore I will remove it. The final conclusion would be that Black loses this position regardles what he plays. Best regards. — AlwaysLearningNewStuff, Feb 16 '14 at 10:32

NM Wesley Falcao · Accepted Answer · 2014-02-24T04:38:56.870

One winning line involves an exchange of queens and bringing the king to e5.

      [FEN "8/5p1k/1P4p1/2P4p/7P/5Q2/5PP1/4qbK1 w - - 0 1"]

1. Qxf7+ Kh8 2. Qf6+ Kh7 3. Qf4 Bb5+ (3... Bc4+ 4. Kh2 Bd5 5. c6 Bxc6 6. Qc7+
Kh6 7. Qxc6 Qxf2 8. Qc1+ Kh7 9. Qc7+ Kh6 10. Qd8 Qf4+ 11. Kg1 Qc1+ 12. Kf2 Qf4+
13. Ke2 Qe4+ 14. Kd1 Qb1+ 15. Kd2 Qb2+ 16. Kd3 Qb3+ 17. Ke4 Qc2+ 18. Ke5 Qc5+
19. Ke6 Qc6+ 20. Ke7 Qe4+ 21. Kd6 Qf4+ 22. Kd7 Qd4+ 23. Kc7 Qf4+ 24. Kc8 Qg4+
25. Kb8 Qf4+ 26. Qc7 Qf8+ 27. Kb7 Qf1 28. Ka7 Qa1+ 29. Kb8 Qh8+ 30. Kb7 Qf8 31.
Kc6 Qf6+ 32. Kd5 Qf5+ 33. Qe5 Qd7+ (33... Qd3+ 34. Kc5 Qa3+ 35. Kc6 Qa4+ 36.
Kb7 Qd7+ 37. Kb8 Qd8+ 38. Ka7 Qxh4 39. Qh8+ Kg5 40. Qd8+ Kg4 41. Qxh4+) 34. Kc5
Qc8+ 35. Kd4 Qa8 36. Ke3 Qa3+ 37. Kf2 Qa8 38. Qg5+ Kg7 39. Qe7+ Kh8 40. b7 Qb8
41. Kf3 Kg8 42. Qe6+ Kg7 43. Qc8) 4. Kh2 Qe7 5. Kg3 Kg7 (5... Bc6 6. Qc7 Qxc7+
7. bxc7 Bb7 8. Kf4 Kg7 9. Ke5 $1 $18) (5... Kg8 6. c6 Bxc6 7. Qc4+ Kg7 8. Qxc6
Qe5+ 9. Kh3 Qf5+ 10. Kh2 Qxf2 11. Qc3+ Kh7 12. Qb4 Qe3 13. b7 Qe5+ 14. Kg1 Qe3+
15. Kf1 Qd3+ 16. Kf2 Qc2+ 17. Kf3 Qc6+ 18. Kg3 Qc7+ 19. Kh3 Qd7+ 20. Kh2 Qc7+
21. g3 Qc2+ 22. Kg1 Qc1+ 23. Kf2 Qc2+ 24. Ke3 Qc1+ 25. Kd4 Qg1+ 26. Kd5 Qg2+
27. Kd6 Qxg3+ 28. Ke6 Qe3+ 29. Kf7 Qf3+ 30. Ke7 Qe2+ 31. Kd8 Qd3+ 32. Ke8 Qe3+
33. Qe7+ $18) 6. Qd4+ (6. Qc7 $2 Qxc7+ 7. bxc7 Ba6 8. Kf4 Kf6 $1 9. f3 Bc8 10.
g4 Bb7 $11) 6... Kh7 (6... Kf7 7. Qd5+ Kg7 8. c6 $18) 7. Qd6 Qg7 (7... Qb7 8.
Qc7+ Qxc7+ 9. bxc7 Ba6 10. Kf4 Kg7 11. Ke5 $1 $18) 8. Qc7 Qxc7+ 9. bxc7 Ba6 10.
Kf4 Kg7 11. Ke5 (11. Kg5 $2 Bc8 12. f3 Be6 13. g4 hxg4 14. fxg4 Bc8 15. h5 Bd7
$1 16. c6 (16. hxg6 Bc8 17. Kf4 Kxg6 18. g5 Kh5 19. Ke5 Kxg5 20. Kd6 Kf6 21.
Kc6 Ke5 22. Kb6 Kd5 23. Ka7 Kxc5 24. Kb8 Bf5 25. c8=Q+ Bxc8 26. Kxc8 $11) 16...
Bc8 $11) 11... Bc8 12. Kd6 Kf6 13. Kc6 Ke7 14. Kb6 Kd7 15. f3 Ke7 16. Ka7 Kd7
17. Kb8 Ba6 18. g3 Ke7 19. c8=Q Bxc8 20. Kxc8 1-0

Engine output after 3. Qf4!

+- (3.61): 3...Bb5+ 4.Kh2 Qe7 5.Kg3 Bc6 6.Qc7 Qxc7+ 7.bxc7 Bb7 8.Kf4 Kg8 9.Ke5 Kf7 10.Kd6 Bc8 11.Kc6 Ke6 12.Kb6 Kd7 13.f3 Ke7 14.Ka7 Kd7 15.Kb8 Ba6 16.g3 Kc6 17.c8Q+ Bxc8 18.Kxc8 Kxc5 19.Kd8 Kd5 20.Ke8 Ke6 21.f4 Kf6 22.Kf8 Kf5 23.Kg7 Kg4 24.Kxg6 Kxg3 25.Kxh5 Kf3 26.Kg6 Kg3 27.h5 Stockfish Depth 26.

Could you add a screenshot of an engine output after 3.Qf4? Cheers. — Rauan Sagit, Feb 18 '14 at 12:26

Carlsen vs Gelfand World Championship Candidates (2013). Could Gelfand have held it with 44...Bxf1!

1 Answers1