Annotated game: GM Carlsen - GM Malakhov

Here is an interesting game from the World Cup event in Khanty Mansyisk, 2005 betwen GM Magnus Carlsen and GM Vladmir Malakhov. At this point Carlsen was down a full point in the match score and this was a must win for him to bring the match to tie-breaks. Which means that Malakhov only needed a draw to eliminate Carlsen and advance to the next round. The pressure is on! Now I will provide full annotations and commentary of the game.

It is amazing to see how poorly black played this game. Very passive and without much of a plan while white just had free time to execute all of his plans and ideas. It seems before the game Malakhov was in a mode of just trying to draw. This game has really showed me that you cannot just play for a draw but play as if it is a regular game and you want to win. When you get in a mode of just trying to draw you can start to play passive without a plan hoping that you will somehow drift into an equal game. Always try to play your best no matter what the situation is.