नॉर्वे शतरंज : R 5-6-7 : आनंद की साहसिक वापसी !!

[Event "5th Norway Chess 2017"]
[Site "Stavanger NOR"]
[Date "2017.06.11"]
[Round "5.2"]
[White "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Black "So, Wesley"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C50"]
[WhiteElo "2786"]
[BlackElo "2812"]
[Annotator "Sagar Shah"]
[PlyCount "65"]
[EventDate "2017.06.06"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. O-O Nf6 5. d3 O-O 6. a4 a6 7. c3 d5 8. exd5
Nxd5 9. Re1 (9. Nbd2 {is the main move in the position.}) 9... Bg4 (9... Nb6
10. Bb3 Bd6 11. Bg5 $16) 10. h3 Bh5 11. Nbd2 (11. g4 Bg6 12. Nxe5 Nxe5 13. Rxe5
c6 $44) 11... Nb6 12. Ba2 $5 {Anand sacrifices a pawn in order to go into an
endgame where he would have some compensation.} (12. Ne4 {is an interesting
move, but after} Nxc4 13. Nxc5 Nd6 14. g4 Bg6 {Black seems to be doing
completely fine.}) 12... Qxd3 13. a5 Bxf3 $1 (13... Nd7 14. Ne4 Qxd1 15. Rxd1
Bxf3 16. gxf3 Bd6 17. Nxd6 cxd6 18. Rxd6 $16) 14. Nxf3 Qxd1 15. Rxd1 {White
has the bishop pair and control of the d-file as the compensation for the pawn.
} Nc8 16. b4 Ba7 17. Re1 Nd6 {Wesley is a pragmatic player. He gives back the
pawn in order to get his piece co-ordinated.} 18. Nxe5 Nxe5 19. Rxe5 Rfe8 20.
Rxe8+ Rxe8 21. Kf1 Ne4 22. Bd5 c6 (22... Nxf2 23. Bxb7 $16) 23. Bxe4 Rxe4 24.
Bd2 Kf8 25. Re1 Rxe1+ 26. Bxe1 {The position is just drawn.} Ke7 27. Ke2 c5 28.
Kd3 cxb4 29. cxb4 Kd6 30. Kc4 b5+ 31. axb6 Bxb6 32. b5 axb5+ 33. Kxb5 1/2-1/2

[Event "Altibox Norway Chess 2017"]
[Site "Stavanger"]
[Date "2017.06.12"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Black "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A21"]
[WhiteElo "2805"]
[BlackElo "2786"]
[Annotator "Tiger Hillarp-Persson"]
[PlyCount "94"]
[EventDate "2017.??.??"]

1. c4 {This is rare occurance for Caruana who usually starts out with 1.e4.} ({
It is worth comparing what happens in the game with the not purely fictional
line:} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 O-O 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. Qxc3 d6 7. Nf3
Nbd7 8. e3 (8. g3) 8... Re8 9. b4 e5 10. Be2 c6 {when we get a position that
will arise later in this game, but with Black to move.} (10... e4 $1)) 1... e5
{I have heard GM:s saying that the problem with the English is - in order - 1..
.e5, 1...c5 and 1...e6, and then there is nothing wrong with 1...Nf6 or 1...c6.
Further down on the list 1...b6 and 1...g6 argues about which one is the most
respectable.} 2. Nc3 ({When Mihail Marin wrote his wonderful books on the
English, he chose to recommend} 2. g3 {as the second move here. The only
downside to leaving out Nc3, is that Black can play the immediate} c6 3. d4 (3.
Nf3 e4 {is another fashionable possibility.}) 3... e4 $5 4. Nc3 d5 {and Black
seems to be doing fine.}) 2... Bb4 $5 ({Another Bb4-line arises after} 2... Nf6
3. Nf3 Nc6 4. g3 Bb4 {This line was already at the center of attention in the
classic Wch match between Kasparov and Karpov, in 1987. Their 2:nd and 4:th
game (with Kasparov as White) both went} (4... d5 5. cxd5 Nxd5) 5. Bg2 O-O 6.
O-O e4 7. Ng5 Bxc3 8. bxc3 Re8 9. f3 $1 {Lately White has been scoring very
well here and Caruana was able to score a nice win against Anand in the Moscow
Candidates 2016 (a game that has been excellently commented on in CBM by
Mihail Marin). He was possibly hoping to repeat this line.} exf3 10. Nxf3 d5
11. d4 dxc4 12. Qc2 h6 13. Bf4 Ne4 14. Rad1 Bf5 15. Ne5 Nd6 $6 16. e4 Bh7 17.
Qe2 $14 {Caruana,F (2794)-Anand,V (2762) Moscow 2016.}) (2... c6 {is not as
good here as after 2.g3, as} 3. Nf3 $1 d6 4. d4 {leaves Black with little
choice but to play either the Old Indian or a sideline of the KID.} Nd7 5. e4
$14) 3. Nd5 (3. g3 Bxc3 4. bxc3 $1 (4. dxc3 d6 5. Bg2 Nc6 6. Nf3 Nge7 {is even
nicer for Black.}) 4... d6 $1 5. Bg2 Ne7 $5 {and Black is well organized to
deal with any central set-up that White might choose. The knight is more
flexible on e7 than on f6 and it is a good reason to try Bb4 before Nf6.}) 3...
Bc5 (3... Be7 $5 4. d4 (4. g3) 4... d6 5. e4 Nf6 6. Nxe7 Qxe7 7. f3 exd4 8.
Qxd4 Nc6 {is another insteresting line, where White has to decide where the
queen is best placed. 9.Qc3 seems to be the consensus, but in a game against
Ginger GM in 2015 I came to the conclusion that e3 looked like a better square:
} 9. Qe3 O-O 10. Ne2 {This is why I didn't want my queen on c3.} a5 11. Nc3 Nb4
12. Qd2 Nd7 13. a3 Nc6 14. Nd5 Qd8 15. Qc3 f5 16. exf5 Ne7 17. g4 Nxd5 18. cxd5
Qh4+ 19. Kd1 Ne5 $2 (19... Nc5 20. Be3 Bd7 $13) 20. Bf4 $16 {Hillarp Persson,T
(2521)-Williams,S (2439) London 2015}) 4. Nf3 c6 5. Nc3 d6 {Anand reached this
position no less than five times in 2016 and obviously has a lot of faith in
its soundness.} 6. e3 (6. g3 Nf6 7. Bg2 O-O 8. O-O Re8 9. d3 (9. d4 exd4 10.
Nxd4 a5 11. b3 Bg4 12. h3 Bh5 13. Bb2 {, looks a bit better for White, to me,
but Black's pieces are active and I can understand why this kind of position
would suit Anands active style.}) 9... h6 10. Na4 Bb4 11. a3 Ba5 12. b4 Bc7 13.
e4 Bg4 $132 {Caruana,F (2820)-Anand,V (2775) 8th London Classic 2016}) (6. a3
Nf6 7. e3 (7. Na4 e4) 7... e4 (7... Bb6 $5) 8. Nd4 O-O 9. d3 d5 10. cxd5 cxd5
11. Be2 Qe7 12. b4 Bb6 13. O-O Rd8 {, was perhaps somewhat more comfortable
for White, in Topalov,V (2760)-Anand,V (2775) Champions Showdown 2016.}) 6...
Bb4 $1 7. d4 Nd7 ({It seems that Anand either has lost faith in or got bored
with} 7... Bxc3+ 8. bxc3 e4 9. Nd2 Nf6 {Nakamura played the principled} 10. Ba3
{and only got half a point out of two:} (10. f3 exf3 $6 (10... Bf5 $5) 11. Qxf3
O-O 12. h3 Qa5 13. Bb2 (13. e4 $1) 13... Qf5 $132 {Nepomniachtchi,I (2740)
-Anand,V (2775) 10th Tal Mem 2016}) 10... b6 (10... O-O 11. c5 $5 d5 12. Be2
Re8 13. O-O b5 14. Bc1 a6 15. a4 Qd7 16. f4 ({It seems to me (and the engine)
that something like} 16. axb5 cxb5 17. f3 exf3 18. Rxf3 {, intending a
sacrifice on f6, surely must be much better for White.}) 16... exf3 17. Nxf3
Ne4 18. Ne5 $6 Rxe5 19. dxe5 Nxc3 20. Qc2 Nxa4 21. e4 Qe8 22. Bd3 $2 d4 $1 {
and Black went on to win, in Nakamura,H (2775)-Anand,V (2775) Champions
Showdown 2016.}) 11. f4 $6 (11. f3 $1) 11... c5 $1 12. Be2 h5 13. Qc2 Bf5 14.
g3 Nc6 15. h3 Qd7 {and White was lucky to escape with a draw, in Nakamura,H
(2775)-Anand,V (2775) Champions Showdown Rapid 2016. Nimzowitsch could rise
from the dead just to get a chance to play this position from the black side.})
8. Qc2 {A sensible way to avoid the doubled pawn on c3.} Ngf6 9. a3 Bxc3+ 10.
Qxc3 O-O 11. Be2 Re8 12. b4 {This pawn move always make me cringe on the
inside. I'm not saying that it is bad, but when Black starts shuffling his
pieces around on the light squares it might be nice to still have this pawn on
b3. I guess there are a few GM:s who feel with me, but the majority seem to
value space more than any vague notions about light squares.} e4 $1 {[%cal
Ge5e4] This is one of those moves that you shouldn't hesitate to make. It is
clearly the best Black can hope for with this pawn structure.} 13. Nd2 d5 $1 {
This is where I first logged in to watch the games and I felt something had
gone wrong for Caruana. (...and I also felt that the b4 pawn might have been
happier on b3, so that White could play Ba3 and perhaps Qc3-b4-d6.)} 14. a4 ({
The engines love - if that is the right word - to play} 14. c5 $5 {, but
although White gets a free hand on the queenside, the same is basically true
for Black on the kingside. Also, should White choose to play 0-0-0, it is
still possible to apply the can opener with b6 and a5.} Nf8 15. h3 Ng6 16. a4
Bd7 17. b5 Nh4 18. Kf1 (18. O-O Qc8 19. Kh2 Nxg2) (18. Rg1 Qc7) (18. g3 Nf3+ $1
19. Nxf3 exf3 20. Bxf3 cxb5 {and Bc1 is a hundred miles awar from a life.})
18... h6 {and with Nf6-h7-g5 coming next, White must start wondering whether
it will be enough to get a rook down to b7? (The answer is: probably not.)})
14... dxc4 $1 {[%cal Gd5c4] If White had more pressure on e4, this would not
be recommendable, but in this situation Black is better developed, has a
wonderful square for a knight on d5 and does not have to worry about e4.} 15.
Nxc4 Nb6 $1 16. Na5 (16. Ne5 Nfd5 $1) (16. O-O Bg4 $1 17. Bxg4 Nxg4 18. h3 Nf6
19. Bd2 {and the engine wants me to believe that the position is almost equal.
Well... after} Nfd5 20. Qb3 Nxc4 21. Qxc4 Re6 22. b5 Qd7 23. Qb3 a6 $1 24. bxc6
Rxc6 25. Rfc1 Rac8 {I would under no circumstances want to play the White side.
}) 16... Nbd5 (16... Nfd5 17. Qd2 Qg5 {looks very promising too.}) 17. Qd2 Qc7
18. h3 Re6 $5 {[%cal Ge8e6] A lovely move that has more than one function. ON
one hand it is ready to attack the kingside at any moment, but also it might
come in handy if White continues with b4-b5.} 19. Ba3 (19. Nc4 Ne8 20. b5 cxb5
(20... a6 21. bxa6 b5 $5) 21. axb5 Nd6 22. Nxd6 Rxd6 23. Bb2 Rg6 24. Rc1 Qd6
25. Kf1 Be6 26. Rc5 Qd7) ({White's natural plan is to play b4-b5, but when
Black's pieces are so well organized and active, it tends to backfire:} 19. b5
$6 cxb5 20. axb5 Bd7 $1 21. Ba3 b6 22. Rc1 Qb8 23. Nc6 Qe8 {and pawns will
fall.}) 19... a6 20. Nb3 $6 {This knight is feeling a bit lost. It was well
placed on a5, but there was no way forward. Now it seeks greener pastures, but
it turns out to be no better than the last one. In the mean time Anand
improves his forces coordination further.} Ne8 $3 {[%cal Gf6e8] Another great
move. From d6 the knight keeps and eye on e4, c4 and f5, while it makes b4-b5
harder to play for White. It also opens the road to g6 for the rook. You
cannot ask for more of one move.} 21. Nc5 Rg6 22. g3 ({It's horrible to leave
the f-pawn behind in this way, but} 22. Kf1 Nd6 {was not an option.}) 22... Nd6
23. a5 {This move looks like a sign of desperation. Not only does White give
up all future counterplay on the queenside, but also the bishop on a3 gets
completely entombed. I would normally give such a move a "?!", but I trust
that Caruana had better reasons that my engine and I can whip up in five
minutes.} Bf5 $1 24. Qc2 Re8 25. O-O-O Qc8 (25... Ra8 $5) 26. g4 Bd7 27. Kb1 f5
$5 {[%cal Gf7f5]} ({There is some kind of mute, unformulated guideline, that
tells me to attack the g4-pawn with} 27... h5 {rather than move the f-pawn.
Perhaps it is because I prefer to keep my pawns in one long chain. However, in
this position, Anands choice makes even more sense as it opens the f-file
towards f2.} 28. Rh2 hxg4 29. hxg4 Bxg4 30. Rdh1 f5 $17) 28. gxf5 Rf6 29. Rdg1
Bxf5 30. h4 Ref8 31. Rh2 Kh8 {It seems that Anand is keeping the tempo up as
Caruana feels the pressure from the clock.} ({Here I see no defence against}
31... Qc7 32. Rhg2 Bc8 $1 {and the f2-pawn falls:} 33. Bc1 (33. Bd1 Nb5 $19) (
33. Bf1 Qf7) (33. Rxg7+ Qxg7 34. Rxg7+ Kxg7 {is utterly hopeless for White who
has only one active piece.}) 33... Rxf2) 32. Qd2 Rg6 33. Rxg6 hxg6 $5 {This
makes things a bit harder, but in time pressure it is almost impossible for
White to find the defence.} (33... Bxg6) 34. h5 $1 g5 35. h6 g6 36. Bb2 $6 {
After this move White is irreversibly lost. The only chance was to try to
exchange Be2 for another piece than Black's bishop:} (36. Bd1 $1 Bg4 37. Bb3
Bf3 $1 38. Qc1 {and White can try something with Bxd5 and then queen to g3.
Still, Black should win with g4 and then Rf8-f5-h5.}) 36... Bg4 $1 37. Bf1 Kh7
38. Ka1 Bf3 {To quote Italo Svevo, White's position has become the "tomb of
its (sic) good intentions". The rest is just a demonstration of how helpless
White is.} 39. Rh3 g4 40. Rg3 Rf5 41. Na4 Qf8 42. Nb6 Qxh6 43. Nxd5 cxd5 44.
Qc1 Qh1 45. Qc7+ {This loses fast, but everything else loses almost as fast.}
Rf7 46. Qxd6 Qxf1+ 47. Ka2 Be2 {[%csl Rb2][%cal Gf3e2] White has no way to
deal with Bc4+, followed by Qd3, so he resigned.} 0-1

[Event "5th Norway Chess 2017"]
[Site "Stavanger NOR"]
[Date "2017.06.14"]
[Round "7.1"]
[White "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C50"]
[WhiteElo "2786"]
[BlackElo "2785"]
[PlyCount "92"]
[EventDate "2017.06.06"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. d3 Nf6 5. c3 d6 6. O-O a6 7. a4 O-O 8. Re1
Ba7 9. h3 Ne7 10. Nbd2 Ng6 11. Bb3 Be6 12. d4 Bxb3 13. Qxb3 Qd7 14. Nf1 (14.
Qxb7 Bxd4 $1 15. Qb3 Ba7 $11) 14... exd4 15. cxd4 d5 16. e5 Ne4 17. N1d2 c5 $1
(17... Nxd2 18. Bxd2 c5 19. dxc5 Bxc5 20. Be3 $14 {is a pleasant position for
White to play.}) 18. Nxe4 (18. dxc5 Nxc5 $17) 18... dxe4 19. Rxe4 cxd4 20. e6 (
20. Bd2 $5) 20... fxe6 21. Rxe6 Kh8 22. Bg5 Qf7 23. Qd5 Rae8 24. Rae1 h6 25.
Bd2 d3 26. Rd6 Qxd5 27. Rxd5 Re2 $1 {The d3 pawn is falling, but Black makes
use of it while it's still on the board.} 28. Rxd3 (28. Rxe2 dxe2 29. Be1 Nf4 {
It is not so easy to win the e2 pawn.} 30. Re5 Nxh3+ 31. gxh3 Rxf3 32. Kg2 Rf4
33. b4 $11) 28... Bxf2+ 29. Kf1 Rxe1+ 30. Nxe1 (30. Bxe1 Bxe1 31. Kxe1 Nf4 32.
Rd2 Nxg2+ $17) 30... Ne5 31. Rb3 {Anand ensures that there are no dangerous
discovered checks.} Be3+ 32. Ke2 Bxd2 33. Kxd2 Rf2+ 34. Kc3 Re2 35. Nd3 Nxd3
36. Kxd3 Rxg2 37. Rxb7 Rg3+ 38. Kc4 Rxh3 39. Ra7 (39. a5 $5 g5 40. b4 g4 41. b5
axb5+ 42. Rxb5 Ra3 43. Kb4 Ra2 44. Kb3 Ra1 45. Kb2 Rf1 46. a6 Rf2+ 47. Kb3 Rf3+
48. Kb4 Rf4+ 49. Ka5 Rf1 $11) 39... Rh4+ 40. Kb3 g5 41. a5 Rf4 42. Rxa6 Kg7 43.
Ra7+ Kg6 44. Ra8 Kg7 45. Ra7+ Kg6 46. Ra8 Kg7 1/2-1/2

[Event "5th Norway Chess 2017"]
[Site "Stavanger NOR"]
[Date "2017.06.14"]
[Round "7.3"]
[White "Kramnik, Vladimir"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C53"]
[WhiteElo "2808"]
[BlackElo "2832"]
[PlyCount "79"]
[EventDate "2017.06.06"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. c3 Nf6 5. d3 d6 6. O-O a6 7. Re1 Ba7 8. a4
O-O 9. h3 Ne7 10. d4 Ng6 11. Nbd2 c6 12. Bd3 $5 {This is the interesting idea
that Kramnik had prepared for the game. It was played in 2016 by Sjugirov
against Eliseev.} Re8 (12... Nf4 13. Nf1 $5 (13. Bf1) 13... Nxd3 14. Qxd3) 13.
Bc2 h6 14. Nf1 exd4 15. cxd4 c5 16. d5 {Now we have a Benoni like position
which is clearly in White's favour.} b5 17. axb5 axb5 18. Ng3 Bd7 19. Be3 Bb6
20. Rxa8 Qxa8 21. b4 Qa7 $6 (21... Qb8 $1 $11) 22. Qa1 $1 Qc7 23. Bxh6 {
Magnus said after the game that he had overlooked this move. It doesn't lose
material just as yet.} cxb4 24. Bxg7 $5 Qxc2 (24... Kxg7 25. Nh5+ $18) 25. Qxf6
Qxf2+ (25... Bxf2+ 26. Kh2 Qc3 27. Re2 Qxf6 28. Bxf6 Bc5 {According to Kramnik
this is a winning position for White. The engines claim it is equal. I am not
sure who is right! Perhaps in a practical game the White player's chances of
winning are much better than a draw.}) 26. Kh2 Bd8 27. Qxd6 Nh4 28. Nxh4 Bxh4
29. Nh5 Bxh3 (29... Qxe1 30. Qh6 $18) 30. Rg1 $1 (30. Kxh3 Qxe1 $19) 30... Bg5
31. Bf6 Bg4 32. Bxg5 Bxh5 33. Qh6 Rxe4 (33... Bg6 34. d6 $18) 34. Qxh5 Qf5 35.
Qh6 b3 36. Bf6 Qf4+ 37. Qxf4 Rxf4 38. d6 Rxf6 39. Rd1 Rh6+ 40. Kg1 {A fine
game by Kramnik.} 1-0