Nanjing R03: Anand beats Topalov with black – all games decided

Nanjing Pearl Spring Chess Tournament

The 2010 Nanjing International tournament takes place from October 19th to October 30th in Nanjing, China. It is a ten-round double round-robin event, in which each player faces every other player twice, once with the white pieces, and once with black. Time control: 40 moves in two hours then 20 moves in one hour followed by the rest of the game in 15 minutes with a 30 second increment as of move 61. Game start: Rounds 1-9 at 2:30 PM local time (11:30 PM Pacific daylight / 2:30 AM New York / 8:30 AM Paris), and round 10 at 10 AM local time (7 PM Pacific daylight / 10 PM New York / 4 AM Paris) Rest day: October 25th (after round 5).

Round three report

Commentary by GM Anish Giri There is a replay link at the end of each game, which takes you to a JavaScript board. There you can click on the notation to follow the analysis which was provided by GM Anish Giri on the graphic chessboard. You can also download the game in PGN and study it in peace, e.g. with Fritz 12 or ChessBase. There is a tremendous amount to learn from our young GM's notes – ignore them at your own peril.

Carlsen,Magnus (2826) - Wang,Yue (2732) [C43]
Pearl Spring Chess Tournament Nanjing/China (3), 22.10.2010 [Giri, Anish]

1.e4 e5. Everybody still remembers the King's Gambit game that Carlsen won, and I think there is no doubt Magnus wants to keep his 100% score there, so... 2.Nf3! Nf6. Wang has a very solid repertoire and Petroff is an essential part of it. 3.d4 Nxe4 4.Bd3 d5 5.Nxe5 Nd7 6.Nxd7 Bxd7 7.0-0 Bd6. 7...Qh4!? has lost its popularity nowadays, though my Dutch teammate Jan Smeets (I am still in Olympiad mode...) tried it against Tiviakov in Corus 2010. 8.Qh5!? interesting try, that took the Chinese super-GM by surprise. Strangely, though, since the move is relatively well known... Statistically the main move 8.c4 is normally chosen in order to force a draw. 8...Nf6 The d-pawn was attacked, but now 9.Re1+

The point. Now Black has a choice. 9...Kf8. Strange looking, but main. Black trusts his better development and hopes it will compensate for the uncomfortable position of the king. After this game though, I think this trust may be weakened. 9...Be7 is more solid, but still, life is not so easy after let's say 10.Qe2 Be6 11.Nd2 0-0 12.Nf3 Re8 13.Ne5 Nd7 14.f4 Nxe5 15.dxe5 and Tiviakov got some (practical) advantage against Socko this year. In the game Black managed to escape. 10.Qe2! 10.Qh4 is played more often, but Black has a simple way to equalize: 10...Ng4! and white has to change the queens. The arising endgame is deadly equal. 10...Ng4. Perhaps this logical move, which was also considered to be main, is a bit over-optimistic after all. The solid 10...c6!? deserves attention and should be studied by those who are interested. Still after the critical 11.Nd2 Qc7 12.Nf3 Bg4 13.Qe3! Bxf3 14.Qxf3 Bxh2+ 15.Kf1 Bd6 16.Bg5 played twice by Sutovsky – maybe not without reason... Life isn't that simple. 11.h3 Qh4 12.Qf3 Bh2+. 12...Nf6 is main and more solid, but I believe after 13.Nc3 c6 14.Ne2 Black has no attack, but a little bit uncomfortable king, so White should be slightly better with no risk. 13.Kf1 Nxf2. The whole operation is conducted in the spirit of position, with the white queenside still undevelopped, but in fact the black pieces are also not perfect with the rook on h8 and the king on f8, eager to swap places. 14.Qxf2 Bg3 15.Qd2 Qf6+ 16.Kg1 Bxe1 17.Qxe1 Qxd4+ 18.Kh2 Re8 19.Qg3 Qe5. Leads to a lost endgame, which though at first sight seems interesting for Black. However there was already no way back, because if White develops, the position is just lost for Black. 20.Qxe5 Rxe5

21.Bf4! I was about to write "/portals/all/_for_legal_reasons.jpg", but I think "well prepared Magnus" is more appropriate here. 21...Re1 22.Bxc7. Here I first thought that the computer doesn't understand that his queenside is stuck, but then I realized that in fact the threat is Ba5-d2 followed by Be2 kicking out or winning the rook. 22...a6. Only try. Black wants to change the potentially dangerous d3 bishop, but White has a logical antidote: 23.Ba5 Rd1 24.a4! Now there is nothing Black can do against Bd2, followed by Be2, or 24...Ke7 25.Bd2 Rc8

26.c3! with idea Bc2! Now Black is clearly lost and the rest is easy. 26...d4 27.c4 g6 28.Be2 Bxa4 29.Bb4+ Ke6 30.Bxd1 Bxd1 31.Nd2 Be2 32.b3 f5 33.Kg3 Rd8 34.Kf2 d3 35.Bc3 Kf7 36.Nf3 f4 37.Ng5+ Kg8 38.Ne6 1-0. [Click to replay]

Gashimov,Vugar (2719) - Bacrot,Etienne (2720) [A29]
Pearl Spring Chess Tournament Nanjing/China (3), 22.10.2010 [Giri, Anish]

1.c4. Gashimov decided to avoid the Berlin Wall, but as we will see later, he didn't manage that entirely... 1...Nf6 2.Nc3 e5 3.Nf3 Nc6 4.g3 g6!? The line that was often employed by Bacrot. Nowadays more popular are d5 and Nd4. The bishop moves Bb4 and Bc5 are quite popular as well. 5.d4. Immediately blowing up the centre. 5.Bg2 is obviously another main try. 5...exd4 6.Nxd4 Bg7 7.Nxc6 dxc6!?

It's quite funny, that even though Gashimov tried to avoid the Berlin, he now gets an endgame with similar pawn structure. But obviously there are a lot of differences, starting mainly with the fact that White also has two bishops now, but this time Black is much better in development. 7...bxc6 is obvioulsy an alternative. It's played much more often. 8.Qxd8+ Kxd8 9.Bd2!? A rare old move that was played in 1974 and 1990. The position is too complicated to easily say which move is better and why. 9...Be6 10.Rd1 Kc8 11.b3 a5 12.Bg2 [12.Na4 Ne4!] 12...a4! Interesting pawn exchange. Otherwise White would go Na4, and it seems that he would enjoy some advantage. 13.Nxa4 Bxc4

14.Nb6+?! The move looks interesting and ambitious, but probably objectively it's a mistake. Something quiet like 14.Bc3 would have been safer and stronger, since 14...Bb5 can always be answered by 15.Nc5 and thanks to some tricks (Bh3+ and Bxf6, Nd7) White is not losing the pawn. 14...cxb6 15.bxc4 Rxa2 15...Ng4!? is probably more precise, but it's of course tempting to take the pawn, because you never know... 16.0-0?! 16.Bh3+! would be more clever, using the little disadvantage of Black's last move. Now after 16...Kb8 17.0-0 Re8 18.Be3 White has some compensation, though Black still has the pawn. 16...Ng4! 17.Bh3 f5

Now Black has the pawn and the harmony, and that's more than what White can handle, considering the fine technique of Etienne. 18.e4 Bd4! 19.exf5 gxf5 20.Bxg4 fxg4 21.Bf4 Bc5 22.Ra1. Trying to get his rook active, but Bacrot will not let it slip. 22...Bxf2+! 23.Kg2 Rxa1 24.Rxa1 Bd4 25.Ra8+ Kd7 26.Ra7. That was the idea of White, but now Black gets a very active king and his pieces are simply too good. 26...Ke6 27.Rxb7 Kf5 28.h3 h5 29.hxg4+ hxg4 30.Rc7 c5 31.Rb7 Ra8 32.Rxb6 Ra4 33.Rb8 Ra2+ 34.Kf1 Ke4 35.Bd6 Kd3 36.Rf8 Ra6 37.Be7 Re6 38.Bh4 Kxc4 39.Rf4 Kd3

40.Rxg4. The g-pawn is clearly of no importance anymore. 40...c4 41.Rg8 c3 42.Bg5 c2 43.Rc8 Be3 44.Bxe3 Rxe3 45.Kf2 Re4 0-1. [Click to replay]

Topalov,Veselin (2803) - Anand,Viswanathan (2800) [D57]
Pearl Spring Chess Tournament Nanjing/China (3), 22.10.2010 [Giri,Anish]

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Be7! Of course, Anand repeats his choice from game 12 of the World Championship match against Veselin Topalov in Sofia earlier this year. Such solid opening, plus good memories, so why not? 5.Bg5 h6 6.Bh4 0-0 7.e3 Ne4 8.Bxe7 Qxe7

9.cxd5. 9.Rc1 is the main move, but it didn't bring any success to Topalov in the last game of the World Championship match, so he decided to try his luck in another line. 9...Nxc3 10.bxc3 exd5 11.Qb3 Rd8 12.c4. The idea of White: to step by step exchange Black's centre. Later he also wants to put some pressure on Black's queenside. However he is stil a bit undeveloped, thus 12...Be6!

A logical, strong move, which is somehow not popular. 12...dxc4 13.Bxc4 Nc6 was main choice of the people. To be honest I am a bit curious what Topalov had prepared here. Anand however didn't share my curiousity. Rightly so! 13.c5. critical. 13.Qxb7 doesn't give White anything after 13...dxc4 and in complications Black seems to be fine. (13...Qa3!? is maybe even better...) 13...b6 14.Rc1 bxc5!

15.Qa3!? Strong looking reply, but obviously Anand was ready for it. After the automatic 15.Rxc5 Nd7 16.Rxc7 Black will obviously enjoy good compensation, putting a rook on b-file, followed by a long queen jump, let's say to a3. 15...Nd7 16.Bb5. 16.dxc5 was maybe safer, but less ambitious. Now Black has a lot of ways to play and no problems. 16...Bg4! Very strong resource. The tactics work for Black, and suddenly White is already worse. 17.Bxd7 Rxd7

18.Qxc5. 18.Ne5 fails to 18...cxd4! 19.Qxe7 Rxe7 20.Nxg4 h5!; 18.Rxc5 is also far from easy: 18...Qe4 19.Ke2! and now black gets advtange with a strong sequence- 19...Rd6! threatening Rf6... 20.h3 Bc8! switching to a6 causing white a lot of trouble. 18...Qe4 19.Rg1!? Topalov finds an interesting resource, but Vishy just keeps on playing very forcefully. 19...Re8!

20.Qb5. 20.Ne5 is refuted by 20...Rxe5! 21.dxe5 d4! It is clear to see that Black has some initiative, and analysis proves that he has strong attack. For example 22.h3 dxe3 23.fxe3 (23.Qxe3 Qb4+ 24.Kf1 Qb5+ 25.Ke1 Rd3! 26.Qxd3 Qxd3 27.hxg4 Qe4+ with big advantage.) 23...Rd3 24.Kf2 Bxh3! with the idea 25.gxh3 Rd2+ 26.Kg3 h5! 20...Rdd8! Switching the passive rook to the b-file. 21.Qe2 Rb8 22.h3 Bxf3 23.gxf3 Qf5

The position didn't seem that bad to me, at first sight, but in fact it's just lost. 24.f4 Rb1 25.Rxb1 Qxb1+ 26.Qd1 Rb8 27.Ke2 Qf5 28.Rh1 Rb2+ 29.Kf3 h5! Anand keeps on playing extremely well. 30.a4 Qe4+ 31.Kg3 h4+! 32.Kxh4 Rxf2 33.Qg4 Rg2 and White's king can't be saved. 0-1. [Click to replay]

Pictures by Yu Feng

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