ChessBase
Magazine #153
Review by Prof. Nagesh Havanur
15th January, 2013. The fourth round in the Wijk aan Zee tournament is
in progress. I had strolled rather late into the tournament hall and gave
only a fleeting look to the Aronian-Anand game and moved on to see other
boards. Moments later I am back and Aronian still has not moved. Then with
characteristic nonchalance he stops the clocks and congratulates his opponent.
The hall breaks into stormy applause.
“One for the ages,” said Carlsen who subsequently won the
tournament with a phenomenal score of 10/13.
The game Aronian,L - Anand,V 0-1 from the fourth round was one of the real
highlights of the tournament. Not just because it involved, in only 23 moves,
an unusually short victory for Black in top-level chess. Anand referred
to the game in the subsequent interview as one of the best games of his
entire career. "To win a game like that against my dreaded opponent
Levon is just great."

In this issue of ChessBase Magazine the World Champion himself annotates
the game.
Replay and check the LiveBook here |
Please, wait...
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 e6 5.e3 Nbd7 6.Bd3 dxc4 7.Bxc4 b5 8.Bd3 Bd6 9.0-0 0-0 10.Qc2 Bb7 11.a3 Rc8 11...a6 11...a6 12.Ng5 Bxh2+ 13.Kxh2 Ng4+ 14.Kg1 Qxg5 15.f3 12.Ng5 12.b4 c5 13.bxc5 Bxf3 14.gxf3 Nxc5 15.dxc5 Rxc5 16.f4 Nd5 17.Bb2 Nxc3 18.Bxc3 Qc7 19.Rfc1 Rc8 20.Bxh7+ Kh8 21.Bd3 Rxc3 22.Qxc3 Qxc3 23.Rxc3 Rxc3 24.Bxb5 Bxa3 25.Kg2 g6 26.Rd1 Rc7 27.Rd7 Rxd7 28.Bxd7 Kg7 29.e4 Kf6 30.Kf3 a5 31.e5+ Ke7 32.Ba4 Bc5 33.h3 Bb6 34.Bb5 Bc5 35.Ba4 Bb6 36.Bb5 Bc5 37.Ba4 12...c5! 12...Bxh2+ 13.Kxh2 Ng4+ 14.Kg1 Qxg5 13.Nxh7 13.Bxh7+ Kh8 14.Be4 Nxe4 15.Ngxe4 Bb8 13...Ng4 14.f4 14.h3 Bh2+! 15.Kh1 Qh4 16.Be4 16.d5 Rfd8 16...Bxe4 17.Qxe4 f5 18.Qxe6+ Kxh7 19.Qxd7 cxd4 20.exd4 Bb8 21.Kg1 Bh2+ 22.Kh1= 14...cxd4 15.exd4 15.Nxf8 Bxf8 16.h3 dxc3 17.hxg4 Nf6 15...Bc5! 16.Be2 16.dxc5 Nxc5 17.Nxf8 Nxd3 18.h3 Qd4+ 19.Kh1 Ndf2+ 20.Rxf2 Nxf2+ 21.Kh2 Kxf8 22.Qh7 Nd3 23.Qh8+ Ke7 24.Qh4+ f6 25.Qg3 Kf7 26.Be3= 16...Nde5‼ 16...Bxd4+ 17.Kh1 Nxh2 17...Nde5 18.fxe5 18.Ng5! 17.Bxg4 17.fxe5 Qxd4+ 18.Kh1 Qg1+ 19.Rxg1 Nf2# 17...Bxd4+ 18.Kh1 Nxg4 19.Nxf8 19.Ng5 f5 20.h3 Rf6 21.Nf3 Rh6-+ 19...f5! 20.Ng6 Qf6 21.h3 21.Ne5 Nxh2-+ 21...Qxg6 22.Qe2 Qh5 23.Qd3? 23.Rf3 Nf2+ 24.Kh2 24.Rxf2 Qxh3+ 25.Kg1 Qxg2# 24...Bxf3 25.Qxf3 Qxf3 26.gxf3 Bxc3 26...Nd3-+ 27.bxc3 Rxc3-+ 23...Be3 0–1
- Start an analysis engine:
- Try maximizing the board:
- Use the four cursor keys to replay the game. Make moves to analyse yourself.
- Press Ctrl-B to rotate the board.
- Drag the split bars between window panes.
- Download&Clip PGN/GIF/FEN/QR Codes. Share the game.
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Aronian,L | 2802 | Anand,V | 2772 | 0–1 | 2013 | D46 | Tata Steel-A 75th | 4 |
Please, wait...
A game worthy of its predecessor Rotlewi-Rubinstein, Lodz 1907. The great
Polish master would have been delighted.
The Zürich Challenge was a four-player round robin tournament, and
the Italian talent Caruana won ahead of Anand, Kramnik and Gelfand. Caruana
remained unbeaten throughout and his rivals lost one game each. In this
DVD Caruana himself annotates his encounter with Kramnik. A fascinating
draw with some incredible variations.
Readers might find the course of Gibralter Masters even more interesting.
This was a massive event (ten rounds with 247 players!) with a number of
leading GMs like Ivanchuk, Shirov and Kamsky biting the dust. In the end
it was Nikita Vitiugov who took the first prize on tie-break ahead of Vachier
Lagrave, Sandipan Chanda and Nigel Short all on 8/10 points.
This brings me to the other sections of the Magazine. There are twelve
detailed opening surveys ranging from the Sicilian to Slav. One valuable
survey is Alexey Kuzmin’s analysis of Slav Exchange, an excellent
antidote to aggressive play by Black. 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 Nf6
4.cxd5 cxd5 5.Bf4 Nc6 5.e3

Alexey Kuzmin shows that on 6...Bf5 7.Qb3 may follow. Today 6...a6 is preferred
after which the author analyses two variations: 7.Bd3 and the more subtle
7.Rc1.
Apart from these surveys, there are regular exercises in opening traps,
middlegame tactics and endgame technique. The section on tactics is a mixed
bag and the more experienced solver might find some of the examples too
easy. But even he would find the following position tough. Black missed
his way in complications and lost. Can you do better?
A missed opportunity
41.Bxc6 41.fxg3? Qe4+ 41...Qh2+ 42.Kf3 Kh8‼ 42...Qh5+? 43.Kxg3 43.Qg5 43.Bb5? g2 43...Qxf2+ 44.Kg4 g2 44...Qxd4+ 45.Kh5 Qd1+ 46.Kg6 Qc2+ 47.Kf6 Qf2+ 48.Kg6 Qc2+= 45.Qh6+ Kg8 46.Qg6+ Kf8 47.Qh6+ Ke7 48.Qg7+ Qf7 49.Qg5+ Kf8 50.Kh3!=
- Start an analysis engine:
- Try maximizing the board:
- Use the four cursor keys to replay the game. Make moves to analyse yourself.
- Press Ctrl-B to rotate the board.
- Drag the split bars between window panes.
- Download&Clip PGN/GIF/FEN/QR Codes. Share the game.
- Games viewed here will automatically be stored in your cloud clipboard (if you are logged in). Use the cloud clipboard also in ChessBase.
- Create an account to access the games cloud.
Houska,J | 2416 | Villuendas Valero,A | 2301 | | | | Gibralter Masters | |
Please, wait...
In all this DVD has 1,857 OTB games of which 82 are annotated. Apart from
Anand (whose analysis we have just seen) this DVD also has annotations by
veterans like Mihail Marin and Michal Krasenkow. The Tele-Chess section
has 8000+ games of which 43 are annotated by CC GMs Juan Morgado and Roberto
Alvarez. Correspondence Chess is often viewed as a poor cousin of OTB chess.
Hopefully, the efforts of Morgado and Alvarez would help dispel that wrong
impression.
Last but not least, this DVD is an excellent curtain-raiser for the Candidates’
Tournament that followed. We shall see that in the next DVD.
Recommended for both the professional and the
connoisseur.