London, Rd. 2: Anand, So and Caruana

by Marco Baldauf
12/10/2016 – The London Chess Classic kicked off quite fast as today's 2nd round brought three decisive games. Anand showed good preparation against the Najdorf and didn't shy away when Maxime Vachier-Lagrave gave him the chance to sacrifice an exchange - notes by Krikor Mekhitarian. Wesley So nurtured a slight but nagging advantage against Adams until the Englishman collapsed. Topalov and Caruana played a rollercoaster game but in the end the star from the U.S. had the better of it.

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London Chess Classic 2016

Round 2, Anand - Vachier-Lagrave - Notes by Krikor Mekhitarian

 
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Notes by Krikor Mekhitarian - 1.e4! By far Anand's #1 choice c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 It is always exciting seeing such a confrontation - Anand, known for his extremely deep and ambitious opening preparation, continuously finding new ideas and putting problems to his opponents. In the other side, we have one of the world's top specialist in the Najdorf variation (as white and black) - current number 4 in the world, having an amazing 2016 year, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave or simply MVL. Both players have drawn their first round games, meaning a higher chance they would both seek a very tense battle. 6.h3!? The Adams attack has become a fashionable idea against the Najdorf, leading to extremely complicated positions. I always found it weird to have it called after Michael Adams, who is such a positional genius (he indeed played it 5 times), but I have just come to realize it is named after the american master Weaver Adams, who started playing it back in the 1940s! Black has some options here, e5 being the most common. e5 6...Qc7 was tried in the very first game of this variation against Mr. Weaver in 1948 7.g4 e6 8.Bg2 Nc6 9.Be3 Na5 10.Qe2 Bd7 11.Rd1 h6 12.Bc1! Be7 13.f4 0-0-0 14.0-0 a very odd situation to have white to castle K-side and black to castle Q-side in an open sicilian. White went on to win it in 29 moves!: 1-0 (29) Adams,W-Pavey,M Baltimore 1948 7.Nb3 Anand has played this 7.Nb3 only once before (in 2014, against Nepomniachtchi). White's idea is to play something like an english attack (with Be3, f4 ideas, or even f4 right away, normally connected with castling on the Q-side). 7.Nde2 is the most common move, aiming for g4-Ng3 h5 black normally stops white's K-side expansion with this move, and white develops with either g3 or Bg5 now, and even the creative Ng1 followed by Nf3 and Ng5 is possible. 7...Be6 8.f4 Nbd7 9.g4!? A very interesting move, preparing f5 under better conditions. Now g5 is a threat. There are two important games that have similarities to this one: 9.Qf3 Rc8 10.f5 Bxb3 11.axb3 d5!? is a typical pawn sacrifice that probably led MVL to an important decision later in this game, as you will see. 12.exd5 e4!? 12...Bb4!? 13.Qg3 Nh5∞ with an unclear position: 0-1 (57) Gormally,D (2488)-Vachier Lagrave,M (2757) Douglas 2014 9.f5 Bxb3 10.axb3 d5! right away! 11.exd5 Bb4 12.Bd2 12.g4? now fails drastically Ne4! 12...0-0 13.Qe2 Bxc3 14.bxc3 e4 1-0 (34) Sutovsky,E (2635)-Shirov,A (2712) Poikovsky 2015 14...Nxd5!? 9...Rc8N 9...b5 has been played in 2014 10.Bg2 10.g5?! b4! 10...Nb6 11.g5 Nfd7 12.f5 Bc4 13.Na5 Rc8∞ with complex play. 0-1 (32) Khismatullin,D (2714)-Duda,J (2563) Yerevan 2014 10.f5 10.g5? would be a very bad mistake Rxc3! 11.bxc3 11.gxf6 Rc8 since white can not take on g7 because of Qh4+ 11...Nxe4 10...Bxb3 10...Bc4?! 11.Bxc4 Rxc4 12.Qd3± the light-squared B exchange is positionally good for white 11.axb3 It is clear that white's position is threatening, g5 looks very annoying and Vachier-Lagrave has to do something, and here he follows a very important advice - meet a flank attack with a center counterattack! d5!? Black decided to go for a pawn sacrifice, to open up the position while white wants to create a wing attack (with g5). It goes to reinforce the idea that MVL is a very brave player, that doesn't shy away from complications, even when it is clear that his opponent is in his preparation. 11...Rxc3!? was a critical moment - the typical exchange sacrifice also follows the golden counterattack rule and looks very attractive, specially because black creates a devastating threat of Qh4+ now: 12.bxc3 Nxe4 13.h4 Qb6 13...Be7!? is a similar version 14.g5 Qb6 15.Qf3 d5 now black has a strong h6! threat, trying to open up even more lines against the white king. 14.Qf3 d5 as MVL himself mentioned after the game, was something he was seriously considering and has to be at least very interesting. 12.exd5 Bb4 13.Bg2 Qb6? natural, but from now on black faces a difficult position because of this move. 13...Rxc3! would get the pawn back and achieve a complex middlegame position after: 14.bxc3 Bxc3+ 15.Bd2 Bxa1 16.Qxa1 0-0 white has the pure bishop pair, but in the other hand he also has many weaknesses around his king and after: 17.0-0 Qb6+ followed by either e4 or Rc8 shows that black's activity could become very dangerous. 14.Bd2 e4 15.Qe2 0-0 16.0-0-0 Nc5 17.Kb1 Rfd8 The last moves were kind of expected and now the game surrounds about the moment when black will release the pressure to get the d5-P back, and for many moves, white's g5 move will need to be analysed. 18.Rhe1 a strong move, bringing the last piece into play, but it was already possible to think about clearing the dust with the aforementioned g5. 18.g5!? Bxc3 19.Bxc3 Nxd5 20.Bd4! 20.Bxe4? Nxc3+ 21.bxc3 Rxd1+ 22.Rxd1 Na4!-+ and suddenly white loses! 20...Nf4 21.Qf2 Nxg2 22.Bxc5 Qc6 23.Qxg2 Qxc5 24.Qxe4± with a promising endgame 18...a5 18...Bxc3? is simply a worse version compared to the last move analysis. 19.Bxc3 Nxd5 20.Bd4+- with an additional Rhe1 already played, black has to be in deep trouble. 19.Qf2?! 19.d6! a very counterintuitive and difficult move, worsening the black's R position before inserting g5. Rxd6 20.g5! is much stronger now: Bxc3 21.Bxc3 Nd5 22.Be5! this is the key, white wins a very important tempo. Rdd8 23.Bxe4 Nxe4 24.Qxe4+- with a winning position. 19...Qc7 19...Bxc3! 20.Bxc3 Nxd5 21.Bd4 a4! probably underestimated by both players, since apparently black doesn't have time for such a move. A sample line could go like this: 22.bxa4 Qb4! threatening Nxa4 23.Qg3 23.Bxc5? Nc3+! 24.Kc1 Nxd1! 25.Bxb4 Nxf2 23...Qxa4 now Nb4 is a serious threat 24.Qa3 Qxa3 25.bxa3= and black has every reason to feel relieved winning the pawn back, and ruining white's structure on the Q-side. 20.Bf4 20.g5!? it was the last chance to play this move, but the complications were too scary. Nxd5 20...Bxc3 21.Bxc3 Nxd5 22.Bd4± 21.Nxe4 Nd3! 22.cxd3 Qc2+ 23.Ka1 Qxb3 threatening Rc2 24.Rc1 Bxd2 25.Qxd2 25.Nxd2? Qa4+ 26.Kb1 Nb4 27.Bd5 Nxd5 25...Nb4 26.Nc3 All of this was amazingly mentioned by Anand in the post-game interview (and I'm sure MVL had similar calculations), showing how good these guys are. He said he wasn't sure of the evaluation, which is totally understandable, since it involves a serious risk against your own king! And he is correct, after a4! the position remains totally unclear. a4! 26...Rxd3? 27.Qe2!+- threatening mate and following with Be4-Bc2 20...Qb6 21.Be5 a4! 22.bxa4 Bxc3 23.Bxc3 Nxd5 24.Rxd5! a good practical decision, maintaining excellent chances on the following position with the strong bishop pair and many strong pawns on the Q-side 24.Bd4 Qb4! -- 19...Bxc3 24...Rxd5 25.Bxe4 Rd6 26.a5 Qb5 27.Qe2! Qxe2 28.Rxe2 now it was urgent for black to eliminate one of white's strong bishops. Rd1+ 28...Nxe4! 29.Rxe4 Rdc6 30.Ka2∞ the pawn majority on the Q-side may be decisive, and white should have the better prospects, but there is a lot to be played, it is not too easy to advance those pawns. 29.Ka2 Re8? a huge mistake, not only because of the way the game continued, but because black will not be able to deal with these strong bishops 29...Nxe4 was again forced, achieving a similar version of the last move, but having lost an important tempo. 30.Bf3! Rxe2 31.Bxe2 Rc1 32.Bf3 Rxc2 33.Bxb7! Maxime resigned since the a-P is unstoppable. A brilliant presentation from the legendary world champion Vishy Anand, showing hard work with a deep opening preparation, strong dynamic play and impressive calculations. Vachier-Lagrave put up a strong resistance after being surprised in the opening, and could have defended the endgame, if it wasn't fo the final mistake on move 29. Now Anand joins the 2nd place with three other players at 1,5/2, but for now the man to watch for is Wesley So, with a perfect 2/2 score and a newly acquired ticket into the 2800 club! 33.Bxb7! Nxb7 34.a6 followed by a7, if the N leaves. Re2 the rook is also not in time: 35.axb7 Re8 36.Be5!+- 1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Anand,V2779Vachier Lagrave,M28041–02016B90London Chess Classic 20162

Krikor Mekhitarian's commentary will be delivered with the next ChessBase Magazine #176, together with most of the games of the London Chess Classic annotated - and many more. You can find the fresh ChessBase Magazine #175 with annotations by Vladimir Kramnik, Wesley So, David Navara, Pavel Eljanov, Simon Williams, Daniel King any many other exclusive authors in our shop → here.


Daniel King's Highlights from Round 2

Photos: Lennart Ootes

Before round two we had three leaders: Wesley So, Vladimir Kramnik and Levon Aronian who all won in round one.

Two of the leaders faced each other, but the game between Kramnik and Aronian was the first one to end in a draw. Kramnik, after having experimented a lot with 1.e4 this year, chose the Réti and claimed some slight pressure after the opening. Aronian's position was a bit passive but solid. After Kramniks 20.e5 the position turned into a middlegame with opposite coloured bishops. Kramnik retained pressure, but Aronian also had his trumps and after 32 moves the game ended in a repetition.

Kramnik and Aronian played a short but interesting draw. They now both have +1.

In a very complex game Anand showed ambition.

The first victory of the day went to Vishy Anand, who was well prepared against MVL's Najdorf and outplayed the French grandmaster in a highly complex middlegame. Anand sacrificed the exchange for two pawns and the bishop pair which gave him a very pleasent position. Vachier-Lagrave blundered soon after and had to resign before the time control was reached.

Position after 28.Rxe2: White is better and even after the best move ...Nxe4 Black will suffer for a long time.
However, MVL played 28...Rd1+, which is a mistake and gives White tactical opportunities based on the idea Bxb7.

Position after 33.Bxb7 - the a-pawn will queen, therefore Back resigned.

After this loss Vachier-Lagrave drops below the 2800.

MVL's spot in the world ranking was immediately taken by Wesley So, who reached the prestigious 2800-mark for the first time in his career.

 

So won against Michael Adams and now leads with 2.0/2. Thanks to his bishops and a 4 vs 3 majority on the kingside So always had some pressure, but to win he needed some help from Adams who went low on time and got into trouble with his queen.

Great start for Wesley So, who is leading the tournament and Grand Chess Tour.

Nakamura seemed to have recovered after yesterday's catastrophe and drew without too many problems against Giri, who played the interesting and rare 7.Qxd4, planning to swing her majesty over to h4 and launch an attack against the castled black king. Nakamura took his time and went into the tank for 42 minutes, to then come up with the interesting idea of ...Qa5 followed by ...Qh5 which prevented Giri's idea.

Position after Giri's 7.Qxd4 - it took Nakamura 42 minutes to decide on 7...Qa5 followed by ...Qh5.

In terms of excitement, the game of the day was undoubtedly played by Topalov and Caruana.

Caruana and Topalov were putting up a good fight in the French Defense.

Caruana tried the French Defense, an opening hehad already used at the Sinquefield Cup this year. Topalov surprised his opponent with the advance variation, a line he hadn't played for four years. Caruana spent a lot of time in the opening and soon got into horrible time trouble. However he somehow "managed not to blunder" (Caruana) in a crazy and complicated position. At some point Caruana felt his "position is basically lost", but Topalov started to drift and Caruana had a great comeback, finishing the game in style with 36...Re8!!

Caruana commenting on this tough encounter: "Every move he played surprised me"

 

Results of round 2:

Vladimir Kramnik

½-½

Levon Aronian

 

Veselin Topalov

0-1

Fabiano Caruana

 

Viswanathan Anand

1-0

Maxime Vachier-Lagrave

 

Anish Giri

½-½

Hikaru Nakamura

 

Wesley So

1-0

Michael Adams

 

Standings:

Games of rounds 1 and 2:

 
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1.e4 5 e6 8 2.d4 11 d5 0 3.e5 1:13 c5 9 4.c3 4 Nc6 31 5.Nf3 8 Bd7 8:51 6.Be2 0 Nge7 4:04 7.h4 Qb6 27:10 8.Na3 3:35 cxd4 2:23 9.cxd4 6 Nb4 1:03 10.h5 6:33 h6 5 11.Bd2 2:48 a6 1:56 12.Bc3 2:25 Nec6 41 13.Rh3 5:14 0-0-0 3:07 14.Kf1 7:43 Kb8 6:30 15.Qd2 2:41 f6 11:28 16.exf6 7:00 gxf6 0 17.Rg3 30 Be8 4:26 18.Nh4 3:07 Bd6 9:24 19.Rg7 4:42 e5 1:04 20.dxe5 12:01 fxe5 47 21.Ng6 25 Bxg6 0 22.hxg6 6 e4 1:31 23.Rf7 3:11 Rhg8 6:49 24.g7 5:38 Ka7 25.Qxh6 7:12 Nd3 1:15 26.Bxd3 8:22 exd3 5 27.Re1 27 Bc5 2:37 28.Re6 2:06 Rc8 0 29.Qg5 4:52 Bd4 1:35 30.Re1 8:47 Bxc3 36 31.bxc3 5 Qb2 30 32.Nb1 1:24 Rce8 17 33.Qd2 3:31 Rxe1+ 0 34.Qxe1 8 d4 2 35.Nd2 3:37 dxc3 16 36.Nc4 50 Re8 23 37.Rxb7+ Qxb7 6 38.Qxe8 4:30 Qb1+ 2 0–1
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Topalov,V2760Caruana,F28230–12016C028th London Chess Classic 20162
Giri,A2771Nakamura,H2779½–½2016A498th London Chess Classic 20162
Anand,V2779Vachier-Lagrave,M28041–02016B908th London Chess Classic 20162
So,W2794Adams,M27481–02016E068th London Chess Classic 20162
Kramnik,V2809Aronian,L2785½–½2016A068th London Chess Classic 20162
Nakamura,H2779So,W27940–12016D858th London Chess Classic 20161
Aronian,L2785Adams,M27481–02016C508th London Chess Classic 20161
Kramnik,V2809Topalov,V27601–02016A068th London Chess Classic 20161
Caruana,F2823Anand,V2779½–½2016A218th London Chess Classic 20161
Vachier-Lagrave,M2804Giri,A2771½–½2016B908th London Chess Classic 20161

Apart from the London Chess Classic, the British KO Championship is taking place in London. After today's semi-finals, Nigel Short and David Howell will meet in the final.

Games of the British KO-ch:

 
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1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.c3 Nf6 4.e5 Nd5 5.Bc4 Nb6 6.Bb3 c4 7.Bc2 Qc7 8.0-0 Nxe5 9.Nxe5 Qxe5 10.Re1 Qc7 11.a4 d5 12.Na3 a6 13.a5 Nd7 14.d3 e6 15.dxc4 dxc4 16.Qd4 Qxa5 17.Be3 Qc7 18.Nb5 Qc6 19.Ra5 Nf6 20.Qe5 axb5 21.Rxa8 Be7 22.Ra5 Bd7 23.Qb8+ Bc8 24.Qe5 Bd7 25.Ra8+ Bc8 26.Bd1 0-0 27.Bf3 Nd5 28.Bd4 Bf6 29.Bxd5 exd5 30.Qf4 Bxd4 31.Qxd4 Be6 32.Rea1 f6 33.Rxf8+ Kxf8 34.Qh4 Bf5 35.Qf4 Be6 36.h4 h5 37.Ra8+ Kf7 38.Rh8 Qb6 39.Qf3 g6 40.Qf4 Bf5 41.Qb8 Ke6 42.Qe8+ Kd6 43.Rf8 Kc5 44.Qe3+ 1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Jones,G2667Rowson,J25651–02016B22British KO-ch 20161.1
Short,N2679Fernandez,D2468½–½2016C42British KO-ch 20161.1
Howell,D2644Pert,N25681–02016A20British KO-ch 20161.2
McShane,L2652Hawkins,J25901–02016C01British KO-ch 20161.3
Hawkins,J2590McShane,L2652½–½2016D15British KO-ch 20161.1
Pert,N2568Howell,D2644½–½2016D85British KO-ch 20161.1
Fernandez,D2468Short,N2679½–½2016D02British KO-ch 20161.2
Rowson,J2565Jones,G2667½–½2016A72British KO-ch 20161.2
McShane,L2652Hawkins,J2590½–½2016C02British KO-ch 20161.2
Short,N2679Fernandez,D24681–02016B11British KO-ch 20161.3
Fernandez,D2468Short,N26790–12016E05British KO-ch 20161.4
Hawkins,J2590McShane,L26520–12016D15British KO-ch 20161.4
Jones,G2667Howell,D2644½–½2016C45British KO-ch 20162.1
McShane,L2652Short,N2679½–½2016C81British KO-ch 20162.1
Howell,D2644Jones,G26671–02016B76British KO-ch 20162.2
Short,N2679McShane,L2652½–½2016C50British KO-ch 20162.2
McShane,L2652Short,N26790–12016C72British KO-ch 20162.3
Short,N2679McShane,L26521–02016B00British KO-ch 20162.4

Tournament page London Chess Classic...

Grand Chess Tour...

London Chess Conference...

Full report on round two by IM Sagar Shah on ChessBase India


Marco Baldauf, born 1990, has been playing since he was eight. In 2000 and 2002 he became German Junior Champion, in 2014 he became International Master. He plays for SF Berlin in the Bundesliga.

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