Norway 06: Topalov wins, Anand brilliant

[Event "3rd Norway Chess 2015"] [Site "Stavanger NOR"] [Date "2015.06.22"] [Round "6.3"] [White "Grischuk, Alexander"] [Black "Topalov, Veselin"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "E20"] [WhiteElo "2781"] [BlackElo "2798"] [Annotator "Ramirez Alvarez,Alejandro"] [PlyCount "78"] [EventDate "2015.06.16"] [SourceDate "2015.02.07"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. f3 c5 5. d5 O-O 6. e4 d6 7. Nge2 b5 8. Nf4 exd5 9. cxd5 a6 10. Be2 Nbd7 11. O-O c4 12. Be3 Bc5 13. Bxc5 Nxc5 14. b4 cxb3 15. axb3 b4 $5 {After a complicated Nimzo-Indian we have the following situation. It is quite complex, and as usual Grischuk had already used a fair chunk of his time to get here while Topalov played rather quickly. The Russian player attempts to reposition his knight to a better square, but it backfires.} 16. Nb5 $6 {Overlooking the following continuation} (16. Na4 Nxa4 17. Rxa4 { and the game is approximately equal.}) 16... Qb6 17. Kh1 (17. Nd4 Nxb3 18. Qxb3 Qxd4+ {is just bad.}) 17... g5 $1 {An impressive situation. The knight on f4 (which should probalby have gone to g3 earlier in the game rather than f4) finds itself trapped!} 18. Qd4 {Grischuk took a very long think making this move, which seemed nearly forced.} (18. Nh3 Bxh3 {is winning for Black as the rooks are connected on the back rank, and now the b5 knight can be taken.}) ( 18. Nd3 Qxb5 {cuts off the defense of the bishop on e2.}) 18... Ncd7 (18... Qd8 19. Nd3 Nxb3 20. Qxb4 (20. Qb2 {is also possible, but less human.}) 20... Nxa1 21. Nd4 {and Black has an extra exchange, but the compensation cannot be underestimated.}) 19. Qxb6 Nxb6 {Now both of White's knights are under attack since the rook on a8 is defended.} 20. Nc7 (20. Nxd6 gxf4 21. Rfc1 {is still not clear. Black is up a piece but there is some compensation.}) 20... Ra7 21. Nb5 (21. Rfc1 $1 gxf4 22. Rc6 {was probably the most testing for Topalov. Black is up a full piece at the moment, but they are hard to coordinate and Topalov has too many weak pawns. White here has a good chance to hold on to a draw.}) 21... Re7 22. Nxd6 gxf4 23. Bxa6 Rd8 24. Bxc8 Rxd6 25. Bf5 {With the dust more or less settled White seems to be slightly worse, but no more than that. He has two pawns for the knight, some control over the open files and two passed pawns.} Nbd7 26. g3 (26. Ra4 $1 {trying to get that important pawn on b4.} Rb6 27. Ra7 {is annoying.}) 26... fxg3 27. Rg1 $2 {The idea of taking on g3 with the rook is simply bad.} (27. hxg3 {this would have gone into a very long game, and despite Grischuk's time trouble he might have been able to save the position.}) 27... Kf8 28. Rxg3 Nc5 {The weakness of f4 will soon be felt.} 29. Bh3 Re8 $1 30. Rb1 Nh5 $1 31. Rg5 Nf4 {With the knights swarming the position, this is clearly over. The fact that Grischuk has one minute and a few seconds to make all the moves until the 40th did not help the situation.} 32. Bf1 Ra8 33. Bc4 Ra2 34. Rg4 Rh6 35. h4 Nfd3 36. Rg2 Rxh4+ 37. Kg1 Ra7 38. d6 Rh6 39. Rh2 Rxd6 0-1

[Event "3rd Norway Chess 2015"] [Site "Stavanger NOR"] [Date "2015.06.22"] [Round "6.2"] [White "Anand, Viswanathan"] [Black "Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B90"] [WhiteElo "2804"] [BlackElo "2723"] [Annotator "Ramirez Alvarez,Alejandro"] [PlyCount "57"] [EventDate "2015.06.16"] [SourceDate "2015.02.07"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. h3 e6 7. g4 h6 8. Bg2 Nc6 9. Be3 Be7 10. f4 Nd7 11. O-O Nxd4 12. Qxd4 O-O 13. Qd2 Rb8 14. Ne2 b5 15. Rad1 Qc7 16. f5 Nf6 17. Ng3 {So far we have been following the game between Navara, D - Grischuk, A in the 2014 Tromso Olympiad. That thrilling game ended in a draw after 17...Re8, but in the annotations to that game for ChessBase Magazine by Igor Stohl, he mentioned the possibility of playing Bb7 in this position.} Bb7 18. Kh1 {an interesting idea. Black has a few options in this position.} (18. Bxh6 {was considered by Stohl. You can look at those annotations in your CBM, or simply in your MegaBase 2015! There are many variations and tactical nuances.} gxh6 19. Qxh6 d5 20. g5 Qxg3 21. Rd3 Bc5+ $1 22. Kh1 Be3 $1 {Is a key point of the position. It will be obvious why soon.}) 18... Rbd8 $2 {Already the losing blunder. The variations after Bxh6 now work without a problem.} (18... Kh7 {looks unnatural but does defend against Bxh6, so it is worth a try.}) (18... d5 {looks the main line here, for example} 19. e5 $1 {the point} Qxe5 20. Bf4 Qxb2 21. Bxb8 Rxb8 {Black finds himself down the exchange, but he has two pawns for it. Perhaps White's initiative here is enough for an advantage, but more practical tests will be needed.}) 19. Bxh6 gxh6 20. Qxh6 d5 {What else? Without this breakthrough Black's position will just get annihilated on the kingside.} 21. g5 $1 {Excellent calculation from Anand, identifying the differences in the position.} Qxg3 22. Rd3 {Now there is no possibility to play Bc5+, as the move is not check! Black is toast.} Nh5 (22... Nxe4 23. f6 $1 Bxf6 (23... Qxg5 24. Qxg5+ Nxg5 25. fxe7 {will leave White up the exchange after recovering taking a rook next move, but more importantly the knight on g5 is hanging to the pin on the g-file in too many variations.}) 24. Bxe4 {threatening mate on h7} dxe4 25. Rxg3 {and Black is simply down too much material. The pair of bishops is nothing compared to the queen. However this was MVL's best chance.}) (22... Qe5 23. gxf6 Bxf6 24. Rf4 { and the rook lift is absolutely deadly. Now rg4 next move wins the game.} Bg7 25. Rg3 $18) 23. g6 $1 {An important move to find.} fxg6 24. fxg6 Rxf1+ 25. Bxf1 Nf6 {what else? Without this move Black is powerless against Qh7+ and Qh8 mate.} 26. Rxg3 dxe4 27. Be2 {White's position is not only crushing, he has plenty of extra material.} e3+ 28. Kg1 Bc5 29. Kf1 1-0