
Baden-Baden GRENKE Chess Classic
Round five: Anand makes his move in Baden-Baden
5th round on 11 February 2013
at 15:00 |
Caruana Fabiano |
2757 |
½-½ |
Fridman Daniel |
2667 |
Meier Georg |
2640 |
½-½ |
Adams Michael |
2725 |
Anand Vishy |
2780 |
1-0 |
Naiditsch Arkadij |
2716 |

The win felt long overdue, though the criticism World Champion Vishy Anand
had received in some quarters for his previous four draws (with White only once)
was absurdly overblown. It clearly wasn’t for the lack of trying, and
in round five the dam finally burst. Of course that also had a lot to do with
his opponent – Arkadij Naiditsch continued his record of providing the
day’s only decisive game. It wasn’t, at least on the surface, about
the opening.

Anand rejected the Berlin Defence and went for a complex Ruy Lopez that looked
playable for both players. He noted afterwards that Naiditsch’s pieces
were somewhat tied up on the queenside, but the whole game essentially revolved
around Naiditsch’s strange neglect of his kingside cavalry. It was a puzzling
sequence of play from the German no. 1, but today was all about the World Champion.
You could feel what it meant to him: “I was trying very hard not to screw
this one up. I’ve been tossing away too many of these.”

[Event "1st GRENKE Chess Classic"] [Site "Baden-Baden GER"] [Date "2013.02.11"]
[Round "5.1"] [White "Anand, Viswanathan"] [Black "Naiditsch, Arkadij"] [Result
"1-0"] [ECO "C65"] [WhiteElo "2780"] [BlackElo "2716"] [PlyCount "75"] [EventDate
"2013.02.07"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. d3 d6 5. c3 Be7 6. Nbd2 O-O
7. Nf1 Re8 8. Ng3 Bf8 9. O-O Bd7 10. h3 h6 11. Re1 Ne7 $146 12. Bxd7 Qxd7 13.
d4 Ng6 14. c4 c5 15. d5 b5 16. cxb5 Qxb5 17. Qc2 Nd7 18. Nd2 Nf4 19. Re3 g6
20. a4 Qa6 21. a5 Rab8 22. Nc4 Rb4 23. b3 Reb8 24. Bd2 R4b5 25. Ra3 h5 $6 {was
welcomed by Anand as it already left the f4-knight with no squares to which
it could retreat.} 26. h4 Nf6 27. Nf1 {When the World Champion played this his
plans were crystal clear - as he told IM Lawrence Trent afterwards in the post-game
interview, he had other options, but "if you see a piece then you want to get
it!"} { Naiditsch attempted to solve his problems with the pseudo-aggressive}
Bh6 $2 { which may objectively have been the losing move.} {Anand responded
with the quiet but deadly} 28. Re1 $1 {when not only does the knight have no
squares, it's pinned to the h6-bishop.} {It was somewhat astonishing, therefore,
that Naiditsch almost blitzed out} Kh7 (28... Qc8 {immediately runs into} 29.
Nxd6 $1 {which is why the computer recommends three moves that defend d6: 28...Bf8,
28...Ne8, 28...Rd8 (in that order).}) 29. g3 Qc8 30. f3 {Vishy: "a cold-blooded
move. I did it with some trepidation, but I couldn't see a way for him."} Qh3
31. gxf4 Qxf3 {Here Anand had the luxury of a choice and a comfortable 40 minutes
on his clock.} 32. Qd1 $1 {Ruling out any counterplay based on the g4-square.}
({His first intention was to play the nice} 32. b4 $1 {to allow the distant
a3-rook to control matters on the kingside, but he didn't like the idea of Black
getting some decent squares for his pieces.}) 32... Qh3 33. fxe5 Rxb3 {Little
more than desperation.} 34. Rxb3 Rxb3 35. exf6 Rf3 36. Qe2 Bxd2 37. Ncxd2 Rf4
38. Qh2 1-0
Video interview with Anand after the game
For much of the round it had seemed more likely we’d see decisive action
elsewhere. Georg Meier has been struggling in Baden-Baden and remains in bottom
place, but he pulled off the rare feat of leaving Mickey Adams in dire straits
by move 12. Adams explained, “I think I was a bit casual in the opening
and Black was on the edge for a long time”. He also credited his opponent,
however, noting the direct plan with 6.Nc3 is rarer than the quieter 6.Qc2,
while Meier said his 7.Bg5 was a novelty.

[Event "1st GRENKE Chess Classic"] [Site "Baden-Baden GER"] [Date "2013.02.11"]
[Round "5.2"] [White "Meier, Georg"] [Black "Adams, Michael"] [Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E00"] [WhiteElo "2640"] [BlackElo "2725"] [PlyCount "70"] [EventDate "2013.02.07"]
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. g3 d5 4. Nf3 Bb4+ 5. Bd2 Bd6 6. Nc3 O-O 7. Bg5 c6 8. Bg2
Nbd7 9. e4 $146 dxe4 10. Nxe4 Bb4+ 11. Nc3 Qa5 12. Bd2 e5 $5 {Adams: "What else
could I play? I had to try something." Suddenly the computers were proclaiming
Meier had a close to winning edge, but the chances of an upset were all but
extinguished a couple of moves later.} 13. a3 $1 Bxc3 14. Bxc3 Qa6 15. Nxe5
$2 ({After the game both players agreed that} 15. O-O {was the move, with the
problem for Black being that his queen is in real danger of getting stuck after
the line Adams was planning to play:} Qxc4 16. dxe5 Nd5 17. Bd4 $1 {with Rac1
to follow.}) 15... Nxe5 16. dxe5 Qxc4 17. Qd4 Qxd4 18. Bxd4 Rd8 $1 19. Rd1 Nd5
20. O-O Be6 21. f4 f5 22. exf6 Nxf6 23. Be5 Kf7 24. h3 h5 25. Rfe1 g6 26. Kf2
Bb3 27. Rd4 a5 28. Bf3 Be6 29. Kg2 Rxd4 30. Bxd4 Rd8 31. Bb6 Rd2+ 32. Re2 Rd3
33. Re3 Rd2+ 34. Re2 Rd3 35. Re3 Rd2+ 1/2-1/2
Daniel Fridman played the Petroff, but that opening has by now almost lost
its drawish reputation, largely due to the variation we saw today where White
castles queenside. Sergey Karjakin memorably once crushed Vladimir Kramnik with
the white pieces, but on this occasion the German grandmaster knew exactly what
he was doing.

[Event "1st GRENKE Chess Classic"] [Site "Baden-Baden GER"] [Date "2013.02.11"]
[Round "5.3"] [White "Caruana, Fabiano"] [Black "Fridman, Daniel"] [Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C42"] [WhiteElo "2757"] [BlackElo "2667"] [PlyCount "81"] [EventDate "2013.02.07"]
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nf3 Nxe4 5. Nc3 Nxc3 6. dxc3 Be7 7. Be3 Nc6
8. Qd2 O-O 9. O-O-O Ne5 10. h4 c6 11. Kb1 Qa5 12. Nxe5 dxe5 13. Bc4 b5 14. Bb3
Qc7 15. Bg5 a5 16. Bxe7 Qxe7 {Caruana regretted playing} 17. a4 ({instead of}
17. a3) 17... Rb8 {Caruana hadn't seen the cunning trap Fridman and his second
Konstantin Landa had cooked up on the morning before the game. The natural}
18. axb5 $146 {was met by a pawn sacrifice:} a4 $1 19. Bc4 ({Actually sacrifice
is perhaps the wrong word, as the pawn could hardly be more poisoned:} 19. Bxa4
Qa7 $1 {and the bishop is lost after} 20. b3 (20. Bb3 Ra8 $1 {leads to a quick
mate}) 20... cxb5) 19... cxb5 20. Ba2 b4 21. cxb4 Rxb4 22. Qd6 Qxd6 ({The other
option was} 22... Qb7 $5 {and the board is on fire - a possible line begins}
23. Qxe5 {(not Houdini's top move, but the move the players had considered during
the game)} a3 $1 24. h5 Bf5 $1 {(the queen can't take the bishop as it's stopping
mate on b2) and it's hard to fathom what might happen next. The best recommendation
is to watch the post-game press conference and marvel at the amount of tactics
the players, and especially Caruana, saw throughout the whole game. And some
would call it a quiet draw.}) 23. Rxd6 Bf5 24. Kc1 Rfb8 25. Rhd1 Kf8 26. Rd8+
Rxd8 27. Rxd8+ Ke7 28. Ra8 Rxh4 29. Ra7+ Kd6 30. Bxf7 Rh1+ 31. Kd2 Rf1 32. Ke2
Rc1 33. c3 Rc2+ 34. Ke3 Bd7 35. Bg8 h6 36. Ra6+ Ke7 37. Rb6 a3 38. bxa3 Rxc3+
39. Ke4 Rxa3 40. Kxe5 Ra1 41. Ke4 1/2-1/2
So at the half-way stage of the GRENKE Chess Classic Fabiano Caruana continues
to lead on 3.5/5, though Viswanathan Anand is back in the running only half
a point behind. The full standings are:
Tuesday 12 February is the tournament’s only rest day.
Report by Colin McGourty, photos Georgios Souleidis, videos
Macauley Peterson
Full video report of the round:
Schedule and results
1st round on 07 February 2013
at 15:00 |
Naiditsch Arkadij |
2716 |
½-½ |
Fridman Daniel |
2667 |
Adams Michael |
2725 |
½-½ |
Anand Vishy |
2780 |
Caruana Fabiano |
2757 |
1-0 |
Meier Georg |
2640 |
2nd round on 08 February 2013
at 15:00 |
Fridman Daniel |
2667 |
½-½ |
Meier Georg |
2640 |
Anand Vishy |
2780 |
½-½ |
Caruana Fabiano |
2757 |
Naiditsch Arkadij |
2716 |
1-0 |
Adams Michael |
2725 |
3rd round on 09 February 2013
at 15:00 |
Adams Michael |
2725 |
½-½ |
Fridman Daniel |
2667 |
Caruana Fabiano |
2757 |
1-0 |
Naiditsch Arkadij |
2716 |
Meier Georg |
2640 |
½-½ |
Anand Vishy |
2780 |
4th round on 10 February 2013
at 15:00 |
Fridman Daniel |
2667 |
½-½ |
Anand Vishy |
2780 |
Naiditsch Arkadij |
2716 |
1-0 |
Meier Georg |
2640 |
Adams Michael |
2725 |
½-½ |
Caruana Fabiano |
2757 |
5th round on 11 February 2013
at 15:00 |
Caruana Fabiano |
2757 |
½-½ |
Fridman Daniel |
2667 |
Meier Georg |
2640 |
½-½ |
Adams Michael |
2725 |
Anand Vishy |
2780 |
1-0 |
Naiditsch Arkadij |
2716 |
6th round on 13 February 2013
at 15:00 |
Fridman Daniel |
2667 |
|
Naiditsch Arkadij |
2716 |
Anand Vishy |
2780 |
|
Adams Michael |
2725 |
Meier Georg |
2640 |
|
Caruana Fabiano |
2757 |
7th round on 14 February 2013
at 15:00 |
Meier Georg |
2640 |
|
Fridman Daniel |
2667 |
Caruana Fabiano |
2757 |
|
Anand Vishy |
2780 |
Adams Michael |
2725 |
|
Naiditsch Arkadij |
2716 |
8th round on 15 February 2013
at 15:00 |
Fridman Daniel |
2667 |
|
Adams Michael |
2725 |
Naiditsch Arkadij |
2716 |
|
Caruana Fabiano |
2757 |
Anand Vishy |
2780 |
|
Meier Georg |
2640 |
9th round on 16 February 2013
at 15:00 |
Anand Vishy |
2780 |
|
Fridman Daniel |
2667 |
Meier Georg |
2640 |
|
Naiditsch Arkadij |
2716 |
Caruana Fabiano |
2757 |
|
Adams Michael |
2725 |
10th round on 17 February
2013 at 13:00 |
Fridman Daniel |
2667 |
|
Caruana Fabiano |
2757 |
Adams Michael |
2725 |
|
Meier Georg |
2640 |
Naiditsch Arkadij |
2716 |
|
Anand Vishy |
2780 |