World Chess Championship – Game two
Anand showed that a king never loses his majesty, and in a Catalan, the World
Champion promptly outplayed Topalov, his challenger, in a positional masterpiece
to set the score straight. The betmakers will once again have to reset their
predictions as the match starts by living up up to its expectatations with punch
and counterpunch. We bring you "express" commentary provided by GM
Anish Giri just minutes after the end of the game.
There is a replay link for Anish's commentary at the end of the game. It takes
you to a JavaScript board. There you can click on the notation to follow the
analysis on the graphic chessboard.
Anand,Vishwanathan (2787) - Topalov,Veselin (2805) [E04]
WCHM 2010 Sofia (2), 25.04.2010 [Giri,Anish]
1.d4. Anand decides to open the game with the d-pawn, as he did in
his World Championship match against Kramnik in Bonn 2008. 1...Nf6 2.c4 e6
3.Nf3. No Nimzo today. Against Kramnik Anand used Nimzo and it brought him
a point and a good position in game 2. 3...d5. Topalov doesn't go for
the safe Queen's Indian, but rather for a sharp Ragozin or Vienna. 4.g3.
No! Anand goes for a calm Catalan, which was and still is a great weapon
of another world champion – Kramnik. 4...dxc4 5.Bg2 a6!?
The idea of this line is to save the pawn by any means. 6.Ne5. 6.0-0
is another main line, which is a real pawn sacrifice. 6...c5 7.Na3.
7.Be3 Nd5 8.dxc5 Was played recently by other Catalan players, Bacrot and Wang
Yue. 7...cxd4 8.Naxc4 Bc5. 8...Ra7 is another possibility, with the idea
b6. I remember it from the game Wang Yue-Van Wely from Corus 2009, where black
equalised without problems. But I guess Anand had an improvement there.
9.0-0 0-0 10.Bd2 Nd5 11.Rc1 Nd7 12.Nd3 Ba7
So far both players played logical moves, but from here White has a big and
wide choice. 13.Ba5. A questionable decision. 13.Qb3!? Made sense,
since later on Black was threatening b6, attacking the bishop on a5. But perhaps
Anand has analyzed this position deeply and came to conclusion that it is better
to include Ba5 Qe7. If 13...Nc5 then simple 14.Nxc5 Bxc5 15.Ne5 and White keeps
up the pressure. (15.Ba5!?) 13...Qe7 14.Qb3 Rb8. Preparing b6.
Now white had a big choice and I am afraid Anand chose not the best move, though
later it worked out well for him. After 14...b6 White has 15.Bb4 Nc5
16.Qa3 Bb7 17.Bxd5! Bxd5 18.Nxb6! Bxb6 19.Bxc5 Bxc5 20.Rxc5 With some pressure
and edge.
15.Qa3?! As I said, later it worked out well for Anand. At the time
I doubted the objective evaluation of the move, but after seeing the whole game
I was wondering – maybe it was pure genius, from a psychological point of view!?
15.Rfd1! Is the move I like most. Now Black doesn't have a very useful
move, since 15...b6 falls into (15...Nc5 16.Nxc5 Bxc5 17.Ne5 should
also be slightly better.; 15...Re8!? or; 15...h6 are maybe the
best moves, but White can then try Qa3 or improve slowly with let's say Rc2.)
16.Bb4! Nc5 17.Qa3 Bb7 (17...Nxb4 18.Nxb4 Bb7 19.Bxb7 Qxb7 20.Rxd4)
18.Bxd5! Bxd5 19.Nxb6! Bxb6 20.Rxc5! Bxc5 21.Bxc5 Qb7 22.Bxf8 Rxf8 23.Qb4
With advantage for White. 15...Qxa3 16.bxa3
16...N7f6?! logical, but the more logical 16...Nc5! was the
move. I think White would have to fight for the draw, and I am curious what
Anand wanted to play here and what Topalov was afraid of. 17.Nce5! Now
I liked the white position again, though I think he has no objective advantage.
17...Re8! preparing b6 and Bd7. 17...b6 18.Bb4!; 17...Bd7 18.Nxd7
Nxd7 19.Bxd5 exd5 20.Rc7+/=. 18.Rc2. 18.g4!? looks interesting too.
18...b6?! objectively must be okay, but I think if there is no need to
weaken the c6 square, then why to do it?! I prefer 18...Bd7! not weakening
c6. Now the best white can do is 19.Nxd7 Nxd7 20.Rfc1 N7f6 21.Ne5 which should
be around equal. White has two bishops and good pieces, while black has an extra
pawn and a solid position with no weaknesses. 19.Bd2 Bb7 20.Rfc1. Stronger
than the immedeate Nc6. In general Anand plays very well from now on, without
forcing things too much, just improving the position, no caring that he is a
pawn down. 20...Rbd8 21.f4 Bb8 22.a4 a5 23.Nc6
Now that White has made all the useful moves, it is time for this exchange.
23...Bxc6 24.Rxc6 h5?! A strange, impulsive and weakening move, although
again, objectively it is not a mistake. 24...h6 would be played by a
more patient defender. 25.R1c4
25.Bf3!? Immediately pointing at the h5 pawn. 25...Ne3? Now
the real mistake comes. I think Topalov got tired of making moves without any
idea. He wanted to force things. However there was another way... 25...Ng4!
Fits perfectly with h5. If Topalov could have played it, I would have to give
h5 an exclamation mark! 26.Bf3 (26.Rxd4 Ba7! is the point. Now White
would be in trouble.) 26...e5! (26...Ba7!? is not human, but
not a bad move either.) 27.fxe5 Nxe5 28.Nxe5 Bxe5 29.Kf1 should be aroung
equal, with Black having no problems after (29.Bxh5 d3! 30.exd3 Ne7-/+)
29...h4! 26.Bxe3 dxe3 27.Bf3!?
27.Rxb6 Was of course another option, but Anand is trying to confuse
Topalov, offering him a difficult choice between giving up the h5 and b6 pawn.
And he also perhaps didn't like 27...e5!? 27...g6? 27...Nd7 was I think
better, but White had a pleasant advantage there as well. Still it was way better
than what Topalov go in the game. 28.Bxh5 e5! being the idea. 28.Rxb6. Now
there is no e5, and the a5 pawn is extremely weak. 28...Ba7 28...Re7
Trying to defend a5 with Bc7 was better. Surprisingly White is unable to win
the pawn by force, but obviously he still has a big advantage. 29.Rb3! So
that Topalov can forget about any Rxd3. 29...Rd4 30.Rc7 Bb8 31.Rc5!
The pawn on a4 is untouchable due to Bc6 and White wins the a5 pawn. 31...Bd6
32.Rxa5 Rc8. Black is getting active, but it won't give him anything. White
has a good protection of the key d3 and e2 squares and the a-pawn (supported
by a long-sighted bishop who keeps on looking at a8, the promotion square) should
decide the game in White's favour. 33.Kg2. I love these moves. I can
imagine how disgusted Topalov must be with his position now. 33...Rc2 34.a3.
The mean World Champion, who already gave the pawn once in the opening,
doesn't want to give it now anymore. And he is right... this will be the decisive
pawn! 34...Ra2?! 34...Nd5 It was necessary to still try to complicate
the matter a bit, but White is winning anyway. 35.Nb4!
All suporters of Anand were now very relieved when they saw the black king
standing on g8, not g7... 35...Bxb4 [35...Rxa3 36.Rxa3 Bxb4 37.Ra8+!
is what I meant with my previous comment.] 36.axb4 Nd5 37.b5! The a4
pawn doesn't matter anymore, while it's colleague runs! 37...Raxa4 38.Rxa4
Rxa4 39.Bxd5! Killing the knight. The arising ending is the most winning
rook ending I ever saw in my life. 39...exd5 40.b6 Ra8 41.b7 Diagram
At the end the decisive factor is – the a-pawn! The little a-pawn
that was standing on a2 at the beginning of the game. 41...Rb8 42.Kf3 d4
43.Ke4
A great comeback by the World Champion, though I must add that it was obviously
not without help from Topalov. 1-0. [Click
to replay]
Grim: Topalov with Prof. Radislav Atansov in the press conference after
the game
Our game two express annotator Anish Giri, Holland
