2/17/2015 – Viswanathan Anand is here to show that he can still win tournaments! After a very bad Baden-Baden he is now leading the Zurich Chess Challenge with half a point over Hikaru Nakamura, who he defeated today in the same variation he used to beat Magnus Carlsen in last year's World Championship Match. With two draws on the other boards the Indian is comfortably in first place.
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Round Four
Round 04 - February 17, 2015, 15:00
Kramnik, Vladimir
2783
½-½
Karjakin, Sergey
2760
Anand, Viswanathan
2797
1-0
Nakamura, Hikaru
2776
Aronian, Levon
2777
½-½
Caruana, Fabiano
2811
Indian Chess journalist Vijay Kumar brings us a glimpse of the events in Zurich, a small tour of the town and footage from round four:
Vijay Kumar reporting live from Zurich to his audience of, literally, millions of people
Kramnik, Vladimir ½-½ Karjakin, Sergey
A rather odd opening choice from Kramnik, as after a very, very unusual transposition the players reached a variation of the 3.g3 Paulsen Sicilian, one in which Black was up a tempo as he did not have to waste time going e7-e6 and only then e6-e5.
Somehow Kramnik's four draws are good enough for clear third
Black did not experience any serious difficulties from the opening. He was able to equalize comfortably with his break on d5, and even though White had aggressively expanded on the kingside his attack there was halted. Kramnik had to be careful not to over-extend his position as his king did not have the pawn cover to protect him anymore.
Sergey Karjakin will finish his classical portion with white against the current leader
After a series of trades down the e-file and the simplification of most of the queenside the players reached time control. Black was active, but he had no targets while White's king was too weak for his pieces to leave him undefended. Since neither side could make progress the draw was agreed.
Anand, Viswanathan 1-0 Nakamura, Hikaru
The same battleground in which Anand obtained his sole victory against Carlsen in last year's World Championship match. There was a significant twist to it as Nakamura chose to eliminate the f4 bishop as soon as possible, but the ideas of the position were similar: White's space advantage guaranteed him good chances on the queenside, While Black hoped to hold down the position on that flank, not having to worry with the locked up kingside and center.
Hikaru Nakamura dips slightly below 2800 with this loss
Nakamura might have played too passively today. His decision to trade the knights on e5 and pull back with the bishop to g7 left him basically down a piece in the important queenside battle. Anand took full advantage of the situation, penetrating first with his major pieces and then bringing his knight to finish off the attack. Nakamura tried to lash out in the kingside with g5, but was quickly stopped by a nice sequence by Anand, forcing the American to close down the kingside again! With that battleground closed the immense pressure from White's pieces on the queenside proved too much; Nakamura's position simply collapsed.
Viswanathan Anand goes into the last day of classical chess with a half point lead
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1.d4d52.c4e63.Nc3Be74.Nf3Nf65.Bf40-06.e3Nbd77.c5Nh57...c6was Carlsen's choice last year.8.Bd3Nxf49.exf4b610.b4a511.a3c612.0-0Qc713.g3Ba614.Re1Bf615.Kg2Even though this move is new, it probably doesn't change the position much. The move Ne5 has been seen more than a few times.Bxd315...bxc5?!16.bxc5Nxc5These kinds of tactics are always up in the air, but that doesn't mean that they are necessarily good. 17.dxc5Bxc318.Bxh7+Kh818...Kxh719.Qc2+Kg820.Qxc3is simply bad for Black. White's knight on e5 or d4 will dominate the position, attacking c6, while the remaining bishop for Black is completely useless. On top of that Black's king is somewhat weak.19.Bc2Now Black has a choiec of which rook to take, and he can even do that on a later move, but his weak king position and useless remaining bishop should be cause for alarm. Only White can play for the advantage from here, and in many cases Black is simply getting mated.16.Qxd3Rfb817.h4Qa718.Ne2g619.Rab1axb420.axb4The control of the a-file from Black is traditional in this variation. White is trying to open lines on the c and b files, hopefully getting a passed pawn, and has no time to deal with the a-file yet. If Black closes down the position with b5, then things might change.Qa220...b521.h5is uncomfortable. Black has to retain this balance of keeping his options open on the queenside to counterattack an incoming kingside intiative.21.Rec121.b5Rc8!=21...bxc5Somewhere around here Nakamura starts to go wrong. With a quick analysis delivered within the hour on chessbase.com it is not easy to see what on earth he should have done different. White's pressure doesn't seem like it is anything special just yet, but somehow it grows out of proportion very quickly.22.bxc5h522...Ra3!?was perhaps better, but also here after23.Qd1!White seems to be a little better, threatening Ne5 type of ideas.23.Ne5Nxe524.fxe5Bg7?This however is quite serious. Nakamura underestimates the invasion to b6.24...Bd825.Rb6!Rc825...Rxb626.cxb6is not playable, the b-pawn survives in every variation and creates enormous problems.26.Nc3Qa727.Rcb1White's progress is obvious. He is targetting the weak c6 pawn and his knight is now coming into play.Qd728.R1b4Bh629.Na4Qd830.Ra6Kg731.Rb7Rxa632.Qxa6g5There is no choice for Nakamura but to try to do something active, but it is too late.33.Qe2!This seems like a brilliant practical decision to me. Since Black cannot afford to lose the pawn on h5 as his kingside collapses, Anand forces the kingside to close down.33.hxg5?Qxg5!33...Bxg534.f4+-34.Rxf7+Kxf735.Qxc8Qf5is probably winning, but why allow so much counterplay?33.Qa7!?33...g434.Qa6Qg834...Rc7was more resilient, but this is just torture.35.Nb6Rf836.Nd7Qh737.Nxf8Qe4+38.Kh2Kxf839.Rb8+Kg740.Qc8Kg641.Qh8A very nice performance from Anand, still showing that he is a dangerous rival to anyone.1–0
Aronian, Levon ½-½ Caruana, Fabiano
What a traditional battleground! The Lasker variation of the Queen's Gambit Decline has been around, well, since Lasker's time! The variations have received a complete re-do recently as White has found new ways of creating pressure, some of which involve very creative kingside attacks.
Both Aronian and Caruana have 1.5/4, which will be tallied as
three points since classical games count for double
Today’s game was much more positional. Aronian tried to prove that his queenside pressure was sufficient for the advantage, while Caruana turtled inside his solid pawn structure and hoped that his lack of weaknesses would allow him to have enough time to finish his development.
Even though these positions are always more pleasant for White, they are extremely difficult to crack. Aronian was unable to put real pressure on his opponent's position. After the Italian was able to exchange knights it was clear that White's edge had evaporated and the draw was agreed.
Caruana and Aronian casually discussing their game
The games will be broadcast live on the official web site and on the chess server Playchess.com. If you are not a member you can download a free Playchess client there and get immediate access. You can also use ChessBase 13 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs.
Alejandro RamirezGrandmaster Alejandro Ramirez has been playing tournament chess since 1998. His accomplishments include qualifying for the 2004 and 2013 World Cups as well as playing for Costa Rica in the 2002, 2004 and 2008 Olympiads. He currently has a rating of 2583 and is author of a number of popular and critically acclaimed ChessBase-DVDs.
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