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Caruana plays a brilliant game to beat Anand

by ChessBase India - 23/03/2016

There are days when things go completely wrong, and for Vishy Anand 23rd of March was one such day. Caruana guessed correctly the opening that he would play, had a very interesting novelty prepared and followed it up with some excellent moves. Almost until the last move was made, Fabiano played with utmost accuracy. Anand's stoic face at the press conference said the story. He was beaten even without having a chance to fight. It was a one sided battle. But as is true with every chess game, there is always a lot to be learnt. Analysis by IM Sagar Shah

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[Event "Candidates 2016"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2016.03.23"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Black "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A29"]
[WhiteElo "2794"]
[BlackElo "2762"]
[Annotator "Sagar Shah"]
[PlyCount "65"]
1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. g3 Bb4 5. Bg2 O-O 6. O-O e4 7. Ng5 Bxc3 8.
bxc3 Re8 9. f3 {We saw this same opening in the game between Peter Svidler and
Sergey Karjakin in the eighth round of the tournament. In that encounter,
Sergey had played e3. Vishy goes for the more normal approach by taking the
pawn on f3.} exf3 10. Nxf3 d5 11. d4 $5 {This move came into popularity when
Garry Kasparov used it to beat Vassily Ivanchuk in 1988. It was revelation at
that moment and even now the line has not been thoroughy investigated as
Caruana shows in this game.} (11. cxd5 Qxd5 $13 {How can Black play such a
position where his opponent has a bishop pair and also the huge central mass
of pawns? The answer is that the central pawns cannot really advance easily
and Black has activity. Chess cannot be so generic that in an open position,
the bishop pair have to be better!}) 11... dxc4 ({The famous game between
Kasparov and Ivanchuk continued in this manner.} 11... Ne4 12. Qc2 dxc4 13. Rb1
f5 14. g4 $1 Qe7 15. gxf5 Nd6 16. Ng5 Qxe2 17. Bd5+ Kh8 18. Qxe2 Rxe2 19. Bf4
Nd8 20. Bxd6 cxd6 21. Rbe1 Rxe1 22. Rxe1 Bd7 23. Re7 Bc6 24. f6 $1 {What a
game! 1-0 (24) Kasparov,G (2760)-Ivanchuk,V (2625) Moscow 1988}) 12. Qc2 $146 {
The novelty. After the game Caruana said that he had prepared this novelty
just the previous night with Rustam Kasimdzhanov. He hadn't spent much time on
it but had realized that this was interesting and well worth giving a try.} ({
This only move that had been played before was Bg5. What would have convinced
Caruana that Anand would choose this line? First of all Anand had played this
against Aronian in the Sinquefield Cup 2015 and then Vishy's second Gajewski
had also tried it against Tomashevsky in the World Blitz. This is a good
enough proof that Anand had worked out this opening with his second.} 12. Bg5
h6 13. Bxf6 Qxf6 14. e4 Qd6 (14... Bg4 {was the Aronian-Anand game.} 15. Qa4
Qd6 16. Rae1 Rab8 17. Qxc4 b5 $11 {1/2-1/2 (31) Aronian,L (2765)-Anand,V (2816)
Saint Louis 2015}) 15. Nd2 Bd7 16. Nxc4 Qe7 17. Qf3 $16 {1-0 (66) Tomashevsky,
E (2758)-Gajewski,G (2654) Berlin 2015}) 12... h6 {Anand replies in the most
human way as possible. The move is absolutely correct and stops ideas like Bg5
and Ng5.} (12... Rb8 13. Ng5 h6 14. Rxf6 hxg5 15. Rf2 $16 {With e4 coming up
is completely better for White.}) (12... Ne4 13. Ne5 $1 Nxe5 14. Qxe4 Ng4 15.
Qf4 $14) 13. Bf4 {Caruana played these moves pretty quickly while Anand was
thinking quite a bit. This is just a normal developing move with the idea of
bringing the rook to the centre.} Ne4 {This knight move is natural but it
forces Black to be accurate.} (13... Rb8 14. Rae1 b5 15. e4 {Looks quite scary
to face over the board.}) (13... Nd5 {According to Caruana the computer
prefers this move but after} 14. e4 Nxf4 15. gxf4 {This looks completely
better for White according to Fabiano. The computer doesn't agree with this
evaluation but when a player like Fabiano says that this looks horrible for
Black, we must definitely pay attention to it.} Bg4 16. Rae1 {Maybe future
games on this line will prove whether Black really has a huge advantage or not.
}) 14. Rad1 Bf5 {The reason why this move is dangerous is because it forces
Black to be extremely accurate. When your opponent has checked the lines at
home and you haven't, this is not a good position to be in. Now Black has
threats like Nxg3 but White's next move simply ignores it!} (14... Qe7 {
was the other approach here and this looked much safer.}) 15. Ne5 $1 Nd6 (15...
Nxg3 {This is once again computer's suggestion.} 16. e4 Nxf1 (16... Nxe4 17.
Bxe4 Bxe4 18. Qxe4 f6 19. Nxc6 $16) 17. exf5 Nxh2 18. Bxh2 {Computer assesses
this position as even but Caruana felt that this should be completely better
for White especially with those two bishops aiming at the queenside. It is not
so easy to say who is better but I really like White's position.}) 16. e4 Bh7 {
Black is a pawn up but these guys on e4 and d4 are just too strong. Caruana's
next move is also accurate.} 17. Qe2 $1 {Already it is very difficult for
Black to find a move. He cannot take on e5 and White's threat is to simply
take on c6, follow it up with e5 and then take the pawn on c4.} Ne7 {I do not
give it a dubious or a question mark because it was already very difficult to
suggest a move for Black.} 18. Bxh6 $1 {There are many other options in this
position but if Bxh6 is good then we do not need to indulge in other lines.}
gxh6 19. Qh5 {There are all sorts of threats in the position. f7 pawn is
hanging and so is the one on h6. Ng4 is in the air and also Rf4 is threatened.
The defensive task for Black is not at all easy.} Nef5 {Black rushes to give
back a piece but now it is just suffering without even having material gains.}
(19... Nd5 $5 20. Nxf7 $5 (20. exd5 Qg5 21. Qf3 {Doesn't look so great but is
maybe better than the game.}) 20... Nf6 21. Nxh6+ Kh8 22. Qh3 $40 {is also not
so easy for Black to play as Rf4-h4 is a huge threat.}) (19... Rf8 20. Qxh6
Nxe4 21. Bxe4 Bxe4 22. Rf4 Qd6 23. Rg4+ Ng6 (23... Bg6 24. Rh4) 24. Rxe4 $16)
20. exf5 (20. Rf4 Ng7 21. Qxh6 Re6 22. Qh3 Qg5 {Even here White has the
advantage but what Caruana played was better.}) 20... Qg5 21. Qxg5+ hxg5 22. f6
$16 {It goes without saying that White is better but Anand's next move takes
him out of the fire and into the frying pan!} Ne4 $6 (22... Rad8 {White's
advantage is beyond any doubt here but Anand can definitely fight on.}) 23.
Rfe1 $1 (23. Bxe4 Bxe4 24. Nxc4 {was also better for White.}) 23... Nxc3 (23...
Nd6 24. Bd5 $1 c6 25. Bxc4 (25. Nxc4 $1) 25... Rxe5 26. Bxf7+ Kxf7 27. dxe5 $18
) 24. Rc1 $1 Nb5 25. Bxb7 Rad8 (25... Rab8 26. Bc6 Re6 (26... Red8 27. Bxb5
Rxb5 28. Nc6 Ra8 29. Rxc4 $18) 27. d5 $18) 26. Bc6 Nxd4 27. Bxe8 Rxe8 28. Kf2
Nc2 29. Red1 (29. Re2 Nd4 30. Rb2 {was also possible.}) 29... Be4 30. Nxc4 Re6
31. Rd8+ Kh7 32. Kg1 $1 {Caruana plays this phase of the game with extreme
accuracy.} Rxf6 33. Rf1 $1 {The final move exchanging the rooks. Anand
resigned the game seeing that further resistance would be futile. A great
victory for Caruana and a pretty disastrous game for Anand.} 1-0

 

Round ten article in the popular online news website : Firstpost 

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