A Passage to India

侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) – Viswanathan Anand
75th Tata Steel Chess Tournament; Wijk aan Zee, January 25, 2013
Sicilian Defence B94

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Bg5 Nbd7 7. Qe2!? h6!? A great vintage is 7. ... e6 8. 0-0-0 Be7 (8. ... Qc7!? 9. f4 b5∞) 9. f4 0-0 10. h4 Qc7 11. Nf3!± Velimirović – Ermenkov, 5th “Ivan Parčetić Memorial” International Tournament, Sombor 1972. 8. Bh4 g6 9. f4 e5 10. fxe5 dxe5. If 10. ... Nxe5 then 11. 0-0-0! is even less appealing for Black due to the weakness of the Pawn at d6. 11. 0-0-0! (11. Nf3? Bb4⩱ Antal – Perunovic, 13th European Individual Chess Championship, Plovdiv 2012) 11. ... Be7. 11. ... g5 12. Bf2 exd4 13. e5 is obviously bad. 12. Nf3. Grandmaster Kevin Goh Wei Ming recommends 12. Nb3! which may yield the more comfortable game for White after 11. ... 0-0 (12. ... Qc7? 13. Qf3 0-0? 14. Rxd7!+−) 13. Bxf6 Bxf6 14. Kb1 b5 15. g3! followed by Bf1-h3. 12. ... Qc7 13. Qc4 Qb8 14. Nd5 b5 15. Qc6. 15. Nxf6+ Bxf6 16. Qc6 Bxh4 17. Nxh4 Qb7 18. Qd6 Qb6 is roughly balanced. 15. ... Nxd5 16. Rxd5 Qb7! 17. Qc3 f6 18. Bf2 Nb6 19. Rd1 Na4 20. Qb3 Qc6 21. Qd5 Qxd5 22. exd5 Bc5 23. Bg3 Nb6 24. Bd3 Bf5 25. Bxf5 gxf5 26. Rhf1 0-0-0 27. Bf2 Bxf2 28. Rxf2 Rxd5 29. g3 Rxd1+ 30. Kxd1 Nd5 31. Nh4 f4 32. Rd2 Ne3+ 33. Ke2 Nc4 34. Rd1 fxg3 35. b3 Rd8 36. Rxd8+ Kxd8 37. hxg3 Nd6 38. Kd3 b4 39. c4 bxc3 40. Kxc3 Kd7 (40. ... Ne4+−+) 41. Kd3 Ke6 42. b4

42. ... Nf5?? (42. ... h5! 43. a4 f5−+) 43. Nxf5 Kxf5 44. a4 Ke6 45. g4!= Kd5 46. Kc3 Ke4 47. Kc2 Kd4 48. Kb3 e4 49. b5 axb5 50. axb5 e3 51. Kc2 Ke4 52. Kd1 Kd5 ½ : ½.

Anand in deep thought after 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán)’s 13. Qc4. Photo: Tata Steel Chess (@tatasteelchess).