Funny Games

Viswanathan Anand – Hikaru Nakamura
4th Zürich Chess Challenge; Zürich, February 17, 2015
Queen’s Gambit Declined D37

1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Be7 4. Nf3 Nf6 5. Bf4 0-0 6. e3 Nbd7 7. c5 Nh5 8. Bd3 Nxf4 9. exf4 b6 10. b4 a5 11. a3 c6 12. 0-0 Qc7 13. g3 Ba6 14. Re1 Bf6 15. Kg2. For 15. Bc2 Bc4 16. Qd2 Ra7 17. Ne5 see Nakamura – Nielsen, Amsterdam 2010. 15. ... Bxd3. Not convincing would have been instead 15. ... bxc5? 16. bxc5 Nxc5 17. dxc5 Bxc3 18. Bxh7+! with advantage to White. 16. Qxd3 Rfb8 17. h4! Qa7 18. Ne2 g6? Both players blamed this move during the press conference. “As soon as I played the move 18. ... g6 I realized I had completely blundered it. I couldn’t recover after this move. The worst thing in chess is missing a good move and having to continue the game as though nothing happened”, then Nakamura said. Also 18. ... axb4 19. axb4 Qxa1 20. Rxa1 Rxa1 21. b5 appears to be in White’s favour, but it might be worth considering 18. ... Qb7 (Deviatkin), aiming to one of the thematic plans of either doubling along the a-file or exchanging all the Rooks. 19. Rab1 axb4 20. axb4 Qa2 21. Rec1 bxc5. 21. ... Ra3? 22. Qd1! would not have been any better. 22. bxc5 h5. A questionable move, which precludes the possibility of ... f7-f6 for Black. 23. Ne5! Nxe5. “If Black takes with the Bishop that is what I meant: the d7-Knight is now dead”, then Anand said. 24. fxe5 Bg7? A clear error. As Anand pointed out, 24. ... Bd8 would have been far better. During the press conference, Nakamura was not able to explain why he didn’t play it.

25. Rb6! “I just started to get excited after this”, then Anand said. 25. ... Rc8. After 25. ... Rxb6 26. cxb6 the powerful passed b-Pawn leaves Black without any hope. 26. Nc3 Qa7 27. Rcb1. Now White easily penetrates into the hostile camp, surrounding and targeting the c6-Pawn. 27. ... Qd7 28. R1b4 Bh6 29. Na4 Qd8 30. Ra6 Kg7 31. Rb7 Rxa6 32. Qxa6 g5 33. Qe2! g4 34. Qa6 Qg8 35. Nb6 Rf8 36. Nd7 Qh7. The last ditch try was 36. ... Ra8 (Anand) setting a pretty trap: 37. Qxc6? Ra2 38. Nf6 Be3! 39. Nxg8? Rxf2+ with a draw by perpetual check. However, Vishy was ready to play 37. Ra7! Rxa7 38. Qxa7 with an easy win (as 38. ... Qh7 is met by 39. Nf6). 37. Nxf8 Qe4+ 38. Kh2 Kxf8 39. Rb8+ Kg7 40. Qc8 Kg6 41. Qh8 1 : 0. Black’s King is doomed: 41. ... Qf3 42. Rg8+ Kf5 43. Qh7 mate.

Viswanathan Anand
Photo: Evgeny Surov

Hikaru Nakamura (@GMHikaru)