Puliyogare

Viswanathan Anand – Shakhriyar Mamedyarov
2nd Vugar Gashimov Memorial; Shamkir, April 25, 2015
Four Knights C49

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nc3 Nc6 4. Bb5 Bb4 5. 0-0 0-0 6. d3 d6 7. Ne2. “My second [Grzegorz Gajewski – Ed. Note] showed me this line and I thought why not give it a try? It is nice, quite an unusual system. And just a few days ago, 韦奕 (Wéi Yì) played it in Armenia”, then Vishy said. 7. ... Ne7 8. c3 Ba5 9. Ng3 Ng6 10. d4 Bb6 11. Re1 c6 12. Bd3 Re8 13. h3 h6 14. Be3 Be6 15. Qc2 Qc7 16. a3 a5 17. c4 a4 18. Red1 exd4. Black should have refused to cede ground in the centre. Sounder was 18. ... c5 (Anand). 19. Bxd4 Ne5 20. Be2 Bc5. A little slow. Probably more to the point would have been 20. ... Nfd7 immediately. 21. Rd2 Nfd7 22. Rad1 Red8 23. Nh4! Threatening both f2-f4 and Nh4-f5. 24. ... Bxd4 24. Rxd4 c5. Mamedyarov ventures a Pawn sacrifice to enhance his control over the dark squares. 25. Rxd6! The ordinary 25. R4d2 Nc6 25. Nhf5 (Anand’s analysis) would have retained the upper hand, but the “Tiger of Madras” was attracted by a pretty counter-sacrifice. 25. ... Nc6 26. Nhf5 Nd4 27. Qd2 Ne5

28. Rd5!! A superb Exchange sacrifice, far from obvious. 28. ... Bxd5 29. cxd5 Qb6 30. f4!? “Possible was 30. Nxd4 cxd4 31. Qxd4 Qxd4 32. Rxd4 with a large advantage on the endgame, but Anand banks on the attack”, Grandmaster Andrey Deviatkin said. 30. ... Ng6 31. Bc4 Qa5 32. Qf2 b5! 33. Nxd4 cxd4 34. Ba2!? “Again the most ambitious continuation. The alternative was 34. Bd3, but Anand thought this was too slow”, Deviatkin said. 34. ... b4 35. Nf5 bxa3 36. bxa3 Qc3 37. e5 Rab8 38. Rd2. Suddenly Vishy realized 38. Qxd4?? would have lost to 38. ... Qc2. 38. ... Qxa3? Deviatkin recommends the brilliant 38. ... d3! 39. d6 Rb3! with sufficient counter-play. 39. Nxd4 Qc1+ 40. Kh2 Rbc8? Another false step, but Mamedyarov was in tremendous time trouble. “This kills all chance of counterplay with things like ... Rb8-b2. My reply took me some time, but eventually I realized that after 41. d6 Black can do absolutely nothing – I just play Nd4-f5 and Qf2-d4”, then Anand said. 41. d6 a3 42. Nf5 Rf8 43. d7! 1 : 0.

Viswanathan Anand vs. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov
Photo: Shamkir Chess 2015

Hikaru Nakamura (‏@GMHikaru)