Youth in Revolt

Viswanathan Anand – Wesley So
2nd Vugar Gashimov Memorial; Şəmkir, April 21, 2015
Spanish Game C84

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. 0-0 Be7 6. d3 b5 7. Bb3 0-0 8. Nc3 d6 9. a3 Nb8 10. Ng5!? A novelty. If 10. a4 then 10. ... b4 11. Nd5 Nxd5 12. Bxd5 c6 13. Bb3 Nd7 14. d4 a5 with roughly even chances, Caruana – So, 77th Tata Steel Chess Tournament, Wijk aan Zee 2015. 10. ... Nc6. The critical line is 10. ... h6 11. Nxf7 Kxf7 12. f4 and it is not clear whether White’s attack can compensate for the sacrificed Knight. 11. Ba2 Nd4 12. Ne2 Nxe2+ 13. Qxe2 h6. Finally! 14. f4!? hxg5. “In my opinion 14. ... exf4 is a more critical test of White’s idea 15. Nf3 (15. Nxf7 Rxf7 16. Bxf7+ Kxf7 17. Bxf4 Kg8 and White’s attack is over) 15. ... g5 16. Bd2 (bad is 16. h4 Nh5 or 16. g3 fxg3 17. hxg3 Bh3) 16. ... d5 and Black is better”, Grandmaster Aleksander Delchev said. 15. fxg5 Ng4 16. g6! Bg5!? 17. h3! A finesse possibly overlooked by So. 17. ... Bxc1 18. Raxc1 Nh6. On 18. ... Nf6? 19. Rxf6! Qxf6 20. Qh5 wins outright.

19. Qh5. Still stronger is 19. Rxf7! Rxf7 20. gxf7+ Kf8 21. Qh5 with an overwhelming attack. 19. ... Be6 20. Bxe6 fxe6 21. g4. “Anand is going to win back the piece. The question is would it be enough for a win?”, Delchev asked. 21. ... c6. “Vishy’s continuation is liked by the engines as well but perhaps [...] 21. ... Rf4! 22. g5 Qf8! holds?”, Grandmaster Erwin l’Ami asked. 22. Rxf8+ Qxf8 23. Rf1 Qe7 24. g5 Rf8 25. gxh6 Rxf1+ 26. Kxf1 Qf8+ 27. Ke2 gxh6 28. Qg4 Qf6 29. h4 d5. “29. ... a5! 30. h5 c5! makes sense, trying to keep all the lines closed for both the Queen ending and a possible Pawn ending. White is better, but not winning. 31. Qf3 Qf4! 32. Qh3 Qf6 and the game goes on”, Dennis Monokroussos said. 30. h5. “Vishy’s g6 is the Protected Passer which my teacher used to call Insurance Against Loss in Endings”, Venkat Saravanan tweeted. 30. ... d4 31. b4! “A very strong move. Now it is all over. White will follow with Queen swap and then c2-c3 with easily winning Pawn endgame”, Delchev said. 31. ... Kg7 32. Qf3 Qe7 33. Kd1 Kg8 34. Qf2 Kg7 35. c3! dxc3 36. Kc2 Qc7 37. Qc5 Kg8 38. Qe3 a5 39. Qh3. After 39. Qxh6 axb4 40. axb4 Qa7 Black gets strong counter-play. 39. ... axb4 40. Qxe6+ Kf8 41. axb4 Qa7 42. Kxc3 Qa3+ 43. Kc2 Qa4+ 44. Qb3 Qa7 45. d4 1 : 0.

Viswanathan Anand vs. Wesley So. Photo: Şəmkir Chess 2015.