Das Begreifen der Welt

Viswanathan Anand – Jon Ludvig Hammer
3rd Norway Chess; Stavanger, June 24, 2015
English Opening A22

1. c4. “You have to play the English with Jon. I didn’t want to be the only one not to do it. More to the point, it is the opening where he has shown his guts”, then Anand said. 1. ... e5 2. g3 Nf6 3. Bg2 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. Nc3 Nb6 6. d3 Be7 7. Be3 0-0 8. Rc1 f5 9. Nf3 Nc6 10. 0-0 Be6 11. b4 a6 12. a3 Kh8 13. Na4 Nxa4 14. Qxa4 Bd5 15. Bc5 Bd6 16. Qc2 Qf6 17. e4 Be6 18. exf5 Bxf5 19. Be3 a5 20. b5 Ne7 21. Bg5 Qf7 22. Qc3 h6 23. Bxe7 Qxe7 24. Nh4 Bxa3 25. Bxb7!? Vishy might also have played 25. Nxf5 Rxf5 26. Bxb7, but he inverted the move order just “to pose him some practical problems”. 25. ... Bxc1? Hammer descends into the dark! After 25. ... Rab8 26. Nxf5 Rxf5 27. Be4 Rf6 Black should be able to hold his own despite White’s slight edge. 26. Nxf5 Rxf5 27. Bxa8 Ba3 28. Qxa5 Bc5 29. Be4 Rf8 30. Kg2. “I evaluate this as very close to winning. There are many ways for the Rook to join”, Anand said. 30. ... Qd6 31. h4 h5. “Very close to a blunder”, Anand said. 32. Qd2 Qf6 33. Qe2 g6? “He was down to three minutes here. It’s not a nice position to be in with three minutes”, Anand said.

34. Bxg6! Qxg6 35. Qxe5+ Kg8 36. Qxc5 1 : 0.

Viswanathan Anand vs. Jon Ludvig Hammer
Photo: ChessBase GmbH