Scary Movie

Maxime Vachier-Lagrave – Viswanathan Anand
4th Sinquefield Cup; Saint Louis, August 6, 2016
Caro-Kann Defence B10

1. e4 c6 2. Nf3 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e5 Ne4 5. Ne2 Qb6 6. d4 e6 7. Nfg1! I always thought it would have been very hard for Morphy to make such moves! 7. ... f6 8. f3 Ng5 9. exf6 gxf6 10. f4 Ne4. The alternative was 10. ... Nf7 11. Nf3 Be7 (for 11. ... Bg7 12. Ng3 0-0 13. Nh5 e5 14. Nxg7 Kxg7 15. fxe5 fxe5 16. Be2 exd4 17. Qxd4+ Qxd4 18. Nxd4 c5 19. Nb5 Na6 20. 0-0 Bd7 see Domínguez Pérez – Vachier-Lagrave, 5th Chess World Cup, Tromsø 2013) 12. c4 dxc4 13. Nc3 Nd6 14. b3 cxb3 15. axb3 O-O 16. Bd3 Rf7 17. O-O Nb5 18. Ne2 c5 19. f5 e5 20. Bxb5 Qxb5 21. dxe5 Bxf5 22. Bb2 Nc6 23. exf6 Bxf6 24. Bxf6 Rxf6 25. Nh4 Rd8 26. Qe1 Rdf8 27. Nxf5 Rxf5 28. Qg3+ Kh8 29. Qc3+ Kg8 30. Qg3+ Kh8 31. Qc3+ Kg8 ½ : ½ Grischuk – 丁立人 (Dīng Lìrén), 温州 (Wēnzhōu) 2016, match game 4. 11. Ng3 Bd7. It could be a novelty. The game Bacrot – Tari, 14th Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Festival, Catalan Bay 2016 ran as follows: 11. ... c5 12. Bd3 f5 13. Qh5+ Kd8 14. Nf3 Nd7 15. Bxe4 dxe4 16. Ng5 Kc7 17. Be3 Kb8 18. 0-0-0 Nf6 19. Qf7 Nd5 20. dxc5 Bxc5 21. Bxc5 Qxc5 22. Nxe6 Qe3+ 23. Rd2 Qb6 24. Rxd5 Bxe6 25. Qg7 Rc8 26. Qe5+ Qc7 27. Qxc7+ Kxc7 28. Re5 Re8 29. Nxf5 Bd7 30. Rxe8 1 : 0. 12. Nxe4 dxe4 13. c3 Na6 14. Qh5+ Kd8 15. Bc4. “I was not expecting all this excitement!”, Vachier-Lagrave said in the confessional. 15. ... Kc7 16. a4 c5 17. Ne2 Rd8 18. Be3 f5 19. 0-0. Vachier-Lagrave in the confessional again: “I’m pretty optimistic”. 19. ... Kb8 20. Qf7 Nc7 21. a5 Qc6 22. Qf6 Bd6 23. dxc5 Bxc5 24. Nd4 Qd6. The only move, but a very good one! 25. b4 Qe7 26. Qh6 Bd6 27. Rad1 Rhf8 28. Bf2 Rf6 29. Qh4 Nd5. The worst is over by now, but only for Anand...

After 70 games in a row without a loss and too many “confessions” today, Vachier-Lagrave suddenly has a hallucination: 30. Nxe6?? “[...] White [could] keep the initiative with 30. Bxd5! exd5 31. Qh3! (threatening Bf2-h4) 31. ... Qg7 32. Qe3! with threats on a7”, writes Grandmaster Kevin Spraggett. 30. ... Bxe6 31. Bxd5 e3! The French Grandmaster probably overlooked this move when he played 30. Nxe6. 32. Bxe3 Bxd5 33. Bxa7+ Kxa7 34. Qf2+ Bc5! Cats (and tigers) have nine lives. Anand does not have too much difficulty in winning the game. 35. Qxc5+ Qxc5+ 36. bxc5 Rd7 37. Rfe1 h6 38. Kf2 Kb8 39. c4 Bc6 40. Rxd7 Bxd7 41. Rb1 Ra6 42. Rb6 Rxa5 43. Rxh6 Rxc5 44. h4 Rxc4 45. g3 Kc7 46. h5 b5 0 : 1. “Then I’m literally just hanging on every move, just trying not to lose on the spot! It was very scary”, Anand said afterwards.

Viswanathan Anand
Photo: Grand Chess Tour (@GrandChessTour)