The Ever After Effect

Viswanathan Anand – Fabiano Caruana
5th Sinquefield Cup; Saint Louis, August 6, 2017
English Opening A29

1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. g3 d5 5. cxd5 Nxd5 6. Bg2 Bc5 7. 0-0 0-0 8. d3 Bb6!? Caruana apparently prepared for a new, interesting move. Life was not easier before the World War II: 8. ... Be6 9. Ng5 Nxc3 10. bxc3 Bd5 11. e4 Be6 12. d4 Be7 13. Nxe6 fxe6 14. Be3 Qd6 15. Qa4 a6 16. f4! and White obtained a splendid position, Carls – Richter, 1st German Chess Championship, Bad Pyrmont 1933. 9. Bd2 Bg4 10. Rc1 Nxc3 11. Bxc3 Re8 12. b4 Qd6 13. Nd2 Qh6 14. Nc4 Qh5 15. Rc2 Rad8 16. Nxb6 cxb6 17. f3 Be6 18. Qd2 b5! Caruana played very well so far and indeed Black stands healthy, so maybe he became a bit too optimistic. After the game, both players argued that 18. ... Nd4 might have been better and more consistent for Black, but there is nothing wrong with the text move either. 19. f4 Bg4? Now it will become immediately clear why Black should have preferred 19. ... Bh3 in order to eliminate – or block – White’s fianchetto Bishop. 20. Bxc6! It’s an easy move to overlook because there is nothing more valuable than a Bishop pair! 20. ... bxc6 21. fxe5 f6? Black’s position is very difficult already, but the text joyfully runs into a pretty refutation. Black should have probably considered something like 21. ... Qg6 22. Rf4 h5, even if 23. Ba1! produces a kind of position which Howard Staunton might have been able to play with sublime positional sensitivity.

22. exf6! The Lilienthal After-Effect. 22. ... Rxe2 23. f7+ Kf8 24. Bxg7+! And that’s Anand’s beautiful pointe. 24. ... Kxg7 25. Qc3+ Re5? Caruana completely overlooks his opponent’s next majestic sacrifice, thus missing the most tenacious defence 25. ... Qe5 26. Rxe2! Qxc3 27. Re8 Qd4+ 28. Rf2 Qxb4 29. f8=Q+ Qxf8 30. Rfxf8 Rxd3 31. Rg8+ Kf7 32. Ref8+ Ke7 33. Ra8 which, however, would have left him the Exchange down with virtually no compensation prospects. 26. Qd4! Qg5 27. Rc5 Rxd4 28. f8=Q+ Kg6 29. Qf7+ 1 : 0.