A Crown in the Stars

Viswanathan Anand – Fabiano Caruana
80th Tata Steel Chess Tournament; Wijk aan Zee, January 15, 2018
Russian Defence C42

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nf3 Nxe4 5. d4 d5 6. Bd3 Bd6 7. 0-0 0-0 8. c4 c6 9. Qc2 Na6 10. a3. 10. Bxe4 dxe4 11. Qxe4 Re8 12. Qd3 Bg4 gives Black more than enough for the Pawn. 10. ... Bg4 11. Ne5 Bf5. The alternative 11. ... Bh5 12. cxd5 cxd5 13. Nc3 Nxc3 14. bxc3 Kh8 15. f4 Bxe5? (but 15. ... f6 16. Nf3 g6! was called for) 16. fxe5 Bg6 17. a4 Qd7 18. Ba3 Rfe8 19. Bxg6 fxg6 20. Qb3 b6 21. Bd6 Nc7 22. Rf3 Rac8 23. Raf1 ended in a disaster for Black, Kasparov – Shirov, 63rd Corus Chess Tournament, Wijk aan Zee 2001. 12. b4 Nc7!? Caruana comes up with a novelty. For 12. ... Qh4 13. Nc3 Nc7 14. Nf3 Qh5 take a look at Shirov – M. Adams, 30th International Tournament “Bosna”, Sarajevo 2000. 13. f3 Bg6!? This is the corollary to the previous move: Black offers a Knight sacrifice which Anand, for quite obvious reasons, prefers not to accept. 14. c5 Bxe5 15. dxe5 Ng5 16. Bb2 d4 17. f4 Nd5 18. fxg5 Ne3 19. Qd2 Bxd3 20. Qxd3 Nxf1 21. Kxf1 Qxg5 22. Nd2 Qxe5 23. Nf3 Qh5 24. Qxd4 f6 25. Qc4+ Kh8 26. Bc1! Anand manages to retain the initiative in a pretty unbalanced position. 26. ... Rfe8 27. Bf4 a5 28. Bd6 axb4? 28. ... Re3(!) would seem to offer better chances for counterplay. 29. Qxb4 Qd5? It’s quite obvious that Black should not have ceded the b7-Pawn (so 29. ... Qf7 was probably mandatory). 30. Qxb7 h6 31. Kg1 Ra4 32. h3! Rc4 33. Qb2 Qd3 34. Ra2! Qd1+ 35. Kh2 Rc1 36. a4 f5 37. Qb7 f4 38. Bxf4 Rxc5 39. Rd2! White gives away his passed Pawn for a very good reason. 39. ... Qxa4 40. Qf7 Rg8 41. Be5 Qc4

42. Rd6! 1 : 0. For if 42. ... Qxf7 then 43. Rxh6 mate.