Experience gives Youth a lesson
What should you do in a position where you don’t know what to play? The answer is to be patient, don’t force things and instead wait for an opportunity to come along.
This is the lesson that 49 year old Vishy Anand gave today to 24 year old Anish Giri. The Dutch grandmaster emerged from the opening with a very pleasant position but was not sure of the correct plan.
He started to play aimlessly, and in the space of just 3 or 4 moves he succeeded in ruining his position. Anand took full advantage of his opportunities and won an instructive game.
gm Anand – gm Giri Gashimov Mem Rd5 4.4.2019 (1-0)
(I use the RPB plugin. Just click on any move and a floating diagram will appear.)
1.e4 e5{<strong style="color:black;">Giri more often than not plays this way against Anand </strong> } 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6{<strong style="color:black;"> The Berlin is no stranger to either player. This will be the first time that Giri will have lost to Anand with this line.</strong> } 4.d3 Bc5 5.c3{<strong style="color:black;">At Bilbao 2015 Anand took immediately on c6 and the game was eventually drawn </strong> } O-O 6.Nbd2 Re8 7.O-O
a6{[#]} 8.Bxc6$5 ({<strong style="color:black;">Varying from </strong> } 8.Ba4 d5 9.Qe2 b5 10.Bb3 d4 11.Bc2 Bb6 12.cxd4 Nxd4
13.Nxd4 Bxd4 14.Nb3 Bb6 15.Be3$10 {<strong style="color:black;"> Anand – Nakamura, Leuven BEL 17/ 6/2016 GCT</strong>}
) dxc6 9.Nc4 Nd7{[#]}
({<strong style="color:black;">Also popular is </strong> } 9...Bg4$5 10.Bg5 ( 10.h3 Bh5 11.Bg5 ) h6 11.Bh4
b5 12.Na5 Qd7 13.h3 Bxf3 14.Qxf3 Re6 15.Rad1 Bb6 16.Nb3 Rae8$10
{<strong style="color:black;"> Vachier Lagrave – Nakamura, , Chess.com INT 24/ 8/2016</strong>} )
({<strong style="color:black;">Solid, but a bit passive is </strong> } 9...Bd6$5 10.Bg5 b5 11.Ne3 Qe7 12.Nh4 Qe6 13.Nhf5 Bf8 14.f4$14 {<strong style="color:black;">Caruana – Nakamura, Saint Louis 27/ 4/2018 ch-USA </strong>}
)
10.Re1
({<strong style="color:black;">Often seen is </strong> } 10.b4$5 Bd6 11.Qb3 Nf8 12.Bg5 Qd7 13.Be3 Ng6 14.Nfd2
Bf8 15.d4$13 {<strong style="color:black;"> Karjakin – Aronian, Khanty-Mansiysk 21/ 3/2014 FIDE Candidates</strong>}
)
Bf8 11.d4 exd4 12.cxd4 Nb6!{[#] <strong style="color:red;">This is a new move in this position, and I like it</strong>}
( 12...Nf6$5 13.Nce5 Be6 14.h3 Nd7
15.Nd3 f6 16.Qc2 Bf7 17.Bd2 a5$10 {<strong style="color:black;"> Alekseev – Godena, Eilat ISR 11/10/2012 28th European Club Cup</strong>})
( 12...c5$5 13.d5$6 ( 13.Bg5! ) b5 14.Na5 Qf6! {<strong style="color:black;">and Black is very active as in Andriasian – Pashikian, Yerevan 13/ 1/2018 78th ch-ARM</strong>})
13.Nxb6{<strong style="color:black;">The most pragmatic </strong> } ( 13.Nce5 f6 14.Nd3 Bg4! ) cxb6 14.h3{[#] <strong style="color:red;">The game is relatively balanced, as Anand remarked after the game. White’s better centre is compensated by Black’s Bishop pair</strong>} b5 15.Bf4 Be6
16.Re3 f6 17.b3{[#]} Qd7
({<strong style="color:black;">Giri decides to develop his Queen Rook before deciding upon a plan. Perhaps next time he might want to try </strong> } 17...a5!{<strong style="color:black;"> with some ideas along the a-file </strong> } )
18.Qc2 Rad8 19.Rd1 Qf7 20.Bg3{[#] <strong style="color:red;">Modest. Anand understands that he should not play actively (Black’s two Bishops) and so he patiently waits for something to come along. The Bishop on g3 is safer than on f4. Curiously, in the post-game press conference he gave the impression that he would have preferred to play Black here.</strong>}
Qh5$6{[#] <strong style="color:red;">At first sight a good aggressive move, but it threatens absolutely nothing. After the game Giri really criticized himself for allowing Anand’s next move</strong>}
( 20...a5$5 )
( 20...Kh8$5 )
21.Bc7!{[#] <strong style="color:red;">The experienced Anand grabs the first opportunity to improve the position of his Bishop. From b6 the Bishop will defend d4, allowing the White Rook on d1 to later switch to the e-file. </strong>} Rd7 22.Bb6 Bb4$6{[#] <strong style="color:red;">Another pointless move, optically aggressive but infact threatening nothing, and also harshly criticized by Giri (strong players are always self-critical!) and he simply did not see Anand’s next move.</strong>}
( {<strong style="color:black;"> A better plan seems </strong> }22...Qg6$5 23.Kh1 Bd6 24.Ne1 Bf7 25.Nf3 Bf4{<strong style="color:black;">with a more active game </strong> } )
23.Ne1!{[#] <strong style="color:red;">Once again Anand grabs the opportunity to improve his position. Giri was very impressed with this strong move. White plans to transfer his Knight to d3, attacking the Bishop on b4 with gain of time, and facilitating White to advance his f-pawn. </strong>} Bf7 {<strong style="color:black;">Capturing the Knight with his dark square Bishop would eliminate the Bishop pair, but might be worth consideration. In the game continuation Giri fails to prevent White from getting his Kingside pawns moving. </strong> } 24.Nd3{[#]}
Bd6 25.Rde1! Bb8 26.f4!{[#] <strong style="color:red;">White has a 5-3 pawn majority and it begins to move. If Black is not careful, it could turn into an avalanche! Anand, in the post game press conference, indicated that he intended to first advance f5 and then later e5. For this reason Giri takes steps to try to slow down White’s advance.</strong>} f5 ( 26...Qh4$5 ) 27.Ne5!{[#]} Bxe5{<strong style="color:black;">The Knight is too strong on e5, and now Black’s once proud Bishop pair disappears. </strong> } 28.dxe5
fxe4 29.Qxe4{[#] <strong style="color:red;">White has made impressive progress since the opening! He now intends to advance the f and e pawns. Black could now consider setting up a temporary blockade on f5 by playing g6, but his lack of counterplay would mean that White’s advance could not be prevented for very long.</strong>} Rd2$5{<strong style="color:black;">Giri places his hope on getting some active play with his pieces. Unfortunately, it only delay’s White’s plans. </strong> } 30.R3e2! Bd5 31.Qe3{[#]} Rxe2 32.Rxe2 Qf5 33.g4!{[#] <strong style="color:red;">At first sight a risky move as it opens up the King position, but the White King can hide safely on the dark squares. Anand made a curious remark at the press conference: he said that even thought he knew that White had a very good position, he was surprised by how fast he was able to win.</strong>} Qb1+
34.Kf2{[#]} h5$5{[#]} 35.f5!{[#] <strong style="color:red;">White completely ignores Black’s counterplay and pushes forward.</strong>} Qh1
({<strong style="color:black;">Also insufficient is </strong> } 35...h4$5 36.Bd4 Qh1 37.e6 Qh2+ 38.Ke1 Qh1+ 39.Kd2 {<strong style="color:black;">and once the White King is safely tucked away the White pawns will push forward with decisive effect </strong> } )
36.Kg3{[#]} Re7 ( 36...hxg4 37.hxg4 Re7 38.e6 )
37.Bc5! Re8 38.e6{[#]} Kh7$2{<strong style="color:black;">Speeds up Black’s defeat, but the game could not be saved in anycase </strong> } 39.Qg5!{[#] <strong style="color:red;">Once more Anand exploits the new opportunity.Now the attack is decisive. Giri here resigned. A likely continuation would be </strong> } Qf3+ 40.Kh4 Qxe2 41.Qg6+ Kg8 42.Qxe8+
Kh7 43.Bd4 {<strong style="color:black;">and mate is not far off </strong> } 1-0
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An impressive example of exploiting the small imprecisions of your opponent!
