Anand crushes Aronian to join Carlsen and Karjakin in Tata Steel lead after Round 4

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75th Tata Steel Wijk aan Zee 2013 (4)

Anand crushes Aronian to join Carlsen and Karjakin in Tata Steel lead after Round 4

Mark Crowther - Tuesday 15th January 2013

No doubt about the player of the day, Viswanathan Anand. Photo ©

No doubt about the player of the day, Viswanathan Anand. Photo © | http://www.tatasteelchess.com

"I should study openings better." was Levon Aronian's reaction to being blasted off the board by Viswanthan Anand. Anand played preparation in the Semi-Slav initially intended for his title match against Boris Gelfand and although he couldn't remember the details it was enough to know he was at least equal. Anand spent half an hour and came up with 15...Bc5!, 16...Nde5!, 19...f5! giving himself a huge advantage, Aronian avoided a lost ending and instead walked into mate. Anand talked through the game which will go down as one of his best on the official video, his comments are below and many of the attacking themes are close to Rotlewi-Rubinstein. Anand was very happy to win in such great style against Aronian who has been a difficult opponent for him. Is Anand back? He wouldn't be drawn yet. Magnus Carlsen got a big opening advantage against Pentala Harikrishna even though he was two pawns down at one point. Carlsen seemed to be making steady progress but he just couldn't find the winning blow. After first time control Harikrishna could have made life much more difficult by exploiting Carlsen's lack of coordination but once he reestablished that the win came quickly. Anand and Carlsen join Sergey Karjakin in the lead on 3/4. Karjakin had something of a lucky escape against Hikaru Nakamura. Other results were Caruana 1-0 Sokolov, Wang Hao 1-0 Hou Yifan, Loek van Wely 1-0 Erwin L'Ami and Anish Giri draw Peter Leko in what was a really good day of chess. Rest day Wednesday. Round 5 Thu 17th Jan 12:30 GMT: Harikrishna-Van Wely, Anand-Carlsen, Sokolov-Aronian, Leko-Caruana, Karjakin-Giri, Hou Yifan-Nakamura, L'Ami-Wang Hao.

Levon Aronian 0-1 Viswanthan Anand

Anand talks through the game that he called easily one of his best.

Aronian,Levon (2802) - Anand,Viswanathan (2772) [D46]
75th Tata Steel GpA Wijk aan Zee NED (4.5), 15.01.2013
[Crowther,Mark]

1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 e6 5.e3 Nbd7 6.Bd3 dxc4 7.Bxc4 b5 8.Bd3 Bd6 9.0-0 0-0 10.Qc2 Bb7 11.a3 Rc8

[11...a6 12.Ng5 Bxh2+ 13.Kxh2 Ng4+ is a known line and the obvious question is why not on the following move?]

12.Ng5

[12.b4 doesn't stop c5 as was discovered in the game Topalov-Kasimdzhanov. 12...c5! 13.bxc5 Bxf3 14.gxf3 Nxc5 15.dxc5 Rxc5 16.f4 (16.Bb2 Bxh2+ 17.Kxh2 Rh5+ 18.Kg2 Rg5+ 19.Kh3 Rh5+ 20.Kg2 Rg5+ 21.Kh3 Rh5+ 22.Kg2 Rg5+ 1/2-1/2 Malakhatko,V (2558)-Khismatullin,D (2638)/St Petersburg RUS 2012/The Week in Chess 939) 16...Nd5 17.Bb2 Nxc3 18.Bxc3 Qc7 19.Rfc1 Rc8 20.Bxh7+ Kh8 21.Bd3 Rxc3 22.Qxc3 Qxc3 23.Rxc3 Rxc3 24.Bxb5 Bxa3 25.Kg2 g6 26.Rd1 Rc7 27.Rd7 Rxd7 28.Bxd7 Kg7 29.e4 Kf6 30.Kf3 a5 31.e5+ Ke7 32.Ba4 Bc5 33.h3 Bb6 34.Bb5 Bc5 35.Ba4 Bb6 36.Bb5 Bc5 37.Ba4 1/2-1/2 Topalov,V (2752)-Kasimdzhanov,R (2684)/London ENG 2012/ The Week in Chess 933]

12...c5

"Of course this was our match preparation for Boris." - Anand. "To be honest I didn't remember every last detail but of course it helps to know [the assessment and ideas in the position]".

[12...Bxh2+; 12...h6]

13.Nxh7

[13.Bxh7+ "Is also a move but we found compensation for black everywhere." - Anand although he admitted after analysing the game that it might be a better continuation than the game. ]

13...Ng4

Viswanathan Anand

Levon Aronian

Position after 13...Ng4

Still preparation from Anand and very tricky it is too.

14.f4

"He went 14.f4 and to be honest I was trying to remember the details. So I spent about half an hour here which is strange if you think it was preparation but of course it was a while back." - Anand.

[14.h3 Bh2+ 15.Kh1 Qh4 "and this is good for black." - Anand.]

14...cxd4 15.exd4 Bc5!

Viswanathan Anand

Levon Aronian

Position after 15...Bc5

16.Be2

"Might be the mistake." - Anand.

[16.dxc5 Nxc5 17.Qe2 Aronian said that if he'd seen what was coming he'd have tried to grovel out with this idea but of course black has a huge position. 17...Qd4+ 18.Kh1 Nxd3 19.Qxg4 Kxh7 20.Qg3 Rfd8]

16...Nde5!!

Viswanathan Anand

Levon Aronian

Position after 16...Nde5!

"I only know that the position is supposed to be fine for black. I was only playing on that confidence." - Anand.

[16...Bxd4+ 17.Kh1 Nf2+ 18.Rxf2 Bxf2 19.Nxf8 Nxf8 and Anand thought he was "doing excellently" here too.]

17.Bxg4 Bxd4+ 18.Kh1 Nxg4 19.Nxf8 f5!

Viswanathan Anand

Levon Aronian

Position after 19...f5!

"This move I am very proud of. To find it over the board is of course very nice." - Anand.

[19...Qh4 20.Qh7+ stops black's attack stone dead.]

20.Ng6 Qf6 21.h3 Qxg6 22.Qe2 Qh5 23.Qd3

Viswanathan Anand

Levon Aronian

Position after 23.Qd3

[23.Rf3 "I didn't see a defence. The best he can do is get a worse ending here." - Anand. 23...Nf2+ (23...Bxf3 24.Qxf3 Nf2+) 24.Kh2 Bxf3 25.Qxf3 Qxf3 26.gxf3 Nd3]

23...Be3! 0-1

Rotlewi,Georg A - Rubinstein,Akiba [D40]
Lodz1 Lodz, 1907

1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 e6 3.e3 c5 4.c4 Nc6 5.Nc3 Nf6 6.dxc5 Bxc5 7.a3 a6 8.b4 Bd6 9.Bb2 0-0 10.Qd2 Qe7 11.Bd3 dxc4 12.Bxc4 b5 13.Bd3 Rd8 14.Qe2 Bb7 15.0-0 Ne5 16.Nxe5 Bxe5 17.f4 Bc7 18.e4 Rac8 19.e5 Bb6+ 20.Kh1 Ng4 21.Be4 Qh4 22.g3

Akiba Rubinstein

Georg Rotlewi

Position after 22.g3 Black to play and win in the starting position for this most famous of chess combinations.

22...Rxc3!! 23.gxh4 Rd2 24.Qxd2 Bxe4+ 25.Qg2 Rh3 0-1

Magnus Carlsen 1-0 Pentala Harikrishna

Magnus Carlsen got a big opening advantage for the second day running but he found it difficult to realise his advantage.

Carlsen,Magnus (2861) - Harikrishna,Pentala (2698) [C44]
75th Tata Steel GpA Wijk aan Zee NED (4.3), 15.01.2013
[Crowther,Mark]

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.c3

No doubt the Ponziani didn't form a huge part of Harikrishna's pre-game preparation. They end up in a standard Scotch where white has the extra move c3 in which Carlsen thinks is a good extra move to have.

3...Nf6 4.d4 d5 5.Bb5 exd4 6.e5 Ne4 7.Nxd4 Bd7 8.Bxc6 bxc6 9.0-0 Be7

[9...g6 10.Be3 c5 11.Ne2 c6 12.Nd2 Nxd2 13.Qxd2 Qa5 14.Bh6 Bxh6 15.Qxh6 0-0-0 16.b4 cxb4 17.cxb4 Qxb4 18.Rab1 Qe4 19.Qd2 Rde8 20.Qa5 Qxe2 21.Qxa7 Qxe5 22.Rb7 1-0 Heberla,B (2484)-Tikkanen,H (2394)/Pardubice CZE 2007/The Week in Chess 664]

10.Be3

[10.f3 1-0 Nasriddinzoda,M (2011)-Sabirova,O (2225)/Tashkent UZB 2011/The Week in Chess 866 (55)]

10...0-0 11.Nd2 Nc5

Quite possibly the novely.

[11...Nxd2 12.Qxd2 c5 13.Ne2 Bb5 14.Rfd1 Bxe2 15.Qxe2 Qd7 16.Qd2 c6 17.b4 cxb4 18.cxb4 Rfb8 19.a3 Rb5 20.Bd4 a5 21.Bc3 axb4 22.axb4 Rab8 23.Ra4 h6 24.Qd4 Bf8 25.h3 Qf5 26.Ra5 R5b6 27.Ra4 Rb5 28.Ra5 R5b6 29.Ra4 Rb5 1/2-1/2 Dueckstein,A-Unzicker,W/Siegen 1970/EXT 2002]

12.b4 Nb7 13.f4 a5 14.f5 axb4 15.cxb4 Bxb4 16.Qg4 Bc3 17.Rac1 Bxd4 18.Bxd4 Rxa2 19.e6 f6 20.Nb3 Be8 21.Nc5 Nd6

Pentala Harikrishna

Magnus Carlsen

Position after 21...Nd6

White has a huge bind in return for the two pawns.

22.Qf3 Qe7 23.Rf2 Ra5 24.Nb3 Rb5 25.Bc5 Bh5 26.Qc3 Qe8 27.Qe3

[27.Nd4]

27...Qa8 28.Nd4 Rxc5 29.Rxc5 Ne4 30.Nxc6 Nxf2 31.Kxf2 Qa2+ 32.Kg3 Re8 33.h3 Qa6 34.Qc3 Be2 35.Rxd5 Bb5 36.Nb4

[36.Nd4 was also very possible. 36...c6 37.Rd7 Qb6 38.Qb3]

36...Qb7 37.Qc5

[37.Rc5]

37...Ba4 38.Rd7!

Wins the c7 pawn but white's pieces remain uncoordinated.

38...Qe4 39.Rxc7 h5 40.Kh2 Kh7

[40...Bb3]

41.Qf2 Rg8 42.Na6

Pentala Harikrishna

Magnus Carlsen

Position after 42.Na6

[42.Qf3 Qe5+ 43.g3 Kh6 44.Nd5 Qb2+ 45.Kg1 Rd8]

42...Be8?

This seems to be the real losing blunder. He should continue to hit white's material.

[42...Bb5 43.Nc5 Qe5+ 44.Qg3 Qxf5 45.e7 Qd5 46.Nb7]

43.Rc5 Qd3 44.Nb4 Qd6+ 45.Kh1 Qd1+ 46.Qg1 Qd6 47.Nd5 Rf8 48.Qd4

Now white has sorted his pieces out the win will come quickly.

48...Kh8 49.Rc8 Bc6

Pentala Harikrishna

Magnus Carlsen

Position after 49...Bc6. Why did black resign without waiting to see Carlsen's next?

[49...Bc6 and resigns not waiting for the killing 50.Nxf6]

1-0

Remaining Games

Round up video for Round 4.

Fabiano Caruana outplayed Ivan Sokolov in a Ruy Lopez ending up with a superior middegame. He perhaps didn't play the best continuation after that but still brought home the full point clearly enough.

Hikaru Nakamura won a pawn with a nice tactical trick and ended up a pawn up in a Queen, Rook and Pawns ending vs Sergey Karjakin. Yasser Seirawan in commentary thought Nakamura could win slowly keeping his pawn on e2 and putting the rook on d3 and the queen behind, covering everything and eventually winning the d-pawn. As it was Nakamura went for an attacking solution and soon there was a messy Queen and Pawn ending which may have been winning with best play but soon ended in a draw. In fact Nakamura admitted that he thought he'd seen a win for him at the end but that line would have in fact cost him the whole point.

Loek van Wely played the Trompowsky as a surprise weapon for the second year in a row (Giri last year Erwin L'Ami this). L'Ami looked initially well prepared but quickly fell into trouble and whilst he may have had some compensation for the exchange he gave up once he dropped h7 it was only a matter of technique for van Wely to pick up the full point.

Wang Hao defeated Hou Yifan quite comfortably on the white side of a Nimzo-Indian. Most probably 14...b5 isn't the right idea and it was clear that Hou Yifan missed 17.d5 after she played 16...Be6. After 22 moves Wang Hao had a huge positional advantage in a technical position which he eventually converted to a full point.

Anish Giri is clearly paying the price in his chess with continuing his education this year. He must I guess be entering his final year before potentially going onto higher education. His chess has clearly gone backwards in the last twelve months compared to Fabiano Caruana and Sergey Karjakin for instance. Giri got nothing against the ultra-solid Peter Leko whose opening repertoire is still extremely well worked out.

Tables

75th Tata Steel GpA Wijk aan Zee (NED), 12-27 i 2013																cat. XX (2732)
					1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	0	1	2	3	4
1.	Carlsen, Magnus	g	NOR	2861	*	.	.	.	½	.	1	.	1	½	.	.	.	.	3	2933
2.	Anand, Viswanathan	g	IND	2772	.	*	.	½	1	.	.	.	.	1	½	.	.	.	3	2961
3.	Karjakin, Sergey	g	RUS	2780	.	.	*	½	.	.	.	1	.	.	.	½	.	1	3	2880
4.	Nakamura, Hikaru	g	USA	2769	.	½	½	*	.	½	.	.	.	.	.	.	½	.	2	2737
5.	Caruana, Fabiano	g	ITA	2781	½	0	.	.	*	.	½	.	.	.	.	.	1	.	2	2748
6.	Leko, Peter	g	HUN	2735	.	.	.	½	.	*	.	½	.	.	½	½	.	.	2	2717
7.	Harikrishna, Pentala	g	IND	2698	0	.	.	.	½	.	*	.	.	½	1	.	.	.	2	2791
8.	Wang, Hao	g	CHN	2752	.	.	0	.	.	½	.	*	.	.	.	.	½	1	2	2695
9.	Van Wely, Loek	g	NED	2679	0	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	*	½	.	1	.	½	2	2723
10.	Aronian, Levon	g	ARM	2802	½	0	.	.	.	.	½	.	½	*	.	.	.	.	1½	2665
11.	Giri, Anish	g	NED	2720	.	½	.	.	.	½	0	.	.	.	*	.	½	.	1½	2630
12.	L'Ami, Erwin	g	NED	2627	.	.	½	.	.	½	.	.	0	.	.	*	.	½	1½	2612
13.	Sokolov, Ivan	g	NED	2663	.	.	.	½	0	.	.	½	.	.	½	.	*	.	1½	2668
14.	Hou, Yifan	g	CHN	2603	.	.	0	.	.	.	.	0	½	.	.	½	.	*	1	2516

Round 4 (January 15, 2013)
Carlsen, Magnus	- Harikrishna, Pentala	1-0	49	C44	Scotch Gambit
Nakamura, Hikaru	- Karjakin, Sergey	½-½	50	E15	Queens Indian
Caruana, Fabiano	- Sokolov, Ivan	1-0	43	C78	Ruy Lopez Moeller Defence
Wang, Hao	- Hou, Yifan	1-0	46	E58	Nimzo Indian
Van Wely, Loek	- L'Ami, Erwin	1-0	49	A45	Trompowsky
Aronian, Levon	- Anand, Viswanathan	0-1	23	D47	Queens Gambit Meran
Giri, Anish	- Leko, Peter	½-½	32	E32	Nimzo Indian 4.Qc2

75th Tata Steel GpB Wijk aan Zee (NED), 12-27 i 2013																cat. XV (2620)
					1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	0	1	2	3	4
1.	Tiviakov, Sergei	g	NED	2655	*	.	½	.	.	.	1	.	.	1	.	1	.	.	3½	2956
2.	Rapport, Richard	g	HUN	2621	.	*	.	.	.	1	.	.	.	.	1	.	½	1	3½	2963
3.	Timman, Jan H	g	NED	2566	½	.	*	.	.	½	.	.	½	.	.	.	.	1	2½	2727
4.	Smeets, Jan	g	NED	2615	.	.	.	*	½	.	.	1	.	½	.	.	½	.	2½	2680
5.	Dubov, Daniil	g	RUS	2600	.	.	.	½	*	.	½	½	.	½	.	.	.	.	2	2620
6.	Movsesian, Sergei	g	ARM	2688	.	0	½	.	.	*	½	.	.	.	.	1	.	.	2	2628
7.	Naiditsch, Arkadij	g	GER	2708	0	.	.	.	½	½	*	.	1	.	.	.	.	.	2	2643
8.	Grandelius, Nils	g	SWE	2572	.	.	.	0	½	.	.	*	½	.	.	.	1	.	2	2606
9.	Turov, Maxim	g	RUS	2630	.	.	½	.	.	.	0	½	*	½	.	.	.	.	1½	2521
10.	Ipatov, Alexander	g	TUR	2587	0	.	.	½	½	.	.	.	½	*	.	.	.	.	1½	2538
11.	Edouard, Romain	g	FRA	2686	.	0	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	*	½	1	0	1½	2507
12.	Nikolic, Predrag	g	BIH	2619	0	.	.	.	.	0	.	.	.	.	½	*	.	1	1½	2559
13.	Van Kampen, Robin	g	NED	2581	.	½	.	½	.	.	.	0	.	.	0	.	*	.	1	2430
14.	Ernst, Sipke	g	NED	2556	.	0	0	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	1	0	.	*	1	2430

Round 4 (January 15, 2013)
Rapport, Richard	- Movsesian, Sergei	1-0	40	D10	Slav Defence
Timman, Jan H	- Turov, Maxim	½-½	30	B19	Caro Kann
Naiditsch, Arkadij	- Dubov, Daniil	½-½	41	D10	Slav Defence
Ipatov, Alexander	- Smeets, Jan	½-½	41	D44	Anti-Meran Gambit
Edouard, Romain	- Ernst, Sipke	0-1	45	D16	Slav Lasker/Smyslov
Nikolic, Predrag	- Tiviakov, Sergei	0-1	40	E15	Queens Indian
Van Kampen, Robin	- Grandelius, Nils	0-1	41	B53	Sicilian Hungarian

75th Tata Steel GpC Wijk aan Zee (NED), 12-27 i 2013																cat. X (2476)
					1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	0	1	2	3	4
1.	Peralta, Fernando	g	ARG	2617	*	½	.	.	.	1	.	.	.	.	.	.	1	1	3½	2780
2.	Brunello, Sabino	g	ITA	2572	½	*	.	.	1	½	.	.	1	.	.	.	.	.	3	2730
3.	Gretarsson, Hjorvar Steinn	m	ISL	2516	.	.	*	.	.	.	.	1	.	½	1	½	.	.	3	2639
4.	Mekhitarian, Krikor Sevag	g	BRA	2543	.	.	.	*	.	.	.	½	0	1	1	.	.	.	2½	2539
5.	Kovchan, Alexander	g	UKR	2579	.	0	.	.	*	½	1	.	.	.	.	.	.	1	2½	2538
6.	Swinkels, Robin	g	NED	2508	0	½	.	.	½	*	.	.	.	.	.	.	1	.	2	2542
7.	Bitensky, Igor	m	ISR	2400	.	.	.	.	0	.	*	½	1	½	.	.	.	.	2	2466
8.	Romanishin, Oleg M	g	UKR	2521	.	.	0	½	.	.	½	*	.	.	.	1	.	.	2	2477
9.	Klein, David	m	NED	2445	.	0	.	1	.	.	0	.	*	.	.	.	.	1	2	2452
10.	Admiraal, Miguoel	f	NED	2321	.	.	½	0	.	.	½	.	.	*	.	.	.	½	1½	2351
11.	Burg, Twan	m	NED	2492	.	.	0	0	.	.	.	.	.	.	*	1	½	.	1½	2390
12.	Van Der Werf, Mark	m	NED	2450	.	.	½	.	.	.	.	0	.	.	0	*	½	.	1	2289
13.	Goryachkina, Aleksandra	wg	RUS	2402	0	.	.	.	.	0	.	.	.	.	½	½	*	.	1	2323
14.	Schut, Lisa	wm	NED	2295	0	.	.	.	0	.	.	.	0	½	.	.	.	*	½	2168

Round 4 (January 15, 2013)
Peralta, Fernando	- Schut, Lisa	1-0	33	D85	Gruenfeld Defence
Kovchan, Alexander	- Bitensky, Igor	1-0	62	C41	Philidor's Defence
Swinkels, Robin	- Brunello, Sabino	½-½	19	D11	Slav Defence
Romanishin, Oleg M	- Van Der Werf, Mark	1-0	57	E06	Catalan
Klein, David	- Mekhitarian, Krikor Sevag	1-0	40	B53	Sicilian Hungarian
Admiraal, Miguoel	- Gretarsson, Hjorvar Steinn	½-½	33	C68	Ruy Lopez Exchange
Goryachkina, Aleksandra	- Burg, Twan	½-½	48	E11	Bogo Indian Defence