Chessable Lowenthal Sicilian

3rd Pearl Spring Tournament 2010 (4)

Carlsen leads after 4, Anand loses carelessly

Etienne Bacrot beat Viswanathan Anand in Round 4. Photo © Peter Doggers

Etienne Bacrot beat Viswanathan Anand in Round 4. Photo © Peter Doggers | http://www.chessvibes.com

Magnus Carlsen had to work hard to secure a draw against Vugar Gashinov in a Ruy Lopez closed, Breyer but eventually escaped in a Rook and Pawn ending. Viswanathan Anand played a QGD Slav Wiesbaden variation and seemed to have more than enough pawns for the piece he gave up. When Bacrot entered the Rook, Bishop and two pawns vs Rook and four pawns ending his chances for a win were surely limited. It may be that Anand could have drawn by keeping rooks on but even when they came off the game should have been drawn until Anand miscalculated and almost immediately had to resign. Veselin Topalov achieved very little against Wang Yue's Slav and a draw was agreed in 35 moves.

Bacrot,Etienne - Anand,Viswanathan [D17]

3rd Pearl Spring Nanjing CHN (4), 23.10.2010

1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Nf3 dxc4 5.a4 Bf5 6.Ne5 e6 7.f3 Bb4 8.e4 Bxe4 9.fxe4 Nxe4 10.Bd2 Qxd4 11.Nxe4 Qxe4+ 12.Qe2 Bxd2+ 13.Kxd2 Qd5+ 14.Kc3 0–0 15.Qe3 b5 16.Be2 Nd7 17.Nxd7 Qxd7 18.Rhd1 Qe7 19.Kc2 a5 20.Bf3 Rac8 21.Qe5 g6 22.axb5 cxb5 23.Qxb5 Rc5 24.Qd7 Qg5 25.Qd4 Rfc8 26.Ra3 Rb5 27.Rd2 Rb4 28.Kd1 Rcb8 29.Ke2 Qb5 30.Ke1 Rxb2 31.Rxb2 Qxb2 32.Qxb2 Rxb2 33.Rxa5 c3 34.Rc5 Rb1+ 35.Ke2 Rc1 36.Kd3 Kg7 37.Rxc3 Rxc3+ 38.Kxc3 f5 39.Kd4 Kf6 40.Bd1 h5 41.Bf3 h4 42.Be2

Viswanathan Anand

________
________
____pkp_
_____p__
___K___p
________
____B_PP
________

Etienne Bacrot

Position after 42.Be2

42... g5?

Due to the h8 square being the wrong colour for the bishop black is almost within sight of the draw. For instance:

42...e5+ 43.Kd5 e4 44.Bf1

(If 44. Ba6 h3! (draws) but 44. Ba6 Kg5 loses.)

(If 44. h3 g5 45. Kd4 g4 46. hxg4 Kg5! 47. gxf5 h3! draws)

44...Kg5 45.Ke5 f4 46.Kxe4 h3 47.gxh3 and black will just retreat his King to h8 where it can't be dislodged or 47.g3 fxg3 48.hxg3 h2 49.Bg2 Kg4 50.Ke3 Kxg3 with a draw too.

Now black's pawns become immobile and will fall off quickly.

43.Ba6 g4 44.Bb7 e5+ 45.Kd5 f4 46.Ke4 1–0

3rd Pearl Spring Nanjing (CHN), 20-30 x 2010 cat. XXI (2766)
1 2 3 4 5 6
1. Carlsen, Magnus g NOR 2826 * * 1 . ½ . ½ . . . 1 . 3 2934
2. Bacrot, Etienne g FRA 2716 0 . * * 1 . 1 . ½ . . . 2882
3. Anand, Viswanathan g IND 2800 ½ . 0 . * * . . 1 . ½ . 2 2769
4. Gashimov, Vugar g AZE 2719 ½ . 0 . . . * * ½ . ½ . 2682
5. Topalov, Veselin g BUL 2803 . . ½ . 0 . ½ . * * ½ . 2654
6. Wang Yue g CHN 2732 0 . . . ½ . ½ . ½ . * * 2700
Round 4 (October 23, 2010)
Bacrot, Etienne - Anand, Viswanathan 1-0 46 D17 Slav Defence
Gashimov, Vugar - Carlsen, Magnus ½-½ 76 C95 Ruy Lopez Breyer
Topalov, Veselin - Wang Yue ½-½ 35 D17 Slav Defence

View the games on this Page

Download the PGN from this page

vs

Advertising

New in Chess Magazine 2025 Offer


Chess.com Events


Chess and Bridge CB 18

Modern Chess Jobava London


Lessons on Uncompromising Play

Contact Mark Crowther (TWIC) if you wish to advertise here.


The Week in Chess Magazine

Send a £30 donation via Paypal and contact me via email (Email Mark Crowther - mdcrowth@btinternet.com) I'll send you an address for a cbv file of my personal copy of every issue of the games in one database. Over 4 million games.

Alternatively subscribe to donate £4 a month

Read about 25 years of TWIC.

TWIC 1571 16th December 2024 - 7853 games

Read TWIC 1571

Download TWIC 1571 PGN

Download TWIC 1571 ChessBase

TWIC Sponsors:

Clark St James Ltd - online advertising agency eg Google AdWords, Facebook Ads, LinkedIn Ads

The Doctor.