Author: Terry McCracken
Date: 11:21:39 12/22/00
Game 3 Shirov,A (2746) - Anand,V (2762) [B49] FIDE Final Tehran (3.1), 22.12.2000 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Qc7 5.Nc3 e6 6.Be2 a6 7.0-0 Nf6 8.Be3 Bb4 9.Na4 Bd6! Anand has played this opening three times before including twice against Shirov. He drew with Shirov at Wijk aan Zee 1999 and beat him during the Frankfurt Giants 2000 at g/25 (in the same event he also drew with Kasparov). In all these games he chose 9. ...Be7, now he presents Shirov with new problems. 10.g3 b5 11.Nb6 Rb8 12.Nxc8 Rxc8 13.a4 Nxd4 14.Bxd4 e5 15.Be3 Bc5 16.axb5 TN Played after 45 minutes thought. I can only find three game references to this position. It was first played in the game Suetin-Taimanov 1968 and white continued 16.Bxc5 eventually going on to win. However it is probably Beshukov who sparked new interest. He drew against Galkin in the 16.Bxc5 line and repeated it in losing against Dolmatov in 1999 where 16.Qd3 was played.. Bxe3 17.fxe3 axb5 18.Bxb5 0-0 19.Rxf6!? An interesting move possibly good enough to draw, probably not more. gxf6 20.Bxd7?! This move doesn't work out very well. Possibly Shirov underestimates Anand's next. Ra8 21.Qg4+ Kh8 22.Rf1 Rg8 23.Qh3 Qc5 24.Bf5 Qxe3+ 25.Kg2 h6 26.Qh5 Kg7 27.Qg4+ Qg5 28.Qf3 Rgd8 29.h4 Qd2+ 30.Kh3 Rd6 31.Rf2 Qd1 32.Kg4 Ra2 33.Qxd1 Rxd1 34.c4 Rb1 35.Rd2 Raxb2 36.Rd7 Rb7 37.Rd6 Rc7 38.Kh5 Rc1 39.g4 R7xc4 40.Rd7 Rc7 41.Rd8 Rh1 The winning plan could involve something like: 41...Rh1 42.Rd7 Rxd7 43.Bxd7 Rf1 44.Bc8 Re1 45.Bb7 (45.Bf5 Re2 46.g5 hxg5 47.hxg5 Rh2+ 48.Kg4 Rg2+-+) 45...Kh7 46.Bd5 Re2 47.Bc6 Rf2 48.Bd5 Rf4 49.Bc6 Kg7 50.Bd5 Kf8 51.Bc6 Ke7 52.Bd5 Kd6 53.Bb7 Kc5 54.Bd5 Kd4 55.Bxf7 Kxe4 56.Be6 Kf3 57.Kxh6 e4-+ 0-1 (my thanks to Dennis Monokroussos). Anand yet again presented his opponent with new problems and never seemed in any trouble throughout. 0-1 My Apologies if I strayed to far from the topics of Computer Chess! I was just elated to see "Vishy" win this game! Score is now 2.5 to 0.5 in favour of Anand. Best Regards to All and Merry Christmas!, Terry McCracken
This page took 0 seconds to execute
Last modified: Thu, 15 Apr 21 08:11:13 -0700
Current Computer Chess Club Forums at Talkchess. This site by Sean Mintz.