World Open
as in Issler-Duckstein, Basel 1971. The
idea of castling queenside rather than
the conventional kingside against 9. Qd2
was also an insight of my former mentor
GM Ron Henley.
ops in an open position. This was the
last chance for 14. ... c4 15. Bxg6 hxg6
16. Ba3 g5 17. h3 Qc7 18. Nh2 Rdg8
which is about as pleasant as it can get
for Black in the French.
11. ... gxf6
15. cxd4 Qxd2 16. Bxd2 Rhe8 17. c4 dxc4 18.
Bxc4 Kb8 19. Bh6
Also good are 19. a5, 19. h4, and 19.
Ba6 Bc8 20. Bb5 Bd7 21. Bh6.
Sitting next to me was IM Victor Frias
(who scored splendidly with 7-3); he took
a great interest in my game and continually seemed to be gesturing to me to
play slowly, and not fall into Anand’s
racecar rhythm.
19. ... Re7 20. Bd3?
40. a6+ Kxa6 41. Rc6+ Kb5 42. Rxf6 a5
r+-+k+-tr
zpp+lsn-+p
-+n+pzp-+
wq-zpp+-+P+-zP-+-+
+-zPL+N+-+PwQ-zPPzP
tR-vL-mK-+R
After 11. ... gxf6
12. 0-0?!
12. dxc5 e5 13. c4 dxc4 14. Bxc4 Qxc5
15. Bb3 0-0-0 16. 0-0 Nf5!? (16. ... Bg4
17. Qh6 Nd5 18. Nd2 Rhg8 19. Ba3 Qa5
20. Ne4 Nd4 with a level position SteinDoroskevich, USSR [ch] 1970) 17. Ba3
Qb6 18. Qd5 (18. Qc3 Kb8 19. Rfb1 Ncd4
20. Nxd4 Nxd4 21. Bc4 Qc7 22. Qb4 Bc6
with the attack) 18. ... Ncd4 19. Nxd4
Qxd4= according to French Defense guru
John Watson.
12. ... 0-0-0?!
A better move is 20. h4!.
20. ... Bc8?
20. ... Be8! for if 21. Be3 e5 22. Bxg6
Bxg6 23. Rbd1 Red7 when Black is indeed
winning.
21. Be3 Ka8 22. Be4 Rf7
White has a powerful bishop pair;
Black’s king is insecure and his game is
lifeless. 23. Rec1–c5 followed by a4-a5
comes to mind. Despite these setbacks,
I began to perceive a possible swindle, if
only the future world champ could be
coaxed into winning a pawn.
23. Bxc6 bxc6 24. Nd2 Ba6 25. Rbc1 e5 26.
Nb3 Bc8!?
My only hope was that Anand, moving
at top speed, would take the bait. 27.
dxe5 Nxe5 28. Nc5 was sufficient for a
long-term plus for White.
k+ltr-+-+
zp-+-+r+p
-+p+-zp-+
+-sN-sn-+P+-+-+-+
+-+-vL-+-+-+-zPPzP
+-tR-tR-mK-
12. ... c4! It’s hard to explain my reluctance to this obvious French move here
and the next two turns; perhaps it was
inexperience or a desire to get out of theory. Anand was moving so quickly (as he
did in his youth), I figured I was being
completely outgunned theoretically. Black
is clearly better after 13. Be2 0-0-0 14. Ba3
Nf5 15. Rfe1 (15. Rfb1!? Rdg8 16. Rb5 Qc7
17. Rab1 b6 18. Ra1 h5 19. Bc1 Nd6 and
had a sizeable edge in Wilson-Glueck, St.
Paul 1982) 15. ... Rdg8 (15. ... h5 16. Bf1
h4 Williams-Schmidt, Nice 1974) 16. Bf1
h5 17. Kh1 Rg6 18. Re2 Rhg8 19. Qe1 Nd8
20. g3? h4 21. Bh3?! hxg3 22. fxg3 Nxg3+!
23. hxg3 Rxg3 24. Bg2 e5 Reeh-Arkhipov,
Kecskemet 1990.
Completely turning the tables. Suddenly every black piece will be in the
attack.
13. Re1
29. f4 Rg7
13. dxc5 e5 14. c4 dxc4 15. Bxc4 Bg4
while equal, is probably a wiser course for
White.
13. ... Ng6?! 14. Rb1
14. Bb5!? Qc7 15. dxc5 Rhg8 16. Qh6
e5 17. Qxh7 Nge7 unnecessarily gives
Black chances.
14. ... cxd4?
But this is just plain wrong, leading to
a comfortable White plus with two bish42
Chess Life — July 2012
Analysis after 28. Nc5
27. Rxc6?? Bb7! 28. Rc2 Nh4
29. ... Bd5! first is much better, removing one of White’s guards of d4.
30. Ree2 Nf3+
Better is 30. ... Bd5 31. fxe5 fxe5 32.
Nc5 exd4 33. Bf4 d3 34. Nxd3 Nf3+ 35.
Kf1 Nd4.
31. Kh1 exd4 32. Nxd4 Nxd4 33. Bxd4 Rxg2
34. Rxg2 Rxd4 35. Kg1 Bxg2 36. Kxg2 Rxf4
37. a5?
37. Rc7 h5 (37. ... Rxa4 38. Rxh7 is
equal) 38. Rh7 Rg4+ 39. Kf3 Rg5 40. Ke4
should draw without difficulty.
37. ... Kb7 38. Rc5 Re4 39. Kf3 Re5
-+-+-+-+
+-+-+-+p
-+-+-tR-+
zpk+-tr-+-+-+-+-+
+-+-+K+-+-+-+-zP
+-+-+-+-
After 42. ... a5
Anand was moving very quickly and
thought he had drawing chances. At the
time I suspected that Black was winning
against any defense; how ironic that I
had to wait a quarter century for the
development of a seven-piece tablebase to
prove it rigorously! The computer says
Black forces the win of White’s rook in no
more than 23 moves.
43. Rf7 h5
43. ... h6 44. Kf4 Re2 45. Rb7+ Ka6 46.
Rb8 a4 47. Ra8+ Kb5 48. Rb8+ Kc4 49.
Ra8 Kb3 50. Rb8+ Ka2 51. h4 Rb2 52.
Rh8 Rb6 is a tad faster, according to the
computer.
44. Kf4 Rc5 45. Ke4
Only prolonging defeat by a few moves
is 45. Rb7+ Kc4 46. Ke3 Kc3 47. Ra7 h4!
48. h3 Rb5 49. Rc7+ Kb2 50. Ra7 Kb3 51.
Kd2 a4 52. Kc1 Rc5+ 53. Kb1 Rc3 54.
Rb7+ Ka3 etc.
45. ... Kc4
Even prettier and faster is 45. ... a4 46.
Kd3 h4! 47. Rb7+ Ka5 48. Rb1 (48. Kd4
Rb5) 48. ... a3 49. Rb8 h3! 50. Rb7 Ka4 51.
Ra7+ Ra5 52. Rxa5+ Kxa5 53. Kc3 Ka4 54.
Kc2 Kb4 55. Kb1 Kc3 and were the black
h-pawn not as advanced, White sometimes has drawing chances in endgames
with two rook pawns versus one.
46. Ra7
46. Rf1 a4 47. Rc1+ Kb4 48. Rb1+ Ka5
49. Kd4 Rc2 50. Rb8 h4 (50. ... Rxh2
takes one move longer) 51. Ra8+ Kb4 52.
Rb8+ Ka3 53. h3 Ka2 54. Kd3 Rh2 55.
Rf8 a3 56. Kc3 Rxh3+ 57. Kc4 Rh2 58.
Rf3 h3 59. Kb4 Rb2+! 60. Ka4 h2 61.
Rxa3+ Kb1 62. Rh3 Rg2 and the black
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