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Anand beats Guijarro to enter Leon finals

by Sagar Shah - 12/06/2016

Vishy Anand is in Spain and is taking part in a three day rapid event in Leon. Local boys Anton Guijarro and Santosa Latasa took on Vishy Anand and Wei Yi respectively. Both the favourites won their match which brings us to the mouth watering finals clash between Vishy Anand and Wei Yi that will take place on Sunday. As of now we have the analysis of the four rapid games in which Anand was able to overcome his young Spanish opponent.

The 29th "City of Leon" Masters Chess is taking place from the 10th to 12th June 2016. Viswanathan Anand, Jaime Santos Latasa, Wei Yi and David Anton compete in a three-day rapid knockout event.

On 10th of June Anand took on Anton Guijarro while Santosa Latasa was up against Wei Yi on the 11th. The format of the semi-finals was four games of 20 mins + 10 sec increment. The winners will meet each other in the final on Sunday.

Anand had the black pieces in the first game of the match

The two players with the arbiter

Making the symbolic first move

Anton opted for the solid Bb5+ variation in the Sicilian and Vishy was able to draw without too many difficulties

Game one: A tame draw

[Event "29th Leon GM 2016"]
[Site "Leon ESP"]
[Date "2016.06.10"]
[Round "1.1"]
[White "Anton Guijarro, David"]
[Black "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B52"]
[WhiteElo "2627"]
[BlackElo "2770"]
[PlyCount "63"]
[EventDate "2016.06.10"]
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. Bb5+ Bd7 4. Bxd7+ Qxd7 5. c4 Nc6 6. Nc3 g6 7. d4 cxd4 8.
Nxd4 Bg7 9. Be3 Nf6 10. f3 O-O 11. Rc1 Rfc8 12. b3 a6 13. Nxc6 Rxc6 14. Qe2 e6
15. O-O Qc7 16. a4 Nd7 17. Rc2 Bxc3 $5 {A very interesting exchange. Anand
doesn't fear the dark square weaknesses because he gets queenside counterplay
with b5.} 18. Rxc3 b5 19. axb5 axb5 20. Rfc1 b4 21. Rd3 Nc5 22. Bxc5 dxc5 23.
e5 Rca6 24. Qe3 Ra1 25. Rxa1 Rxa1+ 26. Kf2 Qe7 27. Qf4 Kg7 28. h4 h5 29. Kg3
Rh1 30. Rd6 Rb1 31. Rd3 Rh1 32. Rd6 1/2-1/2

Game two: A beauty by Anand

Vishy won the second game in the match and took the lead. There were two highly instructive moments in the game which we would like to bring to your notice.

It's White (Anand) to play. What would you do?

Anand came up with the very instructive move 18.b4! The sole purpose of this move is to fight for the d4 square. Anton could have maintained status quo with the move Rac8 but instead went c4 when the knight sat on d4 and gave White a very pleasant edge.

It's time for some fireworks!
21.Rxc4 lead to a win of a pawn as after 21...dxc4 22.Bxb7 Rab8 23.Bg2 and now Nc6 is unstoppable. This game is worth studying:
[Event "29th Leon GM 2016"]
[Site "Leon ESP"]
[Date "2016.06.10"]
[Round "1.2"]
[White "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Black "Anton Guijarro, David"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A81"]
[WhiteElo "2770"]
[BlackElo "2627"]
[Annotator "Sagar Shah"]
[PlyCount "101"]
[EventDate "2016.06.10"]

1. d4 f5 2. g3 Nf6 3. Bg2 g6 4. Nf3 Bg7 5. O-O O-O 6. b3 e6 7. Bb2 d5 8. c4 b6
9. Qc2 Bb7 10. cxd5 exd5 11. Rc1 c6 12. Ne5 Ng4 13. Nd2 Nxe5 14. dxe5 Na6 15.
f4 Qe7 16. Nf3 c5 17. a3 Rfd8 18. b4 $1 c4 (18... cxb4 $6 19. axb4 Nxb4 20. Qb3
a5 (20... Bf8 21. e3 Na6 22. Ba3 Nc5 23. Qa2 Rdc8 24. Nd4 $16) 21. Bd4 $16) (
18... d4 19. Qc4+ Kh8 20. Ng5 $16) (18... Rac8 $1 {Keeping the status quo was
the best.}) 19. Nd4 Nc7 20. Qa4 a6 21. Rxc4 $1 {A nice tactical shot leading
to the win of a pawn.} dxc4 22. Bxb7 Rab8 23. Bf3 b5 24. Qc2 Bf8 $2 (24... Rb6
25. Nc6 Rxc6 26. Bxc6 Nd5 $14) 25. Nc6 Qe6 26. Nxb8 Rxb8 27. Rd1 $18 Be7 28.
Kg2 Kf7 29. h4 Ke8 30. h5 Rd8 31. hxg6 hxg6 32. Bd4 Nd5 33. Bf2 Nc7 34. Rh1 Kf7
35. Qc1 Kg8 36. Qe3 Nd5 37. Qa7 g5 38. fxg5 f4 39. Rh6 Qxe5 40. Qxa6 fxg3 41.
Qg6+ Kf8 42. Bxg3 Ne3+ 43. Kh3 Qf5+ 44. Qxf5+ Nxf5 45. Rh8+ Kf7 46. Bh5+ Ke6
47. Rxd8 Bxd8 48. Bg4 Bxg5 49. e4 c3 50. Bxf5+ Kf6 51. Kg4 1-0

Game three: Anton strikes back

It seemed as if Anand would run away with the match once he won the second game. However, Anton Guijarro made sure that he made his opponent's task as difficult as possible. He won the third game when he was able to outplay Anand from an equal position.

Anton as white found a cute way to finish off the proceedings. What was it that he played?
White would very much like to play Na3. However, it is met with Rc1+ and the queen falls on d3. Hence Guijarro came up with 40.Kh2 when it was all over. Anand's 40...Rxc5 was refuted by 41.Rxf8+! Work out the small detail for yourself!
[Event "29th Leon GM 2016"]
[Site "Leon ESP"]
[Date "2016.06.10"]
[Round "1.3"]
[White "Anton Guijarro, David"]
[Black "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D37"]
[WhiteElo "2627"]
[BlackElo "2770"]
[PlyCount "81"]
[EventDate "2016.06.10"]
1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Be7 4. Nf3 Nf6 5. Bf4 O-O 6. e3 Nbd7 7. c5 c6 8. h3 b6
9. b4 a5 10. a3 h6 11. Qc1 Bb7 12. Bd3 Qc8 13. O-O Ba6 14. Bxa6 Qxa6 15. Qb2
Rfc8 16. Rfc1 Bd8 17. Rab1 axb4 18. axb4 Qb7 19. Nd2 Bc7 20. Bxc7 Qxc7 21. Nb3
bxc5 22. bxc5 e5 23. Qc2 exd4 24. exd4 Nf8 25. Re1 Ne6 26. Qd2 Rcb8 27. Na1 Ne4
28. Nxe4 dxe4 29. Nc2 Rxb1 30. Rxb1 Ra2 31. Re1 Qb8 32. Qb4 Qa8 33. Qb3 Ra4 34.
Qe3 Qa5 35. Qxe4 Rc4 36. Rb1 Qc7 37. Ra1 Qb7 38. Qd3 Qb5 39. Ra8+ Nf8 40. Kh2
$1 {A very nice finish. There is no way to prevent the winning of material
with Na3.} Rxc5 41. Rxf8+ $1 {Kxf8 will be met with Qa3 pinning the rook.} 1-0

Anton showed that he is not a player who can be taken lightly

Game four: Anand goes through

Vishy got a pleasant position out of the opening and after some dubious moves by his opponent, he was on the verge of winning the game. Anand's technique was not the best but he managed to pull through to the finals.

[Event "29th Leon GM 2016"]
[Site "Leon ESP"]
[Date "2016.06.10"]
[Round "1.4"]
[White "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Black "Anton Guijarro, David"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E15"]
[WhiteElo "2770"]
[BlackElo "2627"]
[PlyCount "135"]
[EventDate "2016.06.10"]
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 c6 5. Bg2 d5 6. O-O Be7 7. Nc3 O-O 8. Qd3
Ba6 9. b3 Nbd7 10. e4 Rc8 11. Rd1 h6 12. e5 Nh7 13. Qc2 Qc7 14. Ne2 Rfd8 15.
Nf4 Ng5 16. Nxg5 Bxg5 17. h4 Be7 18. Bb2 Nf8 19. Rac1 Qb8 20. Qe2 c5 21. Qe1
dxc4 22. d5 c3 23. Qxc3 exd5 24. Nxd5 Re8 25. Qf3 Ne6 26. Qg4 Rcd8 27. Be4 Bb7
28. Qf3 Bxd5 29. Bxd5 Bf8 30. Rd3 Qc7 31. Rcd1 Qe7 32. h5 Qg5 33. Kg2 Qe7 34.
a4 Qc7 35. Qe4 Be7 36. f4 Qc8 37. Qc4 Kf8 38. Bc1 a6 39. Qe4 Kg8 40. Bb7 Qc7
41. Bxa6 Rd4 42. Rxd4 cxd4 43. Bd3 Bb4 44. Bc4 Bc3 45. Bd2 Nc5 46. Qf3 Bxd2 47.
Rxd2 Rd8 48. Bb5 Kf8 49. Rc2 Qe7 50. b4 Ne6 51. Rb2 Qc7 52. Qc6 Qxc6+ 53. Bxc6
d3 54. Rd2 Rd4 55. f5 Nc7 56. Kf3 Na6 57. Ke3 Rg4 58. a5 bxa5 59. bxa5 Rxg3+
60. Kf4 Rh3 61. Bb5 Nc7 62. Bxd3 Rh4+ 63. Kf3 Ra4 64. Rc2 Nd5 65. Rc8+ Ke7 66.
Bb5 Ra3+ 67. Kf2 Ra2+ 68. Ke1 1-0

Anand won the match 2.5-1.5 and thus qualified to the finals. 

The press conferece after the match

In the other semi-final, Wei Yi was able to beat the local boy Santosa Latasa with a score of 2.5-1.5

A mouth watering finals clash between youth and experience
Photos from Facebook page of the tournament