ताल मेमोरियल -R-3-4-5 - वापसी की रोचक दास्तान !!

[Event "10th Tal Memorial 2016"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2016.09.29"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Li, Chao b"]
[Black "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E21"]
[WhiteElo "2746"]
[BlackElo "2776"]
[Annotator "Vishy Anand"]
[PlyCount "61"]
[EventDate "2016.??.??"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[SourceTitle "playchess.com"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[TimeControl "40/6000+30:20/3000+30:900+30"]

1. d4 {0} Nf6 {0} 2. c4 {0} e6 {0} 3. Nc3 {2} Bb4 {0} 4. Nf3 {9} b6 {7} 5. e3 {
38} Ne4 {76} 6. Qc2 {45} Bb7 {36} 7. Bd3 {14} Bxc3+ {11} 8. bxc3 {7} f5 {6} 9.
O-O {73} O-O {35} 10. Nd2 {18} Nxd2 {303} 11. Bxd2 {117} Qh4 {12} 12. f3 {88}
d6 {85} 13. a4 {I think it is an interesting move as it forces my knight to c6.
} Nc6 {622} 14. g3 {This looks suspicious to me. I was really surprised.} (14.
e4 f4 {Li Chao was afraid of ...f4. But I am not so sure. With the knight on
d7 in such a structure, I may play this, but here White has c5.} (14... fxe4
15. Bxe4 Na5 {White gets the e4 square. But I can play this.}) 15. c5 $1 dxc5
16. dxc5 Ne5 17. Be2 {with the idea to play c4, and Bc3. Li Chao: I don't like
the knight on e5. Anand: Yes, it is hard to say.}) 14... Qh5 {135} 15. e4 Na5 {
712} ({Here, I was hesitating, because I can play} 15... fxe4 16. Bxe4 (16.
fxe4 {can win a tempo for white, but Black has} e5 17. c5 exd4 18. cxd4 {
with the idea Qc4+.}) 16... Na5 {I was not at all worried about my position.})
16. Rae1 {I suspected I was better here.} (16. Bf4 {was suggested by Li Chao,
but I don't need ...Ba6 here, and can play ...e5,...f4.} e5 17. Bd2 f4 $15)
16... fxe4 {169} ({Maybe I can try} 16... Ba6 17. exf5 exf5 18. Re7 c5 (18...
Bxc4 19. Rxc7 d5 20. Bf4 Rf7 (20... Bxd3 21. Qxd3 Rf7 22. Qb5 Rxc7 23. Qxd5+
$18)) 19. Bf4 {with Qe2, is not as good as I had thought earlier.}) 17. fxe4 {
945} Ba6 {54 I was beginning to think that I may be better. But he found the
only move that does not make him worse.} 18. Bf4 {768} Bxc4 {662} ({I could go
} 18... e5 {but then} 19. Bc1 {And I didn't like that fact that he has Rf5. Li
Chao suggested:} c5 20. Rf5 Qe8 21. Ref1 Qe6 {I thought here he could take the
file with} 22. Qf2 {It is close to being better. But even if I take the pawn
on c4, he has moves like Qa2. It is hard to keep the structure perfect and do
everything. I would be annoyed if there is a simpler way to be better.}) 19.
Bxc4 {142} Nxc4 {100} 20. Qb3 {27} d5 {43} 21. Qb5 {21 These moves are not
incredibly difficult to find.} Rac8 {685} (21... Qe8 22. exd5 Qxb5 23. axb5
exd5 24. Re7 Rf7 25. Rxf7 Kxf7 26. Bxc7+ Ke6 27. Ra1 $1 {And I did not see how
to make progress here. Because I need ...Na3, and I actually saw here} g5 {
trying to trap his bishop, but he goes} 28. g4 {and I couldn't see how to make
progress. The rook is really passive. It is too much wishful thinking to bring
the king to b7 to free the rook, but it is other-worldly. It won't work here
because he just has Re1 in time. One idea would be to play} Na5 29. Re1+ Kd7
30. Bg3 Nc4 {but he has so many open files that he can go Rf1, etc. It was
hard for me to control what was happening.}) 22. Qc6 {So this is okay, but it
is my fault that I kept missing one tactic or the other...} Rfe8 {263} (22...
Qe8 {will face the same problem as in the previous variation.} 23. exd5 Qxc6
24. dxc6 Rf6 {and now importantly} 25. Re4 (25. g4 Na5 26. g5 Rf5 27. Rxe6 Rcf8
28. Re4 Nxc6 29. Rf2 $11) 25... Na5 26. Rfe1 Kf7 27. g4 {looks very suspicious.
It was difficult to find the correct set up.}) 23. Rf2 {It is at this point
that I realized that I had missed something.} Na5 {523} 24. Qd7 {36} Qf7 {
29 I just decided to make a draw here, because...} ({My original idea was to
play} 24... dxe4 {because it is principled. But here,} 25. Bxc7 $16 {And I am
paralysed. I can't move a muscle! Mainly because the bishop cuts my rooks off
from each other. I am stuck here.} (25. Be5 Qg6 {is excellent for me.}) 25... Qd5
26. Qf7+ Kh8 27. Be5 $16) 25. Qxf7+ {138} Kxf7 {17} 26. Bxc7+ {103} Kg8 {52}
27. Bf4 {No side can make progress here.} Nc4 {9} 28. Rfe2 {67} Kf7 {7} 29. Rf2
{106} Kg8 {7} 30. Rfe2 {6} Kf7 {11} 31. Rf2 {4} 1/2-1/2

[Event "10th Tal Memorial 2016"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2016.09.30"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Kramnik, Vladimir"]
[Black "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "2808"]
[BlackElo "2776"]
[Annotator "Sagar Shah"]
[PlyCount "101"]
[EventDate "2016.??.??"]

{It's always a pleasure to see the two ex-World Champions face off against
each other.} 1. e4 {0} e5 {0} 2. Nf3 {0} Nc6 {0} 3. Bc4 {0 Anand has been at
the forefront from the white side of the Guioco Piano. Today against Kramnik
he has to defend from the other side.} Bc5 {0} 4. O-O {0} Nf6 {0} 5. d3 {0} O-O
{17} 6. h3 {1 Kramnik goes for the same line in which Harikrishna was able to
get the better of Sergey Karjakin.} (6. c3 d5 {seems to be doing quite well
for Black.}) 6... d6 {208} 7. c3 {753} (7. Bg5 {Now that the bishop cannot go
back to e7, it makes sense to pin the knight. This is quite an irritating pin
but there is a more important thing that is happening in the position and that
is the c4 bishop is lost after} Na5 $1 $11 {Usually the loss of this bishop
means that White cannot fight for an advantage.}) 7... a6 (7... Na5 8. Bb5 a6
9. Ba4 b5 10. Bc2 {And Black is unable to win the bishop.}) 8. Re1 Ba7 {
156 Now Black is once again threatening Na5.} (8... Na5 9. b4 $5 Nxc4 10. bxc5
Na5 11. Be3 $14 {This must surely have been prepared by Kramnik at home.}) 9.
Bb3 {178} h6 {520 Once the light squared bishop on b3 is out of reach (it can
always go to c2 when attacked), Black makes the move h6 and stops the Bg5 pin.}
10. Nbd2 {5} Re8 {74} 11. Nf1 {11} Be6 {62} 12. Bc2 {6 Overall the position is
round about equal, but the nice thing about such positions is that unlike the
Breyer or the Chigorin or the Zaitsev it has not been extensively played at
the highest level. So there is always scope for new ideas. That being said
this position has been reached in nearly 200 games, so it is not particularly
virgin territory.} d5 {124 Usually this central break signals that Black has
equalised out of the opening. But Kramnik hardly cares about the evaluation of
the position. He just wants to have an interesting position on the board.} 13.
exd5 {5} Bxd5 {175} (13... Nxd5 {is also fine. The e5 pawn is not hanging
because of the typical trick of Bxf2+} 14. Nxe5 Nxe5 15. Rxe5 Bxf2+ 16. Kxf2
Qf6+ $17) 14. Ng3 {78} Bc5 {254 Anand played this after four minutes of
thought. What the idea of this move is, is unclear. Vishy would like to put
his bishop on f8 and reroute it to g7 after g6. But frankly speaking the
bishop on a7 looked pretty good. The simple plan of Qd7 followed by Rad8
employed by Mamedyarov against Nisipeanu looks decent.} ({Anand has already
had this position in his game against Giri in 2015 Stavanger Blitz.} 14... Qd7
15. b4 (15. Nh4 Rad8 16. Nhf5 Kh8 17. d4 exd4 18. Nxg7 Rxe1+ 19. Qxe1 Kxg7 20.
Bxh6+ Kh8 21. Qd2 Rg8 22. Qf4 Qd6 23. Qh4 Qxg3 24. fxg3 {1-0 (26) Giri,A (2773)
-Anand,V (2804) Stavanger 2015}) 15... Rad8 16. a4 b5 17. axb5 axb5 18. Nh4 Bb6
19. Nhf5 Ne7 20. Nxg7 Kxg7 21. Rxe5 Ng6 22. Bxh6+ Kxh6 23. Nf5+ Kh7 24. Qc1 Kg8
25. Qh6 Nh5 26. Rxe8+ Rxe8 27. Qxh5 Qc6 28. c4 (28. Nh6+) 28... bxc4 29. d4 Be6
30. Ba4 Qa8 31. Nh6+ Kg7 32. d5 Bd7 33. Nxf7 Bxa4 34. Ra3 Bxf2+ 35. Kxf2 Qa7+
36. Kf1 c3 {0-1 (36) Nisipeanu,L (2683)-Mamedyarov,S (2743) Reykjavik 2015})
15. b4 {42} Bf8 {172} 16. a4 {28} g6 {424} 17. Bb2 {517 The bishop on b2 takes
aim at the e5 pawn and threatens c4 at an appropriate moment. However, it will
be interesting to see how Kramnik is flexible in his thinking and drops back
the bishop back to c1 within a few moves.} b5 {493} 18. Ne4 {1108} (18. axb5
axb5 19. Rxa8 Qxa8 20. c4 Bxf3 21. Qxf3 Nxb4 $17) 18... Rb8 19. Bc1 $1 {
Things have changed. The c5 square has been weakened and Be3 is the ideal
square for the dark squared bishop.} Nd7 {1273} 20. Bb3 $1 {264 Once againa
very nice move. Once the bishop on d5 is exchanged a lot of the light squares
in Black's position would be weakened.} Bxb3 {68} 21. Qxb3 {163} Re6 {10} (
21... Nf6 22. Be3 $14) 22. axb5 {309} axb5 {22} 23. Be3 {82 Kramnik has got
all his pieces nicely co-ordinated. His knight on e4 and bishop e3 work well
in tandem. The rook on the a-file is actively placed and the queen on b3 is
also ideal. As for Black's part, it is difficult to suggest an active plan.}
Nf6 {286} 24. Rad1 {491} Nxe4 {138} 25. dxe4 {43} Qe8 {43} (25... Qe7 26. Bc5
$16) (25... Qf6 26. Rd7 $16) 26. Rd5 {121} Nd8 $1 {111 If Anand were given a
few moves he would like to push his pawn to c6 and get his knight from
b7-d6-c4.} 27. Ra1 {669} Nb7 {70} (27... c6 {was possible.}) 28. Ra7 {217} c6 {
27} 29. Rd1 {478} Nd6 {129} 30. Nd2 {88} Ra8 {76 Anand has defended
tenaciously and has kept Black's disadvantage to a minimum. However, Kramnik
is not one of those player's who is going to give up easily.} 31. Rda1 {142}
Rxa7 {12} 32. Rxa7 {1} Re7 {10} 33. Ra6 {20 It made complete sense to keep the
active rook on the board.} Rc7 {147} 34. Qa2 {36} Kg7 {247} 35. Bb6 {240} Rb7 {
253} 36. Bc5 {57} Be7 {161} 37. Ra8 {307} Rb8 {344} 38. Ra7 {12} Rd8 {23} (
38... Nc8 {might have been a good idea to try and get a pieces off the board.}
39. Bxe7 Nxe7 40. Qa5 $14 {White keeps a slight edge.}) 39. Bb6 {337} Rc8 {23}
(39... Rd7 40. Ra8 $14) 40. Bc7 {0} Qd7 {0 Anand defends in the most tenacious
manner possible.} 41. Bb6 {254} Qe8 {180} 42. g3 $1 {1028 Just a waiting move
asking Black to come up with something. Surprisingly it is not so easy for
Black to move.} Bg5 {972} 43. Bc7 $1 {134} Bxd2 {46} (43... Be7 44. Qa6 {
Tightens the noose.}) 44. Bxd6 {12} Bxc3 {8} 45. Re7 {11} Qg8 $2 {7 After
defending with great tenacity, Anand finally goes wrong. But I can tell you
that to find just about only moves for such a long duration against a player
of Kramnik's calibre is no easy task.} (45... Qf8 $1 46. Qe6 Ra8 47. Bxe5+ Kg8
48. Qf6 Bxe5 49. Qxe5 Qg7 $11 {/+=}) 46. Qe6 $1 {74} Qf8 {246} (46... Ra8 {
No longer makes any sense because} 47. Bxe5+ Bxe5 48. Qxe5+ Kh7 49. Qf6 Rf8 50.
Qxc6 $18 {is just game over.}) 47. Kg2 {630} (47. Rc7 $1 {was winning as after}
Rxc7 (47... Qe8 48. Qxc8 $18) 48. Bxf8+ Kxf8 49. Qd6+ Re7 50. Kg2 $18 {Should
be a technical win for White.}) 47... Rd8 $6 {619} (47... Ra8 $5 {Now that the
rook has moved to a safe square and can always go down the a-file Black is
threatening Kg8, and this gives Black better chances of survival.}) (47... Kg8
48. Rxf7 $1 Qxf7 49. Qxc8+ $18) 48. Bc5 {305} Bd4 {439} 49. Qxc6 {23} Kg8 {26}
(49... Bxc5 50. Qxc5 $16) 50. Qxb5 {254} Rb8 {152} 51. Rxf7 $1 {149 A nice
finishing blow. Black is two pawns down and has almost no compensation. A
fantastic game by Kramnik who showed some really high class middlegame play.
Anand was at his defensive best, but one error is all that it took for the
Russian to score an emphatic victory.} 1-0

[Event "10th Tal Memorial 2016"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "2016.10.01"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Black "Gelfand, Boris"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "2776"]
[BlackElo "2743"]
[PlyCount "116"]
[EventDate "2016.??.??"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 g6 4. Bxc6 bxc6 5. O-O Bg7 6. Re1 Nh6 {This
particular line is all the rage now. ...Nh6 is just exploding. To be honest, I
had not been following the Rossolimo much but I noticed that Inarkiev played
this against Gelfand. I was amazed that this had been bubbling underneath and
it is hot now.} 7. c3 O-O 8. h3 d5 9. d3 c4 10. dxc4 dxe4 11. Qxd8 Rxd8 12.
Rxe4 e5 13. Re1 f6 14. Nbd2 Nf7 {I decided to go for this endgame. The only
difference is that we had prepared, instead of 15.Nb3 as in the
Inarkiev-Gelfand match,} 15. Ne4 {this move.} f5 16. Neg5 {The whole idea is
to get opposite coloured bishops.} e4 17. Nxf7 {So I exchange everything and
try to get that ending.} Kxf7 18. Bg5 Rd3 19. Nd4 Ba6 20. b3 c5 {Of couse, he
didn't give me the dark squared bishop.} ({Basically, what I mean is} 20...
Bxd4 21. cxd4 Rxd4 22. Rad1 $18 {because Black is missing all the dark squares
here and White can even bring his king up the board and so on.}) 21. Ne2 h6 22.
Be3 Rc8 {Here, I have to play} 23. h4 $1 {because otherwise, he can play ...g5,
and ...f4 and get compensation for his dark squares.} Bf6 ({We were discussing
} 23... Bb7 {to stop white's knight establishing itself on d5.}) 24. Nf4 Rdd8
25. Nd5 Bxh4 {It is very important that I bring his bishop to h4 before I take}
26. Bxh6 Bb7 27. g3 Bf6 ({Now, if he takes} 27... Bxd5 {Then I get the
opposite coloured bishops that I want.} 28. gxh4 (28. cxd5 Bf6 {maybe I can
sac the exchange and try this as well, but that's speculative.}) 28... Be6 {
Basically, the idea is to use the queenside pawn structure as a wall against
the black bishop.} 29. Rad1 {Now the thing to remember is that if he goes} Rd3
30. Rxd3 exd3 31. Bg5 {I just take away the d8 square and he wil lose the d3
pawn for nothing. If he tries with ...Rc6, I will just play Bf4, f3, and win
the bishop and pawn ending.}) 28. Nxf6 Kxf6 29. Be3 {Anyway I get the wall} Rd3
30. Kf1 {Why did I play Kf1?} ({Because suddenly I wasn't sure about} 30. Rac1
Rh8 31. Kf1 {looks winning, but surprisingly} Rxe3 32. fxe3 (32. Rxe3 Rh1+ $19)
32... Rh2 {It is difficult to get back the second rank and Black has some
counterplay with Kg5, Kg4, etc. Somwhere, his counterplay can get out of hand.
So I thought it'll be irresponsible to allow that.}) 30... g5 {But here it is
not that trivial because he is threatening to generate counterplay..} 31. Ke2
Rxc3 32. Rac1 {perhaps this is not ideal.} ({I could have tried} 32. Kd2 Rd3+ {
to put it on c2} 33. Kc2 {The point is that now that I am secure on e3, I can
go to the h-file. With two rooks he cannot stop me from entering. With one
rook it is possible to stop it with ...Kg6, and that is what he did in the
game.}) 32... Rxc1 33. Rxc1 Rd8 ({What I am threatening is Rh1, and when he
stops it with ... Kg6, I can go Rd1, and things should break down. Thre is
this alternative} 33... Kg6 34. Rd1 Kh5 35. Rd7 Bc6 {Before he can play ...Kg4
and ...f4, I hammer it,} 36. Rg7 {so, it is difficult to execute this plan.
The rook will loop around all over the place and it is difficult for his two
pieces to control it.}) 34. Bxc5 {I don't see how to make progress without
this. Now I find myself in a situation where I can't really enter...} f4 (34...
Kg6 35. Be3 {and then go b4, b5. Already I can consider Rc2, d2 and the
endgame.} (35. Bxa7 Ra8)) 35. gxf4 gxf4 36. Bxa7 e3 {I decided to go for this
endgame with four pawns for the piece.} 37. Bxe3 ({It is important not to get
distracted with} 37. fxe3 f3+ {And he can go Be4 which is just annoying as I
will always be fighting against the f pawn. So, I decided that th ebest is to
just play the text.}) 37... fxe3 38. Kxe3 Bc8 {I would most likely lose the
f-pawn somewhere along the way, but the advantage for white is that in the
meantime, if I build up the pawn strucure, let's say a6-c4, then I can just
ditch the f-pawn.} 39. Rc2 Bf5 40. Rd2 Ra8 41. Kd4 Ke6 (41... Ra3 {is a good
sameple line to understand this.} 42. Kc3 (42. Rb2 {I guess I don't want to do
this, because he may use this chance to slide over to the queenside.}) 42...
Bb1 {He is not threatening to take becauase of Kb2, but at the same time I
cannot make progress. Then I found} 43. Kb4 Rxa2 44. Rxa2 Bxa2 45. Kc3 Bb1 46.
Kd4 Ke6 47. b4 Kd6 48. b5 Bf5 49. f4 {he will never be able to stop both pawns.
I was gonna double check this, but my hunch is this is just winning.}) 42. Kc3
Ke5 43. a4 Be4 {I think the important move in the ending was} 44. Kb4 (44. Re2
{was my original idea threatening f3..} Rf8 45. a5 Rf3+ 46. Kb4 Kd4 47. Rd2+
Bd3 48. a6 Rf8 {I was not sure about this.}) 44... Rb8+ {but here my rook is
perfectly placed on d2.} 45. Ka3 {Now ther eis no going back for him. If he
goes Ra8, I go b4-b5, and if he goes rc8, I go a5. I guess it is just slowly
winning.} Rf8 46. a5 Rf3 47. Kb4 Bb7 48. Rd8 Rxf2 49. Kc5 Rf6 50. Re8+ Kf4 51.
b4 Rc6+ 52. Kd4 Rd6+ 53. Kc5 Rc6+ 54. Kb5 Rf6 55. Re7 Ba6+ 56. Kc5 Rf5+ 57. Kd4
Kf3 58. b5 Bxb5 {His king is cut off so far that I will get a Lucena anyway.} (
58... Bxb5 59. cxb5 Rxb5 60. a6 Ra5 61. a7 Kf4 $18) 1-0