Vishy Anand’s eyes lit up as he described a beautiful variation from his game with Shakriyar Mamedyarov, played at the European Club Cup in Mayrhofen, Austria this month.
The first diagram shows a variation which could arise if Mamedyarov had tried 33…Bg5!? 34 Rxc4 Bxe3+. (See left game)
35 Kf1 is tempting, since 35…Bxc4 36 Qa4!, threatens to capture the Bc4 and put Black in check at the same time. But 35 Kf1 d2! is a powerful spoiler, since after 36 Ra1 Bxc4+ the mighty pawn and bishop pair are a match for the queen. Placing the king on g2 or h1 leaves it vulnerable to a check from d5.
Anand had planned to play 35 Kh2! Then, after 35…Bxc4 36 Qa4! disrupts Black’s coordination. He saw that Black might try 36…Bf4+ 37 Kg1 Be3+. But then 38 Kf1! does win the game, since 38…d2+ just loses to 39 Qxc4+, with a counter-check against Black’s king. Better is 38…Bd5, but 39 Rd1 d2 40 Ke2 wins comfortably, preparing to give up the rook for bishop and pawn.
Switchbacks and counter-checks often find a delicate setting in composed problems. For the former, I’m fond of the problem shown in the second diagram. White to play and win, composed by Herbstmann in 1928 (see right game).
White begins by dancing the knight around: 1 Nd6+ Ke5 2 Nf7+ Kf5 (note that 2…Kd5 or 2…Ke4 loses to a skewer: 3 Bb7+) 3 Nh6+ Ke5 4 Ng4+ Kf5 and now the beautiful coup 5 e4+! Again, 5…Kxe4 allows a skewer, and capturing en passant allows a fork on e3 (hence the dance to g4). After 5…Qxe4, the knight retraces its steps: 6 Nh6+ Ke5 7 Nf7+ Kf5 8 Nd6+ wins the queen, and the game.
Vishy Anand-Shakhriyar Mamedyarov
European Club Cup, Mayrhofen, October 2022
1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5 a6 4 Ba4 Nf6 5 O-O Nxe4 6 d4 b5 7 Bb3 d5 8 dxe5 Be6 9 c3 Be7 10 Nbd2 Nc5 11 Bc2 d4 12 Nb3 d3 13 Bb1 Nxb3 14 axb3 Bf5 15 b4 O-O 16 Re1 Qd7 17 h3 Rfd8 18 g4 Bg6 19 Bf4 a5 20 bxa5 Rxa5 21 Ba2 Rxa2 A creative sacrifice, envisioning long-term compensation on the light squares. 22 Rxa2 Qd5 23 Ra1 b4 24 Nd2 f6 25 exf6 Bxf6 26 Rc1 Rf8 27 Be3 bxc3 28 bxc3 Bh4 29 Rf1 Ne5 30 f4 Nc4 31 Nxc4 Qxc4 32 f5 Bf7 33 Rf4 Qd5 33…Bg5 34 Rxc4 Bxe3+ leads to the first diagram. In fact 33…Qc6 34 Qxd3 Re8 still offered reasonable play for the material deficit. 34 Rd4 Qe5 35 Bf4 Qe2 36 Qxe2 dxe2 37 Re4 e1=Q+ 38 Rcxe1 Bxe1 39 Rxe1 With a clear extra pawn, Anand slowly converts his advantage. c6 40 Kf2 h6 41 Re7 Bd5 42 Kg3 Rf7 43 Re1 Kh7 44 Bd6 Rd7 45 Bc5 Bf7 46 Re3 Rd5 47 Bb6 Kg8 48 Kf4 Rb5 49 Bd4 Rd5 50 Re1 c5 51 Be3 Rd3 52 Rc1 Bb3 53 h4 c4 54 Ra1 Black resigns
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