Switchback

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.