Anand World Champion ??

Anand is playing today game 10, which he needs only a draw to win the 2008 WorldChampionship against Kramnik.
Anand's wins in round 3, 5 and 6 , without suffering any loss confirmed he is soon to be the uncontested classical world chess champion (succeeding Kasparov and Kramnik). So far his performance in the match is close to perfect play.

It is remarkable to observe how he managed to win twice with the Black pieces, (games 3 and 5), with the same variation where he left his king in the center and attacked along the g-column and the a8-h1 diagonal. Kramnik's idea in playing the variation was probably to survive the middle-game and "win the endgame" with his a- and b- pawns. But he probably underestimated the initiative Black enjoys in this variation. 10 d5 instead of 10 e5 was worth a look.
Game 6 was a different story: 9 h3 and 10 g4 was an aggressive play by Anand, which was further neutralized by Kramnik who managed to swap the queens. However, 19 ..c5?! was a premature and eager sacrifice in my opinion, 19..Rfe8 was called for. Black never got enough play for the pawn in that game. It was too early to counter-attack with Black.

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ALL ANAND-KRAMNIK WCC GAMES SO FAR CAN BE PLAYED HERE:

http://games.top10chess.com/anandwch08.htm

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Move by Move: Anand-Morozevich Mainz 2008

Here is the tactical phase in Anand-Morozevich, Mainz 2008 where the world champion Anand outpowered his opponent:

Position 1: White just played 21 Ng4

Here, Black could have played 21..h6 22Bd2 Rad8 with chances for both sides.
Instead, Morozevich went for the more forcing 21..Nf4.

21..Nf4?

22 Bf4 ef4

Position 2 after 22..ef4. White to play

Here, it is possible that Morozevich was initially expecting 23 Nf5 or 23 Nh5.Instead, Anand found a neat combination starting with 23 Nh6+!.

23Nh6+!

Position after 23Nh6+ :Black to play

Black cannot take the knight: 23..gh6 24 Qg4+ Kh8 25 Qf5. In this variation, 24..Bg7 is met by 25Nf5. Morozevich played the only move 23..Kh8.

23..Kh8

24 Nf7+ Kg8

Position 3: White to play

Here White missed an immediate finish. 25Bh7+! Kf7 26 Ng5+ Kg8 27Qb3+ Kh8 28 Qf7! and mate follows. Instead Anand played 25 Ne4.
25 Ne4

Position 4 after 25Ne4. Can Black take the knight on f7?

Here, 25..Kf7 26 Bb3+! Ke7 27 Nd6+ wins for White. on 26..Re6, 27 Ng5+ wins. The game continued as follows:
25..Ne5
26 Nfd6! Rd8 ?! ( trying to pin the knight)
27 Qh5!

The last tactical move by Anand.

Position 5 after 27Qh5!

Does Black win a piece by 27..Bd6 in Position 5 ?
The answer is no. 27..Bd6 28 Nd6 Qd6 29 Bh7+ Kf8 30 Re5 and White regains the knight on e5 with a winning attack.

Morozevich played 27..Be4 28 Ne4 h6 and after 29 Qf5, White converted his advantage and won the game in 47 moves. This game played in rapid time controls shows Anand's strength in calculating complex variations.

Quiz Special Anand- Part III

Play like Anand !

Practice chess tactics by solving 3 positions played by Anand against strong chess grandmasters.

Position 11

White to play and win

Anand-Morozevich Calvia(ol) 2004

Position 12:

White to play and win

Anand-Charbonneau Calvia (ol) 2004

Position 13:

White to play and win

Anand-Kasimdzhanov, Leon (rapid) 2005

Solutions coming soon

Play like World Champion Vishy Anand !

Quiz special Anand

Anand became World Champion in 2007 at the world championship tournament in Mexico.
We will present some of the finest games by Anand, with emphasis to the middlegame aspects, combinations and tactical moves.
Try to emulate him in the following five positions :

1.Black to play and win (Ivancuk-Anand 1988)

Puzzle 1 : Solution here

2.White to play and win (Anand-Illescas 1992)

Puzzle 2 : Solution here

3. White to play and win (Anand-Gelfand 1996)

Puzzle 3 : Solution here

4.Black to play and win ( Karjakin-Anand 2006)

Puzzle 4 : Solution here

5. White to play and win (Anand-Morozevich 2007)

Replay the entire game here, or jump to the 52nd move 52..h2 to see the tactical solution found by Anand :http://www.chessdom.com/wcc-mexico-chess-2007/live/anand-morozevich

Puzzle 5 : Solution here



Solutions uner each diagram. Calculate well !
Happy New Year to everyone !

Please note that you can find more brilliancies from Vishy Anand on http://www.chesscafe.com/text/informant61.pdf

Game from diagram 4 is annotated by Vishy Anand himself (Informator 96/183) on http://www.chesscafe.com/text/informant56.pdf