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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IM versus GM, upset games

Once in a while, we see the underdog ( e.g. the lower rated player) win. Here are three games, where the International Master beats the Grandmaster. In each case, the rating difference is about 200 points, which makes the performance noteworthy. The games themselves are spectacular as well.

[Site "Hoogeveen NED 2007"]
[White "Hillarp Persson,T"]
[Black "Grooten,H"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "2567"]
[BlackElo "2350"]
[ECO "B90"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be3 e6 7. Qd2 Be7 8. f3 Nc6 9. g4 O-O 10. O-O-O Nxd4 11. Bxd4 b5 12. g5 Nd7 13. h4 Rb8 14. Be3 Qa5 15. Kb1 b4 16. Ne2 Nc5 17. Nd4 Bb7 18. h5 Rfd8 19. g6 Bf6 20. gxf7+ Kxf7 21. Rg1 Na4 22. Bh3 Nc3+ 23. bxc3 bxc3 24. Nb3 Bxe4 25. Qc1 Rxb3+ 26. axb3 Rb8 27. fxe4 Rxb3+ 28. cxb3 c2+ 0-1

Position after 27 fxe4. Black to play and win


















Hillarp Persson-Grooten



[Event "TCh-FRA Top 16 Poule Haute 2008"]
[White "Bergez,L"]
[Black "Apicella,M"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "2367"]
[BlackElo "2533"]
[ECO "E91"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Nf3 O-O 6. Be2 Na6 7. Bg5 h6 8. Bh4 Qe8 9. e5 Nd7 10. Bg3 dxe5 11. dxe5 e6 12. Qd2 Qe7 13. O-O-O Qb4 14. h4 Qa5 15. h5 g5 16. Nxg5 Nxe5 17. Nf3 Nc6 18. Bf4 Kh7 19. g4 Nab4 20. g5 Bxc3 21. bxc3 Rd8 22. g6+ Kh8 23. Qxd8+ Nxd8 24. Be5+ 1-0

Position after 21..Rd8. White to play and win


















Bergez-Apicella


[Event "ch-USA GpA 2006"]
[White "Nakamura,H"]
[Black "Friedel,J"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "2644"]
[BlackElo "2455"]
[ECO "A09"]

1. Nf3 d5 2. c4 c6 3. e3 e6 4. Qc2 Bd6 5. Nc3 f5 6. h3 Nf6 7. g4 O-O 8. gxf5 exf5 9. b3 Qe7 10. Bb2 Na6 11. Rg1 Bd7 12. cxd5 Nb4 13. Qb1 cxd5 14. a3 Nc6 15. Nxd5 Nxd5 16. Bc4 Be6 17. Rxg7+Qxg7 18. Bxg7 Kxg7 19. Qb2+ Rf6 20. O-O-O h6 21. d3 Kf7 22. e4 fxe4 23. dxe4 Rxf3 24. exd5 Bf4+ 25. Kb1 Bf5+ 26. Ka2 Ne5 27. d6+ Kg6 28. Be2 Rxh3 29. Qd4 Rf8 30. Bb5 Be6 31. Qe4+ Kh5 32. Be2+ Kh4 33. d7 Bxd7 34. Rxd7 Nxd7 35. Qe7+ Bg5 36. Qxd7 Rf4 37. f3 Rh2 38. Qd3 Kg3 39. b4 Rf2 40. Kb1 Kg2 41. Bd1 Bh4 42. Qg6+ Bg3 43. Bc2 h5 44. Qxh5 Rc4 45. Be4 Rd4 46. f4+ Rxe4 47. Qd5 Rfe2 48. Qxb7 Kg1 0-1

Position after 45 Be4. Black to play and win


















Nakamura-Friedel