NIC analysis of Anand-Topalov

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Date: 14 Dec 2005 12:55:23
From: David J Bush
Subject: NIC analysis of Anand-Topalov

Anand-Topalov San Luis 2005 went like this: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6
3.Bb5 Nf6 4.d3 Bc5 5.c3 O-O 6.Bg5 h6 7.Bb4 g5 8.Bg3 d6
9.Nbd2 a6 10.Bxc6 bxc6 11.O-O Ba7 12.d4 g4 13.Bh4 gxf3
14.Qxf3 Kg7 15.Qg3+ Kh7

Here Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam writes "But here Anand discovered
that on the move he had planned, 16.Qd3, black has the strong
reply 16...Rg8! in order to meet 17.f4 with 17...Rg4. No
longer sure about who was better, he decided to avoid any
further risks and took the draw."

16.Qf3 Kg7 17.Qg3+ draw

My question: after 16.Qd3 Rg8 17.f4 Rg4 19.g3 how would black
proceed? White threatens fxe5, but if 19...exf4 20.Rxf4 it
looks to me like white still has a strong attack.

Thanks!

Date: 14 Dec 2005 20:33:14
From: Arfur Million
Subject: Re: NIC analysis of Anand-Topalov

"David J Bush" <[email protected] > wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Anand-Topalov San Luis 2005 went like this: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6
> 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.d3 Bc5 5.c3 O-O 6.Bg5 h6 7.Bb4 g5 8.Bg3 d6
> 9.Nbd2 a6 10.Bxc6 bxc6 11.O-O Ba7 12.d4 g4 13.Bh4 gxf3
> 14.Qxf3 Kg7 15.Qg3+ Kh7
>
> Here Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam writes "But here Anand discovered
> that on the move he had planned, 16.Qd3, black has the strong
> reply 16...Rg8! in order to meet 17.f4 with 17...Rg4. No
> longer sure about who was better, he decided to avoid any
> further risks and took the draw."
>
> 16.Qf3 Kg7 17.Qg3+ draw
>
> My question: after 16.Qd3 Rg8 17.f4 Rg4 19.g3 how would black
> proceed? White threatens fxe5, but if 19...exf4 20.Rxf4 it
> looks to me like white still has a strong attack.
>
> Thanks!

The PGN is:

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.d3 Bc5 5.c3 O-O 6.Bg5 h6 7.Bh4 g5
8.Bg3 d6 9.Nbd2 a6 10.Bxc6 bxc6 11.O-O Ba7 12.d4 g4 13.Bh4 gxf3
14.Qxf3 Kg7 15.Qg3+ Kh7 16.Qf3 Kg7 17.Qg3+

(ie 7 Bh4 not 7 B4 for white). After 16 Qd3 Rg8 17 f4 Rg4 18 g3 black could
just take the bishop with Rxh4 19 gxh4 and Black has strong pressure against
d4, two pieces for the rook and some attack on the kingside as well. Perhaps
Black's best move here is 19...c5 immediately attacking white's centre.

Regards,
Arfur

Date: 15 Dec 2005 03:18:53
From: =?ISO-8859-1?Q?Claus-J=FCrgen_Heigl?=
Subject: Re: NIC analysis of Anand-Topalov

Arfur Million wrote:
>=20
> 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.d3 Bc5 5.c3 O-O 6.Bg5 h6 7.Bh4 g5
> 8.Bg3 d6 9.Nbd2 a6 10.Bxc6 bxc6 11.O-O Ba7 12.d4 g4 13.Bh4 gxf3
> 14.Qxf3 Kg7 15.Qg3+ Kh7 16.Qf3 Kg7 17.Qg3+
>=20
> (ie 7 Bh4 not 7 B4 for white). After 16 Qd3 Rg8 17 f4 Rg4 18 g3 black c=
ould=20
> just take the bishop with Rxh4 19 gxh4 and Black has strong pressure ag=
ainst=20
> d4, two pieces for the rook and some attack on the kingside as well. Pe=
rhaps=20
> Black's best move here is 19...c5 immediately attacking white's centre.=

Or even 19...exd4 20. exd4 Nh5 with the idea Qxh4. Later Black can=20
pressure the center on the e file and the 4th rank, if White puts his=20
rook on the g file Black may have Qf2 and Nf4.

The question is if White couldn't continue his attack with 16. Qd3 Rg8=20
17. f4 Rg4 18. fxe5. The Nf6 will be captured so Black is forced to play =

18...Rxh4 to avoid material disadvantage. After 19. Rxf6 White has a=20
strong attack against f7 and perhaps h6.

19...Be6 20. Raf1 (White has several plans here. Opening the diagonal=20
d3-h7 for the queen and making e4 and perhaps c4 for the knight=20
available, going for d5 so f7 will fall, or Nd2-f3-h4-f5.) 20...Rh5=20
(wants to control the 5th rank, if 20...dxe5 21. Qg3 Rg4 22. Qxe5 Qg8=20
23. g3 with the plan Nd2-f3-h4-f5; 20...c5 21. exd6 cxd6 22. Kh1 with=20
the plan d5) 21. exd6 cxd6 (d5 is prevented but...) 22. e5+ Kg7 23. Ne4=20
dxe5 24. Qf3 with a winning attack.

19...dxe5 (counterattacking the center) 20. Rxf7+ Kh8 (20...Kg8 21. Qc4=20
Kh8 22. Nf3 Rf4 23. Nxe5+-) 21. Raf1 Be6 22. Rf6 exd4 23. Kh1 (plan 24.=20
Qg3 Rh5 25. Qg6 Qe8 26. Rf8+) Bg8 24. Nc4! Bxc4 (24...dxc3 25. Nd6! Qxf6 =

(25...cxd6 26. Qxc3+-) 26. Rxf6 cxb2 27. Rg6 Kh7 28. Nf5 Bd4 29. Rxc6!=20
Bxa2 30. Rxc7+ Kg8 31. Rb7 winning) 25. Qxc4 d3 26. Qxc6 Be3 27. g3! d2=20
28. Rd1 Bg5 29. Rf3 Rg4 30. h3 with advantage.

19...c5 20. exd6 cxd6 21. Kh1 and Black can't prevent d5. All black=20
pawns are very weak (d6 can be attacked after d5 and Nc4) and White has=20
a very strong attack.

This is far from an exhaustive analysis. But I think that White has=20
excellent chances in his attack.

Claus-J=FCrgen