[Event "10th Norway Chess 2022"] [Site "Stavanger"] [Date "2022.05.31"] [Round "1.1"] [White "Anand, Viswanathan"] [Black "Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B52"] [WhiteElo "2751"] [BlackElo "2750"] [Annotator "Sundar,Shyam"] [PlyCount "79"] [EventDate "2022.05.30"] [EventType "tourn"] [EventCountry "NOR"] [Tiebreak "Number of wins+Number of black wins"] [SourceTitle "playchess.com"] [Source "ChessBase"] [SourceQuality "1"] {[%evp 0,79,19,38,40,41,66,55,57,42,46,13,13,19,36,41,36,38,35,15,41,41,41,40, 45,25,10,1,28,6,9,1,10,20,22,18,82,83,37,56,60,60,60,67,74,66,76,64,69,64,82, 79,85,90,92,84,120,90,90,96,77,123,84,59,75,81,64,84,79,85,100,101,93,115,116, 123,129,148,161,117,162,146]} 1. e4 c5 {MVL does not shy away from his pet Sicilian Najdorf} 2. Nf3 d6 3. Bb5+ {[%mdl 32768] Interesting opening choice from Vishy!Incidentally it was used by Carlsen against Vishy himself in Chennai World championship match 2013} Bd7 4. Bxd7+ Qxd7 5. c4 {Vishy chooses the principled approach by stablising the centre first before castling kingside } Nf6 6. Nc3 Nc6 7. d4 cxd4 8. Nxd4 g6 {[%CAl Gc4d5,Ge4d5]} 9. f3 Bg7 10. Be3 O-O 11. O-O a6 {Till now play has been more or less logical from both the sides.Now Vishy comes up with an interesting idea} 12. Nb3 $5 {[%mdl 32768] It has been tried in few correspondence games.However it has not been tried at the highest level in over the board games. White postpones the decision of trading the knights.White simply wants to play Qe2 followed by Rfd1 and Rac1. Had white played 12.Qe2 it would have lost the grip over the d4 square and so it would have allowed Black to capture on e4} (12. Qe2 $6 Nxe4 $1 {[%csl Rd4] [%CAl Rh8d4]}) 12... e6 {Typically seen in this line.Black wants to control the d5 square but also move the queen from the d7 square so that it does not stand in same file as White's major piece on the 'd' file} 13. Qe2 {Logical follow up} Qe7 14. Rfd1 Rfd8 15. Rac1 Rac8 {First critical moment in the game. Both sides have completed their development.How can white continue?} 16. Nd4 { [%mdl 32768] Slightly inaccurate.How can Black exploit now?} (16. Na4 $5 { Keeping an eye on the b6 square.Also if needed white has the option of playing c5}) (16. f4 $5 {Computer likes this move as well.However I do not see the necessity to commit this move since white has good pawn structure and so there is no need to ruin it.}) 16... Nd7 (16... d5 $1 {Drawback of White's previous move since it lost the control over the d5 square} 17. Nxc6 (17. cxd5 exd5 18. exd5 Nxd5 19. Nxc6 Rxc6 20. Nxd5 Rxd5 $36 {It is Black who is better here due to better placed pieces}) 17... Rxc6 18. e5 Ne8 19. cxd5 exd5 20. f4 Nc7 $132 { [%CAl Gf7f6] followed by f6 with a balanced game.}) 17. b3 $1 $14 {[%csl Gc4, Ge4] Solid move and white has now got the dream position out of 3.Bb5.He can gradually exert more pressure on Black by doubling on the 'd' file at the right moment to pressurize the d6 pawn} {Second critical moment in the game.} b5 $5 {[%mdl 32768] Objectively it may be bad.But MVL true to his style does not hesitate to sacrifice the pawn to get piece activity.However it was swiftly punished by Vishy with immaculate play} (17... Nxd4 18. Bxd4 Bxd4+ 19. Rxd4 {Risk free position for White.He can calmly double or even triple in the 'd' file. If needed he can also change the dynamics of the position by playing timely f4 to create attacking chances towards the Black's King}) 18. cxb5 Nxd4 19. Bxd4 Bxd4+ 20. Rxd4 axb5 21. Qd2 $1 {[%mdl 32768] Multi purpose move. Probably MVL underestimated this one.White attacks the d6 pawn,but also defends the c1 Rook so that white now threatens to take the b5 pawn with the Knight} (21. Qxb5 {[%mdl 32768]} Ne5 {[%CAl Ge7a7,Gc8c1,Rb8b1,Ra8a1,Ra7g1] Probably MVL was counting on this where Black has Benko type counterplay in the queenside}) 21... Rb8 22. Rxd6 b4 {White has many possible knight jumps. Where would you place it?} 23. Ne2 $1 {[%mdl 32768] Vishy places the knight near his King.} Ne5 24. Rd1 Nc6 (24... Rxd6 25. Qxd6 Qxd6 26. Rxd6 Rc8 27. Rd2 g5 {Leave White with a technical task to convert the position to a full point}) 25. e5 $1 {[%csl Gd6] Yet another strong move from Vishy! White gains more space and restricting Black's counterplay to the maximum} Qa7+ 26. Kh1 Qf2 { MVL continues to play active chess.However due to limited material,there is no hope for Black} 27. Rc1 $1 {[%CAl Gd1c1] Forcing Black to trade the 'd' rooks as otherwise c6 knight is lost} Rxd6 28. exd6 Ne5 {White has all the time in the world and so he decides to clear the backrank weakness by playing} 29. h3 $1 {[%mdl 32768] Moves like this are very important to execute in our own games.Black does not have any active plan and so there is no need to shy away from overprotecting our King!} Rb5 {Black Rook has just left his first rank. How can White take advantage of this?} 30. f4 $1 Nd7 31. Qd4 $1 {knight on e2 is immune due to backrank weakness} Qxd4 (31... Qxe2 32. Rc8+ Nf8 33. Rxf8+ Kxf8 34. Qh8#) 32. Nxd4 Rd5 33. Nc6 Rxd6 34. Nxb4 {Though white lost his far advanced 'd' pawn,now he got protected passed pawns in the queenside.Vishy finished the game rather quickly} e5 35. fxe5 Nxe5 36. Rc5 Rd1+ 37. Kh2 f6 38. a4 {[%CAl Ga2a4]} Rb1 39. Rc3 Ra1 40. Rc7 {[%CAl Ga7h7,Gb4d5] MVL decided to call it a day! Smart opening choice and brilliant middlegame play from Vishy who still continues to inspire players of all levels and different generations!!} 1-0