[Event "FIDE-Wch k.o."] [Site "Groningen"] [Date "1997.12.12"] [Round "2.2"] [White "Anand, Viswanathan"] [Black "Nikolic, Predrag"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C18"] [WhiteElo "2765"] [BlackElo "2630"] [Annotator "Ivan Sokolov"] [PlyCount "69"] [EventDate "1997.12.09"] [EventType "k.o."] [EventRounds "7"] [EventCountry "NED"] [SourceTitle "CBM 063"] [Source "ChessBase"] [SourceDate "1998.03.26"] [SourceVersion "1"] [SourceVersionDate "1998.03.26"] [SourceQuality "1"] 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 c5 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 Qa5 $5 (6... Ne7) 7. Bd2 Qa4 8. Qg4 {White main move here. Black is now (forced) to either weaken his kingside (by playing 8...g6) or get deprived from a castle (by playing 8... Kf8)} (8. Qb1 {aiming to provoke} c4 {and than focus on the kingside has been the other most tried plan for White here.}) 8... g6 {[%csl Gc2,Gf6,Gg7,Gh6] Diagram # is less played, because kingside weakened dark squares proved to be difficult for Black to deal with.} (8... Kf8 {see by 'king (on f8) defends himself'.} 9. Qd1 {[%csl Gf8]} (9. h4 {[%csl Gc2]})) 9. Qd1 $5 {White judges that weakening black kingside is worth a two tempi + a pawn sacrifice!} cxd4 10. Rb1 {[%CAl Gf1b5]} (10. cxd4 Qxd4 {[%CAl Gd2b4]}) 10... d3 (10... a6 11. cxd4 Qxd4 12. Nf3 $44) 11. Bxd3 Qxa3 12. Nf3 {for his sacrificed pawn White got massive development advantage + weakenned dark squares on black kingside} Qc5 13. h4 h6 14. O-O Nd7 15. Re1 a6 16. c4 $1 {[%csl Gd2,Gd3,Ge8] sacrificing another pawn to further open up the position} dxc4 17. Be4 $16 {[%CAl Gd2b4]} c3 {[%csl Gd2][%CAl Ga3f8]} 18. Be3 Qc4 19. Bd4 Nc5 20. Re3 Nxe4 21. Rxe4 Bd7 22. Re3 {[%CAl Ge3c3,Gc3c7]} Ne7 (22... Bc6 23. Rxc3 Qd5 (23... Bxf3 24. Qxf3 Qxd4 25. Rc7 Ne7 26. Rxe7+ Kxe7 27. Qf6+) 24. Rd3 Qd8 25. Bb6 Qe7 26. Rd6 { [%csl Gc6,Ge8][%CAl Gg8h6,Gf3d4]} h5 27. Nd4 $18) 23. Rxc3 Qd5 {[%csl Gd5] [%CAl Ge8g8,Gd7c6,Ga7g7,Gh7a7]} 24. Rc5 $1 {[%CAl Gc5c7]} Qe4 25. Rc7 b5 (25... Bc6 {[%csl Ge4]} 26. Rxe7+ Kxe7 27. Bc5+ Ke8 28. Qd6) 26. Bc5 (26. Rb4 $1 { was perhaps even stronger} Qd5 (26... Nc6 27. Bc3 Qd5 28. Qxd5 exd5 29. e6 fxe6 {[%csl Gc6,Gh8]} 30. Bxh8 $1 Nxb4 31. Ne5 Bc6 (31... Rd8 32. Bf6) (31... Nc6 32. Nxd7 Kd8 33. Rb7 Kc8 34. Nc5 $18) 32. Bf6 {[%csl Ge7] with mate}) 27. c4 bxc4 28. Rbxc4 $16 {[%csl Ge8]} O-O 29. R4c5 {[%csl Gd7]}) (26. Nh2 {[%CAl Gh2g4,Gg4f6]}) 26... Nd5 $2 {[%csl Ge4]} (26... Qd5 27. Qe1 Rc8 {[%csl Gc7]} 28. Rxc8+ Bxc8 {[%csl Ge8]} 29. Bxe7 Kxe7 30. Qb4+ Ke8 31. Rb3 $16 {[%csl Ge8, Gh8]}) 27. Rxd7 $1 (27. Rb4 Nxb4 (27... Qxb4 28. Bxb4 Nxc7 29. Qd6 Nd5) 28. Qxd7#) 27... Kxd7 28. Rb4 $18 Qxb4 (28... Qf5 29. g4) 29. Bxb4 {[%csl Gd7]} Rhc8 30. Bd6 Rc4 31. Nd2 Rd4 32. c3 Rd3 (32... Nxc3 33. Qf3 {[%csl Ga8,Gb7,Gc3, Gf7]}) 33. c4 Rxd2 (33... bxc4 34. Qa4+) (33... Nc3 34. Qc2) 34. Qxd2 bxc4 35. Qxh6 {[%csl Gd7] 1-0 (35) Anand,V (2765)-Nikolic,P (2630) Groningen 1997} 1-0