Annotated chess game: Anand's Immortal

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ANNOTATED GAME

Anand's Immortal
Levon Aronian (2825) vs. Viswanathan Anand (2772)
Annotated by: chess_writer (1200)
Chess opening: QGD Slav (D15), 4.Nc3

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Magnus Carlsen has described this game as "A Game for the Ages". Watch the world champion sacrifice a rook and demolish World number 2 Levon Aronian in just 23 moves. My annotations begin where the action begins i.e. on Move 11.

1. d4	Magnus Carlsen has described this game as "A Game for the Ages". Watch the world champion sacrifice a rook and demolish World number 2 Levon Aronian in just 23 moves. My annotations begin where the action begins i.e. on Move 11.



1... d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 e6 5. e3 Nbd7 6. Bd3 dxc4	Capturing the white pawn before the white bishop has been moved to d3 results in a loss of tempi for black. Now Aronian has to capture on c4 with his Bishop. And Anand will, in his next move, promptly drive it back to d3 again thereby gaining a tempo.
	2 comments snehagupta (1200) on 07-Sep-16: It's not matter. Black can take this pawn before bisop development then white develop bishop with capture n black still force white Bishop to move on d3 n gain tempi huntster57 (2015) on 08-Apr-18: Not true, snehgupta. If black takes before white bishop moves, black has spent 2 moves with his d5 pawn to whites 1 move with his Bishop. Playing...b5 forcing white to retreat Bishop only makes it even on tempos. Now, waiting for Bd3 first, then taking ...dxc4 forces white bishop to move twice to black pawn moving twice. Only then does ...b5 forcing white Bishop retreat does black gain tempo. That make white's bishop move 3 times to blacks 2 pawn move. So yes, it DOES matter.


7. Bxc4 b5 8. Bd3 Bd6 9. O-O O-O 10. Qc2 Bb7 11. a3 Rc8	OK Folks! this is where the action begins. You see, while Anand’s rook move is not new in this position, it is less common than the move 10. … a6. This move is very natural. Black’s main goal in these sorts of double queen pawn openings is to play his pawn to c5 under favorable circumstances. This move frees his position and gets rid of a weak, backward pawn. The problem with playing the pawn to c5 directly is that the pawn on b5 is then left without protection. So moving the pawn to a6 first, to protect the pawn on b5, makes a lot of sense.
	1 comment blitzkov (1200) on 28-Jan-13: Nice beginning....


12. Ng5	This is where Anand's home preparation lasted till. From his home preparation he knew the fundamental idea that 12. Ng5 is unsound for white when black has played 11.... Rc8 instead of playing 11.... a6 first. However, Anand still had to see the game till the very end from here. He thought for a full one and a half hours before he made his next move. Usually in this situation, after black's usual move of 11. ... a3, white’s knight move makes a lot of sense. Of course, black can play the tactical shot 11. … Bxh2+ 12. Kxh2 Ng4+, and after white gets out of check black will win back the piece with 13. … Qxg5. The general feeling, though, is that white’s two bishops and better coordination give him a strong position. The significance of this game is that Anand showed why white’s Ng5 idea is a bit dubious after Rc8. Black did not go for the tactical shot, nor did he worry about the weak h-pawn, nor did he worry about a weakness on b5. He simply played 12. … c5 right away. The line-up of the black rook on c8 with the white queen on c2 gives black a lot of tactical possibilities. White replied with 13. Nxh7, grabbing a pawn and threatening the rook on f8. Anand then played 13. … Ng4, leading to this position:



12... c5 13. Nxh7 Ng4	Suddenly black has quite the attack. Both of his bishops are pointed ominously at white’s king, and black’s knight on g4 is soon to be joined by the queen arriving on h4. That’s a lot of firepower.



14. f4	White played 14. f4. This closes the black bishop’s path to h2. Sadly, white closes one diagonal only by opening another. Anand will later pounced on this new diagonal as you will see.



14... cxd4 15. exd4	OK, you're playing black. What move would you play here?



15... Bc5	!! It is for this move that the game has been dubbed "Anand's Immortal" by chess commentators. I wonder How many players, even grandmasters, would have found this move over the board?! Notice how Anand's bishop now occupies the same diagonal that Aronian had vacated when he had moved 14.f4 a move ago.
	1 comment mking30 (1281) on 02-Feb-13: instant classic


16. Be2	Can’t white just take black’s bishop with his pawn? Well, yes. But it won’t go well for him. Black will reply with Nxc5, and suddenly white has all sorts of problems. Black is threatening both to win back the piece by taking the white bishop on d3, and also to play Qd4+. taking advantage of the diagonal opened by white when he moved his pawn to f4. The tactics get very messy to calculate, but suffice it to say that black is doing very well indeed. So white tried 16. Be2 here, with the idea of chasing back the black knight on g4. If black were actually forced to retreat now, this would be a good move. Sadly for white, Anand has another trick up his sleeve. OK, again, you're playing black. What would be your next move?



16... Nde5	!! Anand played 16. … Nde5!! (That’s right! Two double exclam moves in a row!!) Let’s take stock. Black’s bishop on c5, his knight on e5, and his rook on f8 are all under attack. If the knight on e5 moves, then the knight on g4 will be hanging. But white is the one in big trouble! Calculating all the variations would lengthen this post beyond decency, so let’s just look at how things went.



17. Bxg4 Bxd4+ 18. Kh1 Nxg4 19. Nxf8	We have reached a critical moment. White is up a full rook, but he is still facing a strong attack. It looks like black could now play the crushing move Qh4. He must resist the temptation to do so, however, since white would then get the last laugh by playing Qh7+. Black would be forced to exchange queens, after which his attack is kaput and white will just be up an exchange.



19... f5	!! The third double exclam move in the same game ! Anand played 19. … f5!!. A quiet move this time. He simply shuts down the diagonal leading from c4 to h7. Now he really is threatening to play Qh4, after which white will run out of time before finding a reasonable defense. These quiet moves are always the hardest to find. After the game Anand remarked that he felt proud of himself for having found 19. ... f5 over the board.



20. Ng6 Qf6 21. h3 Qxg6 22. Qe2 Qh5 23. Qd3	Aronian played his Queen to d3 to protect his pawn on h3. (The g2 pawn is pinned by the Black bishop on b7)



23... Be3	!! The fourth double exclam move in the same game. This move cuts off the Aronian's Queen from defending his pawn on h3. And Aronian resigned here.....What a finish by Anand ! A masterful game by Anand, one of the most underrated world champions ever. Actually he is probably among the top 8 chess players of all time. See this link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_top_chess_players_throughout_history Thanks for watching the Game. I'd appreciate your comments..
	3 comments blitzkov (1200) on 28-Jan-13: A beautiful game. extremo (2233) on 29-Jan-13: An amazing game. Good annotation, but I prefer more smaller notations than fewer long ones, especially when you mention the next move in the current notation. dongoodman (2344) on 30-Jan-13: A breath-taking game! It shows that Anand is keeping a lot of his home preparations under wraps for the next World Championship match. He seems to be deliberately creating an impression that his fighting spirit is not alive these days when he accepts a lot of draws. He is psychologically foxing his opponents to believe that he is not at his best now and then he produces a game like this one leaving all his pieces enprise and then delivering a knock-out such as this one. Comparing players of different generations is not an easy task but we have to remember that Anand's career ran parallel to the great Ks of chess - Karpov, Kasparov and Kramnik and so his greatness may not be easily visible. Anand is a great natural chess talent in the footsteps of Capablanca when we look at his speed in play and his blitz games.