chess

Viswanathan Anand's score of 21/2 out of 5 at Wijk aan Zee suggests that he has yet to recover from his unhappy world title challenge last year. His latest game, however, shows that all his imagination is intact, even if it did, this time, lead him to defeat.

Anand-Sokolov: 1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5 a6 4 Ba4 Nf6 5 0-0 Be7 6 Re1 b5 7 Bb3 0-0 8 a4 b4 9 d3 d6 10 a5 Bg4 11 Be3 d5 12 Nbd2 h6 13 h3 d4 14 hxg4 dxe3 15 fxe3 Nxg4 16 Bd5 Qd7 17 Nc4 Bf6 18 Nfd2 h5 19 Rf1 Rad8 20 Rf5 g6 21 Qxg4!!? hxg4 22 Rxf6 Ne7 23 Bxf7+ Kg7 24 Raf1 Qb5 25 g3 Rd7 26 R1f2 Qc5 27 Nb3 Qa7 28 Nxe5 Qxe3! 29 Nxd7 Rh8! 30 Kg2 Rh3 31 Bxg6 Nxg6 32 Kf1 Rh1+ 33 Kg2 Rd1 34 Rxg6+ Kxg6 35 Ne5+ Kg7 36 Nxg4 Qe1 37 Kf3 Qh1+ 38 Kf4 Rf1 39 Ke3 Qg1 40 Kf3 Rxf2+ 41 Nxf2 Qb1 42 Nd4 Qxb2 43 Nf5+ Kf7 44 Ne3 Qa2 45 d4 Qxa5 46 e5 Qa1 47 Ke4 a5 48 d5 a4. White resigns.