Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Chess

William Hartston
Tuesday 15 April 1997 23:02 BST
Comments

Viswanathan Anand put on a determined performance to score the win he needed to share first place in the Dos Hermanas tournament in Spain. When the last round began, he was half a point behind Kramnik, but he had the advantage of the white pieces against Polgar, while Kramnik played Black against Topalov.

Varying from his usual 1.e4, Anand decided to tackle Polgar's King's Indian with a currently fashionable line with 9.b4. The mood of the game was really set with 19.c5, a temporary pawn sacrifice which left White with a passed d-pawn. Polgar blockaded the pawn sensibly, and seemed to be steering the game to a draw until she fell into a viciously well-hidden trap when she played 49...Ne5? Anand's reply, 50.Bd2! threatened 51.Ne6+ Kf6 52.Bg5 mate. Black played 50...h6 to give the king a flight square, but after 51.Rb8! Ba1 52.Ra8! the bishop on a1 had no square: 52...Bd4 loses to Ne6+, while 52...Bb2 53.Ra2 Nd3 54.Rxb2 Nxb2 55.Bc3+ also loses material.

After that, White was always winning, though the endgame needed considerable finesse. Here are the full moves, Anand playing White, Polgar Black.

1 Nf3 Nf6 37 Nc3 e4

2 c4 g6 38 Ncd5 Ne2+

3 Nc3 Bg7 39 Kf1 Nc3

4 e4 d6 40 Rc1 Nxd5

5 d4 0-0 41 Nxd5 Be5

6 Be2 e5 42 Bb6 Rf7

7 0-0 Nc6 43 Rc8+ Nf8

8 d5 Ne7 44 Ne7+ Kg7

9 b4 a5 45 Bc5 Nd7

10 Ba3 b6 46 Bb4 Kf6

11 bxa5 Rxa5 47 Re8 Bb2

12 Bb4 Ra8 48 Nd5+ Kg7

13 a4 Nh5 49 Nc7 Ne5

14 a5 bxa5 50 Bd2 h6

15 Bxa5 Nf4 51 Rb8 Ba1

16 Nd2 Qd7 52 Ra8 Nc4

17 Re1 Bh6 53 Ne8+ Kh7

18 Bf1 c6 54 Rxa1 Nxd2+

19 c5 cxd5 55 Ke2 Nb3

20 exd5 dxc5 56 Rd1 Nc5

21 Nde4 Bg7 57 d7 Ne6

22 Bb5 Qb7 58 d8=Q Nxd8

23 Nxc5 Qb8 59 Rxd8 g5

24 Bf1 Bf5 60 Rd7 Rxd7

25 d6 Nc6 61 Nf6+ Kg6

26 Bc7 Rxa1 62 Nxd7 Kf7

27 Qxa1 Qb4 63 Kd2 Ke6

28 N5e4 Qb3 64 Nb6 h5

29 Rb1 Qe6 65 h4 f4

30 Qa4 Nd4 66 hxg5 Kf5

31 Bc4 Qd7 67 Nc4 Kxg5

32 Qxd7 Bxd7 68 Nd6 e3+

33 Nd5 Be6 69 fxe3 h4

34 Nb6 Bxc4 70 Ne4+ Kg4

35 Nxc4 Nfe6 71 Ke2 Kf5

36 Nb6 f5 72 Nf2 resigns

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in