At the Corus super-tournament in Wijk aan Zee, Viswanathan Anand played his first competitive chess as world champion. The weight of the title is no doubt heavy and under its pressure he lost his very first game to Timur Radjabov. As the tournament drew to an end, it became clear that this loss had a decisive effect on the outcome. Anand and Radjabov tied for third and fourth place, a half-point behind the two winners, Levon Aronian and Magnus Carlsen. Radjabov’s victory over Anand was the best game he played in the event.

RADJABOV VS. ANAND (WHITE) (BLACK) SLAV DEFENSE

1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Nf3 e6 5. Bg5 h6 6. Bh4 dxc4 7.e4 g5 8. Bg3 b5 9. Be2 Bb7 10.0-0 Nbd7 11. Ne5 Bg7 12. Nxd7

In one of the subsequent rounds, in this position Topalov introduced a fantastic sacrifice in this position against Kramnik:

12. Nxf7!! Kxf7 13.e5 Nd5 14. Ne4 Ke7

15. Nd6 Qb6 16. Bg4 and won brilliantly.

12… Nxd7 13. Bd6 a6 14. Re1!?

Later in the tournament Radjabov, playing with Van Wely, returned to the more common 14. Bh5 but after 14…Bf8 15. Bxf8 Rxf8 16.d5?! (also interesting here was 16.e5!? Qb6 17.b3 0-0-0 18. bxc4 Nxe5 as happened in Kramnik-Anand 2007)

16…cxd5 17. exd5 Nf6! 18. dxe6 Qxd1

19. Bxf7+ Ke7 20. Raxd1 Rfd8 he received an inferior endgame and later escaped miraculously.

14… Bf8

Unappealing here is 14…e5 15. Bg4!

exd4 16. Nd5! Rc8 17. Ne7! with a big advantage for white, as in the game; Inarkiev-Aronian 2007 Later black found the imaginative 14…

c5 15. dxc5 Rc8 16.a4 b4 17.c6 Bxc6

18. Nd5 Ne5! 19. Be7 Qd7 20. Nf6+

Kxe7!! 21. Nxd7 Bxd7 and won.

15. Bg3 Bg7 16. Bd6 Bf8 17. Bxf8! Rxf8?

This leads to a difficult position.

Much better was 17…Kxf8! 18. Bh5

(a complicated position arose after 18. Qc2 Kg7 19. Rad1) 18…Nf6

19. Bf3 g4! 20. Bxg4 c5 21. dxc5 Qxd1

22. Bxd1 Rc8 and black’s position is not worse.

18.b3! b4

White’s position is very strong after 18…cxb3 19. Qxb3 c5 20.d5.

19. Na4 c3 20.a3 a5 21.d5! Qe7

Bad was 21…cxd5? 22. Bb5 with painful pins. And 21…e5 22. Bg4

Nf6 23. Nc5! (Black has a defense after 23. Bf5 cxd5 24. exd5 Qxd5 25. Qxd5 Bxd5 26. Rxe5+ Be6) 23…

Qb6 24. Nxb7 Qxb7 25. Bf5 also did not solve the problems. The immediate 21…Qf6 after 22.e5! Nxe5

23. axb4 axb4 24. Nc5 gave white a strong attack.

22.d6 Qf6 23.e5! Qf4

Black was losing in the event of 23…Qxe5 24. Ba6 Qxe1+ 25. Qxe1

Bxa6 26. axb4 axb4 27. Qe4 Bb5

28. Qxb4.

24. Bd3 bxa3

Again, a choice among evils. Also good for white was 24…c5 25. Bb5;

and 24…Nxe5 25. Re4 Qf6 26. Nc5

0-0-0 27. Bc2.

25. Qe2 Qd2 26. Rxa3 Qxe2 27. Rxe2 g4

Unsatisfactory was 27…f6 28. exf6

Rxf6 29. Nxc3 and white has a big advantage.

28. Nxc3 Rg8 29. Ne4! Kd8 30. Nd2!

Transposition of the knight from c3 to c4 leads to a winning position.

30… c5 31. Bb5 Bd5 32. Nc4 Rg5 33. Rea2! Nxe5

No relief comes from 33…Bxc4

34. bxc4 Rxe5 35. Kf1.

34. Nb6 Rb8 35. Rxa5 Be4 36. Ra7 f6 See Diagram: Position after 36…f6 37.R2a6?!

After brilliant play, Radjabov misses the winning continuation: 37. Nd7! Rxb5 38. Nxf6 Rb8

39. Nxe4. Now Anand finds a way to organize resistance.

37… Rg8 38. Rc7 Rf8 39. Rxc5 Rf7 40.d7 Nxd7! 41. Nxd7 Rxd7 42. Bxd7 Kxd7 43. Rc3 f5 44. Ra7+

More precise was 44.h3 h5

45. Ra7+ Kd6 46. Rh7.

44… Kd6 45. Rh7 Bd5 46. Rxh6 Bxb3 47.h3 gxh3 48. Rhxh3 Bd5 49. Rc2 Ke5 50.f3 Kf6 51. Kf2 Rb4 52. Re2 Kg6 53. Kg3 Ra4 54. Rh4 Ra7 55. Rb2 Kf6 56. Rhb4 Ke5 57. Re2+ Kf6 58. Rd2 Ke5 59. Re2+ Kf6 60. Kf4 Ra3 61. Rd2 Ra5 62. Re2 Ra3 63. Kg3 Ra8 64. Rc2 Ke5 65. Rh4 Rg8+ 66. Kh2 Ra8 67. Re2+ Kf6 68.f4! Ke7 69. Rh7+ Kd6?

It was better to keep the king on the kingside: 69…Kf6! 70. Re3 Ra2

71. Rg3 Rf2 and it is not clear if white can break through the black defense.

70. Kg3 Rg8+?!

More stubborn was 70…Ra1. Both players probably experienced a time shortage here.

71. Kh3 Rg4 72.g3 Rg8 73. Rd2 Rc8?!

Black should not have released the white king. Better was 73…Rg4

74. Rh8 Rg7 75. Rd3 Rg4.

74. Kh4 Rc3 75. Rg7 Ra3 76. Rc2 Bc6 77. Rc1 Rb3 78. Rg1! Bd5 79. Kg5 Kc5

Black would also lose after the exchange sacrifice on e6 in the line

79…Ra3 80. Kf6 Rb3 81. Ra1 Re3

82. Re7.

80. Kf6 Kd4 81. Re1 Rb6 82. Rd7 Rc6 83. Ke7 Ra6 84. Rd6 Ra7+ 85. Kf6 1-0