Rebel10 (exp) – Anand,V

The Caro Kann didn’t come as a surprise, since Anand played this opening several times this year.

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Date: July 21, 1998
Location: 8 game match
Tournament: game-5 (15:00 all)
Round:
Opening: B18 Caro-Kann, Classical Variation
Submitted by:
Published on: February 20, 2020

[Event "game-5 (15:00 all)"] [Site "8 game match"] [Date "1998.07.21"] [Round "?"] [White "Rebel10 (exp)"] [Black "Anand,V"] [Result "1-0"] [WhiteElo "?"] [BlackElo "2795"] [ECO "B18"] 1. e4 c6 { The Caro Kann didn't come as a surprise, since Anand played this opening several times this year. } 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Bf5 { A small surprise, as Anand preferred 4 ... Nd7 earlier this year. } 5. Ng3 Bg6 6. h4 h6 7. h5 Bh7 8. Nf3 Nf6 9. Bd3 Bxd3 10. Qxd3 e6 11. Bd2 Be7 12. O-O-O O-O 13. Ne5 { With the idea of f4, Ne4 and g4 to start an attack on the Black king. } 13... Nbd7 14. f4 c5 15. Bc3 { Criticised in the tournament bulletin. A possible alternative would be 15 Ne4. } 15... Nd5 16. dxc5 Nxc5 17. Qf3 Rc8 { A bit strange. 17 ... Qc7 looks normal, after which Black has a good position. Play might continue 18 Bd4 Rac8 19 Kb1. } 18. Nf5 { Rebel takes the first opportunity to complicate the game. } 18... exf5 { Anand used a lot of time for this more or less forced move. After f.e. 18 ... Na4 White has 19 Nxh6+! gxh6 20 Qg4+. } 19. Rxd5 Qc7 20. Qh3 { As this doesn't win a pawn, 20 Rhd1 was better. After some thought Rebel also thinks Rhd1 is the best move. } 20... Ne4 { Very well played. Anand temporarely gives up a piece, to obtain a dangerous attack. } 21. Rd7 Qc5 22. Nd3 Qc4 { The point. Black takes on a2 with the queen, threatening mate through ... Qa1. White has to give up an exchange to deal with the threats. } 23. Rxe7 Qxa2 24. Rxe4 fxe4 25. Nb4 { From a materialistic point of view White is not in a bad shape. Still, his knight on b4 is rather shaky and also the pawn on e4 can become strong. Anand has only one problem: he has not much time left.... } 25... Qa1+ 26. Kd2 Rfd8+ 27. Ke2 Qa4 28. Qf5 { Here Vishy used his remaining time, didn't find a solution and lost on time! A pity this exciting game had to finish in such a way. After 28 ... a5 29 b3 Qd7 30 Qxd7 Rxd7 31 Na2 the ending looks better for Black. 1-0 } 1-0