Ulhumbrus: 4...Bxf3 concedes the bishop pair although Keres gained the upper hand with it against Fischer by exchanging dark squared bishops by ...Bb4. Vallejo Pons avoids that by the move 7 a3 but at the price of spending a move on moving a pawn in the opening.The move 10...b5 reminds me of the move ...b5 in the game Miles vs Short, 1982 with a somewhat similar pawn formation
However whereas Miles exchanged pawns on d5 and opened the e file, Vallejo Pons allows Anand to close the centre by ...d4.
With 17 f5 White creates a permanent threat of a pawn storm on the king side and the centre closed. What is Anand going to do to answer the threat?
The move 19...c4 begins to give an answer: to open the c file and so to expose White's game to a counter-attack.
20 Bg5?! obstructs White's own g pawn. Instead of this 20 g5 supports the advance f6 and then on ...g6 White may advance the h pawn to h4 and h5.
21 f6 is a choice, as White can play for g6 instead. After 21...g6 one question is whether White can play h4 and h5 and start an attack on the h file.
26 a4? seems inconsistent. If he wants a king side attack he won't want to get distraced from it by having the queen side opened. Moreover on 26...ba 27 Rxa4 takes the rook further away from the king side.
Instead of this 26 h4 seems consistent, playing to open the h file, now that he has induced Black to play ...g6.
After 28 cxd4 he queen side is opened still more. This suggests that White can abandon all hopes of a king side attack. This suggests that the move 26 a4 is a serious mistake. There may be more than one way for the attack to fail now and if White avoids the way in which he loses in the game, he may lose the game in some another way.
Kibitzing
sac: 39...Qxg2+
