| Dec-12-02 | | Vilkacis: In honor of Anand's birthday, a look at this win over Shirov. 17...f5 Shirov finds a saving move. 24...Rc6 is a bad mistake. |
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| Dec-12-02 | | Kulla Tierchen: No doubt your heart was in the right place as you put up an Anand win over your favorite player, but you only annotated Shirov's moves! 10. Ne5 11. Qb1 and 12. a4 constitute a key play by white. Shirov may have missed an opportunity by not playing 12...g5. 14. Ra2 and black is in trouble, there is no way to stop the rook from advancing to b6. |
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| May-29-04 | | chessfected: Brilliant back-rank manuevering of the White Queen. |
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Dec-15-06
 | | plang: 5 Bg5 is an interesting, aggressive line; I wonder why it is not played more. 8..g6 was new, 8..b5 had been previously played. Anand recommends returning the pawn with 16..b5. After 16..Ra7 Shirovs position is very passive which does not suit his temperment. 21 Qa2 shows a lot of patience; not rushing to win back the pawn. 24..Rc6 and 27..g5 indicate Shirovs frustration with passive defence and make Anands job relatively easy. |
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| Feb-16-08 | | Nezhmetdinov: Wonderful game - I don't usually enjoy Anand's games too much - there is something a little machine-like in his play that does not appeal to me, too dry somehow -but this is eloquent chess |
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| Jul-17-15 | | fisayo123: <Nezhemtdinov> Really? I've never known anyone to hold that view of Vishy's chess. It's precisely the opposite. Anyway, it's common knowledge Shirov's disastrous score against Kasparov, but a little known fact is that his record against Vishy is equally woeful. None of the top players outclassed Shirov the way Anand and Kasparov did. Says a lot Vishy's immense talent. |
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| Jul-17-15 | | john barleycorn: I remember the Anand-Shirov WC match. reminded me very much of the Capablanca-Nimzowitsch encontounters in style of play and result. |
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| Nov-01-23 | | Gaito: 
click for larger viewBLACK TO MOVE
In this position Black played 12...a5. The engine (Komodo 13) suggests the interesting move 12...g5!, and if 13.Bxg5 f6 14.Nf3 fxg5 15.Nxg5 Bf5 ⩱ (See diagram below): 
click for larger view |
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| Nov-01-23 | | Gaito: 
click for larger viewWHITE TO MOVE
With simple moves White has achieved a clear positional bind in the best style of Capablanca, Tarrasch or Botvinnik. Anand was in no hurry to capture the b7 Pawn, and played 21.Qa2. Worthy of consideration was also 21.Qb5!? or even 21.h4, which would leave Black almost without useful moves or counterplay. What move does the engine recommend here for White? Komodo 13 suggests that White capture the b7 Pawn right away, and proposes the following variation: 21.Rxb7 Rxb7 22.Qxb7 Qxb7 23.Rxb7 ± (See diagram)
click for larger view
White threatens both 24.Ra7 and 24.Bc7. Komodo evaluates the position with +1.58, which means a clear advantage in White's favor. However, it is well known that an awkward position is usually relieved with exchanges, and that might have been the reason why Vishy avoided a rapid simplification here. |
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| Nov-01-23 | | Gaito: 
click for larger viewBLACK TO MOVE
Such a battery with the Queen behind both Rooks on an open (or semi open) file is "Alekhine's Gun" for some reason. The term stems from the famous game Alekhine vs. Nimzowitsch, San Remo, 1930, where the following position was reached:
click for larger view.
The game can be seen in this link:
Alekhine vs Nimzowitsch, 1930 |
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| Nov-01-23 | | Gaito:
click for larger view
BLACK TO MOVE
Of course, Shirov did not have an engine at his disposal, like we all patzers do; but his mind is somehow like an engine, as he has proven in many games. He played 27...g5!? in an effort to seek for some counterplay. Very likely, if he had had more time to think, he might have come up with the surprising move found by Komodo 13, namely: 27...Bxd4!! 28.cxd4 c3 29.Rc2 Rab6 30.Rxb6 Rxb6 31.Qd1 Rxb8, whereupon Black would be OK. (Computer evaluation: -0.30). (See diagram below):
click for larger view |
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| Nov-01-23 | | Gaito: This was a smooth performance by Vishy Anand. His conduct of the whole game was impressive. 28.g4!! is the stroke of a genius, and after that Vishy gave us a lesson on the speedy way to win a won game.
I should be surprised is this game were not included in the available books of Anand's finest games. I do not own any of those books because they seem to be too expensive, but surely this game must be considered as one of Vishy's very best efforts. |
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Kibitzing
