Aleksej Aleksandrov of Belarus won section A of the 11th Parsvnath International with 8 from 10 games. He was followed by Marat Dzumaev, Henrik Teske and Vaibhav Suri who all managed 7.5. Untitled 13-year-old Murali Karthikeyan scored his first GM norm. IM K Rathnakaran made his second GM norm and Rakesh Kulkarni made an IM norm. Kumar Gaurav won the unrated C section for a generous Rs 100,000. The Delhi Chess Association managed an unprecedented 899 players spread over three sections with quiet efficiency.
The Tata Steel Chess got underway even as the Parsvnath closed. The Gibraltar Open, which is one of the strongest open events of the year is on the heels of Tata. After five rounds, there’s a three-way tie in the Tata A. Karjakin, Anand and Carlsen are unbeaten on 3.5. Anand-Carlsen was drawn. Nakamura, Harikrishna, Leko and Wang are all on 3. Aronian has 2.5.
Anand and Harikrishna have played good chess. Hari was squashed by Carlsen but he’s won two good games, including a great mating finish against Van Wely. Anand produced a decent effort against Caruana.
But this was eclipsed by Anand’s win against Aronian, which is being hailed as the game of the year. It started with a pawn sacrifice Anand had prepared for “Boris”. Aronian went into uncharted, if treacherous territory. Anand thought 50 minutes before he hung three pieces and went for mate.
The full game score was (White: Aronian,Levon Vs Anand, Viswanathan Wijk Aan Zee 2013) 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 e6 5.e3 Nbd7 6.Bd3 dxc4 7.Bxc4 b5 8.Bd3 Bd6 9.0–0 0–0 10.Qc2 Bb7 11.a3 Rc8 12.Ng5 c5! (A novelty prepared for the 2012 title match. 13.Nxh7 Ng4! Anand said 13.Bxh7+ is better but “we found compensation everywhere”.
14.f4?! cxd4 15.exd4. DIAGRAM, BLACK TO PLAY. One alternative white rejected was 15.Nxf8? Bxf8 16.exd4 Ndf6 17.h3 Qxd4+ 18.Kh1 Bc5! 19.hxg4 Nxg4 when black will mate on the h-file. The 14th opens up the a7-g1 diagonal.
15...Bc5! Found over the board 16.Be2? The best try is 16.dxc5 Nxc5 17.Nxf8 17 Nxd3 18.h3 Qd4+ 19.Kh1 Ndf2+ 20.Rxf2 Nxf2+ 21.Kh2 Kxf8 , where Black has a big grip.
16...Nde5!! Fabulous. The obvious 16...Bxd4+ 17.Kh1 Nf2+ 18.Rxf2 Bxf2 19.Nxf8 Nxf8 is good. This wins. 17.Bxg4 Other captures include A 17.fxe5 Qxd4+ 18.Kh1 Qg1+! 19.Rxg1 Nf2#; B. 17.Nxf8 Qxd4+ 18.Kh1 Qg1+ 19.Rxg1 Nf2# C. 17. dxc5 Qxd4+
17...Bxd4+ 18.Kh1 Nxg4 19.Nxf8 f5! Alternatively 19.Ng5 f5 20.h3 Rf6 mates. Incidentally 19...Qh4?? 20.Qh7+! is careless and Anand claimed he was proud of this move. 20.Ng6 Qf6 21.h3 Qxg6 22.Qe2 Qh5. Now 23.Rf3 Nf2+ 24.Kh2 Bxf3 25.Qxf3 Qxf3 26.gxf3 Nd3 loses normally. Aronian allowed 23.Qd3?! Be3! (0–1). The unstoppable threat is 24..-- Qxh3#.
Devangshu Datta is an internationally rated chess and correspondence chess player
