Sunday, September 03, 2017

Yeoh Li Tian - Anand. Game 1, Round 1 World Cup 2017

IM Yeoh Li Tian (2278) - GM Viswanathan Anand  (2647) Round 1, 3.9.2017, World Cup 2017

Analyzed by Centaur (Hairulov+Stockfish 8)

1. e4 c5 2. c3  



Li Tian "true love" - The Alapin . He has played it since he was  a  small kid.  It is debatable whether this is a wise choice because Anand  certainly must have look into Li Tian's game  in the database. However, sometimes when you have play your pet line for your whole life , you tend to know it forward, backward and side ward too!  2...d5 3. exd5 Qxd5 4. d4 g6 5. Nf3 Bg7 6. Be2 cxd4 7. cxd4 Nf6 8.
Nc3 Qd6 9. O-O O-O 10. Qb3 Na6 






 " Knight on the rim is dim" but of course ex-World Champ know how to maneuver back this creature into action  11. Rd1 b6  12. Ne5 Nc7



The famous isolated d-pawn  pawn structure. The player with the isoloni have more space and ample opportunity to attack the wings.  White also has the nice e5 and c5 outpost for his pieces.

On the other side, to play againts the isoloni, the defending side will try to swap all or most minor pieces and the tripling heavy pieces ( rooks and queen) against the d-pawn.

13. Nc4 Qd8 14. Bf4 Ncd5 15. Nxd5 Nxd5 16. Be5 Be6 17. Qa3 Bh6 18. Ne3 a5 19. Bf3 Ra7 20. Bxd5 Bxd5 21.Nf5! 



as Kasparov's once advice 13th  years  old Carlsen about playing against former World Champ - Anatoly Karpov  - " play without respect! "   Of course the knight is poison 21... gxf5?? 22. Qg3+ Bg7 23. Qxg7# checkmate



21...Bg5 22. Qg3 Bf6  23. Bxf6 ?!


Thislooks like not the correct move. Although white manage to double black's f-pawn,  maintaining the tension with 23. Ne3 seems like the correct continuation.  23... exf6 24. Ne3 Rd7 25. Rd2 Re8 26. b3 h5 27. Rad1 Kh7  28. Qf4   i could not understand the idea behind this move  but after 28...Re4 29. Nxd5!?!  Li Tian sac his queen for knight and rook! now it's clear the idea behind Li Tian's 28th move. He planned to create an imbalances.   29... Rxf4 30. Nxf4  Let looks into the position arise  the position.


Mathematically black is a pawn up, but chess is not about material only, white has a strong passed d-pawn and will create terrible problem to   black if not handle correctly. 

 30...Rc7 31. d5 Qd6 32. Ne2  b5 33. h3 h4 34. Kh1 White's king evecuate the g1 square so that
his   knight can manuever  with Ng1-Nf3  34... Kg7 35. Ng1 g5 36. Nf3 Rc5  37. Kg1 Kg6

38. Rd4 f5

 39. Nh2 f6 40. Nf1 Rc2 41. a4 Rc5 42. axb5 Rxb5 43. R1d3 Rc5 44. Ne3 Rc1+ 45. Rd1 Rxd1+ 46. Rxd1 Black manage to trade a rook.

46...Kf7!  Anand sac his f-pawn to bring his king to substitute her queen role of  blocking white's d-pawn. 47. Nxf5 Qb4 48. Nd4 Qb7 



Now white's will lose his only hope - the d-pawn :(

49. d6 Qd5 50. f3 Qxd6 51. Rd3 




Now the d-pawn has lost, white plan is to form a fortress and hope for the best.


51... f5 52. Kf2 Kf6 53. Ke2 Qh2 54. Kf2 Qd6 55. Ke2 Qe5+ 56. Kf2
  

Seems like white fortress is quite tough to crack.


56... Qc5 57. Kf1 Qc1+ 58. Kf2 Qb1 59. Rc3 f4 60. Ne2 Ke7 61. Rc7+ Kd6 62. Rc3 Qd1 




Unfortunately white is in zugzwang and have to surrender the b3 pawn.

63. Rc1 Qxb3 now black will roll his a-pawn. 64. Ke1 a4 65. Nc3 a3 66. Kd2 a2 0-1

and White resign. White need to sac his knight to stop the a-pawn.

A good try from Li Tian, he surely had his moment on this game especially the powerfull 21. Nf5! Unfortunately  a few move later, he made a wrong decision of exchanging the bishop with 23.Bxf6?! instead of maintaining the tension with 23.Ne3.















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