Grandmaster games · 75th Tata Steel Chess Tournament, Group A 2013
Anand's Immortal
A pawn, a knight and a rook given up one after another: Anand's prepared Meran sacrifices open every line to Aronian's king in 23 moves.
The setting
Wijk aan Zee, January 2013, round 4 of the Tata Steel Group A. Aronian, rated 2802, has White against the world champion, Anand. Anand reaches a Meran that was prepared for the 2012 match with Gelfand. Aronian sets a trap with 12.Ng5, offering the h2 pawn. Anand answers with ...c5. Over the next eight moves Anand gives up the h7 pawn, offers a knight on g4 and lets the rook on f8 be taken, each time to open one more line to the white king. The win took Anand into a three-way lead with Carlsen and Karjakin after four rounds.
Why study it
You live the sacrifices from both sides. Anand's mind shows how a prepared position becomes an attack: each pawn offered, ...Bc5, ...Nde5, ...f5, opens one more line to the king. Aronian's mind shows why 16.Be2 felt natural and what the quiet 16.dxc5 would have asked. Stockfish says the whole attack was only strong after one inaccuracy, and the game is a lesson in how little room a defender has once the lines are open.
Live it from inside a mind
Each player speaks in the first person, in a voice of their own: what they see, what they fear, the lines they calculate, why they choose. Switch minds at any move.
Levon Aronian
White · Armenia · 2802 at the time · peak 2830
Rated 2802 at the time, one of the three highest-rated players in the world, a creative attacker who happily takes a pawn if the position stays rich.
Viswanathan Anand
Black · India · 2772 at the time · peak 2817
The reigning world champion, 43 years old, who had just defended the title against Gelfand in 2012 and arrived with Meran preparation from that match.
Round four at Wijk aan Zee, White against the world champion. Anand's Meran is deeply prepared, and I know it. I choose a line in which I can set a trap on move twelve, a knight to g5 aimed at h7 with the bishop and queen on the same diagonal, and then decide how greedy to be.
Round four at Wijk aan Zee, Black against Aronian. I came to this game with the Meran prepared, the position I played against Gelfand last year. I do not remember every detail of the analysis, but I know the assessment and the ideas, and I am ready to sacrifice material if the lines open towards the king.
The game in 4 chapters
- 1
The Meran and the trap moves 1–11
A fully known Meran: Aronian builds a bishop and queen battery on the b1 to h7 diagonal, Anand puts the bishop on d6 aimed at h2 and prepares ...c5.
- 2
Pawn for pawn moves 12–15
12.Ng5 offers h2; 12...c5 answers with a pawn of Anand's own. After 13.Nxh7 Ng4 Black threatens mate on h2, 14.f4 and 15.exd4 allow 15...Bc5, and the pawn on d4 is pinned.
- 3
The knight that was not taken moves 16–18
16.Be2 attacks the g4 knight, and 16...Nde5!! lets White take it: after 17.Bxg4 Bxd4+ 18.Kh1 Nxg4 the material is level, the d-file is open and the white king has no pawn cover on its own diagonal.
- 4
The queen and the pin moves 19–23
19.Nxf8 wins an exchange but 19...f5! shuts the h7 diagonal. 20.Ng6 Qf6 21.h3 Qxg6 22.Qe2 Qh5 pins the h3 pawn; 23.Qd3 Be3 cuts the last defence and Aronian resigns.