Daniel King on 'Kasparov and Anand' game in Sicilian Defence

Who don't know Daniel King ? and when we talk about analysis, commentator and presentation; the first name come to our mind is Daniel King. He is an English chess Grandmaster, coach, journalist, author and broadcaster. A very famous and attractive personality in chess world.

As a player

• International Master in 1982
• Grand Master in 1989
• First at Sydney open with Boris Gelfand in 1988
• First at Geneva young masters with Ian Rogers in 1990
• Winner of Bunratty Masters in 1996

As an Author and  Media personality :

• Winning with the Najdrof - Buy Now from Amazon
• How good is your chess - Buy Now from Amazon
• How to Play chess - Buy Now from Amazon
• Power play series 1- 18 - Buy Now from Amazon
• Writer at The Guardian, Chess Magazine and Schach 64 Commentators  for the prestigious chess tournaments

Presenting you the game annotated by Daniel king and played by two world champions named Garry Kasparov (The chess legend) and Vishy Anand (Current world champion).

Anyone who would like to save the game can copy and paste following text in the PGN viewer or chessbase.


[Event "Geneve PCA-GP Credit Suisse"]
[Site "Geneve"]
[Date "1996.09.01"]
[Round "4.1"]
[White "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Black "Kasparov, Garry"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B90"]
[WhiteElo "2735"]
[BlackElo "2785"]
[Annotator "King,D"]
[PlyCount "109"]
[EventDate "1996.08.??"]
[EventType "k.o. (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "4"]
[EventCountry "SUI"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "1996.11.01"]

1. e4

 

Anand

 

1... c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be3 Ng4 7. Bg5 h6 8. Bh4 g59. Bg3 Bg7 10. Be2 h5 11. Bxg4 Bxg4 12. f3 Bd7 13. Bf2 Nc6 14. Qd2 Ne5 15. O-O e6

 

[15... g4! Anand 16. f4 Nc4]

 

16. b3 Ng6 17. Rad1 g4 18. f4 h4 19. Nde2 h3 20. g3

 

I hope you will forgive my digression; now we come on to the main theme of this article: the far-advance of the rook's pawn. This and the following game caught my eye, well, I was commentating live on both of them, so they couldn't fail to. The variation Kasparov has played has grown in reputation over the last few years. The kingside pawns are flung up the board introducing a variety of dynamic possibilities. Here Kasparov has managed to advance his h-pawn all the way to h3 making life extremely awkward for White. With no light-squared bishop to cover g2, there will always be a threat of mate looming against the king should the position open. Moreover, as both the e and f pawns have advanced, the king has no cover along the second rank.

 

20... Rc8 21. e5

 

Shutting out the bishop on g7 as 21...dxe5 22 Ne4 gives White some chances. However, even after

 

21... d5

 

White is not out of danger, even though the position has closed.

 

22. Nd4 O-O 23. Qd3 f5!

 

Securing the structure. White cannot contemplate 24 exf6 Qxf6 as the position begins to open, and once again the king on g1 is in a shaky position.

 

24. Nce2 Rf7

 

During the game, I thought I was better, but White should just keep the position closed.

 

25. Rc1 Bf8 26. c3 Ne7 27. Rfd1 Nc6 28. c4

 

Opening the position is a mistake, though the alternative was just to sit there and allow Black to build up pressure on the queenside. It is difficult to criticise moves in a speed game. Anand was obviously trying to blast his way through to the weak-point on e6, but the plan rebounds.

 

28... dxc4 29. Rxc4 Qe8 30. Qd2 b5 31. Rcc1 Nb4 32. Nc3 Rc7! 33. a3 Qa8!

 

Precisely why the position should have remained closed.

 

34. Be3 Nd3 35. Rc2 b4

 

[35... Nc5 Anand 36. b4]

 

36. Na2 Nc5 37. Qe2

 

[37. axb4 Anand 37... Ne4 38. Qe2¢]

 

37... bxa3 38. b4 Ba4 39. bxc5 Bxc2 40. Nxc2 Bxc5 41. Bxc5 Rxc5 42. Ne1 Rb5 43. Qc4Rb2 44. Qxe6 Qa7 45. Kh1 Rxh2 46. Kxh2 Qf2 47. Kh1 Qf1 48. Kh2 Qe2 49. Kg1 Qxd1

 

There's no perpetual.

 

50. Kf1

 

[50. Qg6 Kf8 51. Qh6 Ke7 52. Qg5 Kd7]

 

50... Qd7 51. Qxa6 h2 52. Qg6 Rg7 53. Qh5 Rh7 54. Qg6 Qg7 55. Qe8

 

time. The h-pawn played a starring role in the game and is due to be crowned for its hard work, but Anand lost on time first.