YouRang: Uncharacteristicly dubious play by Anand (black).
After <10.Bxd4>, black faced this position:
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A decent move for black here would be 10...b6, which enables ...Bb7 (developing his LSB and connecting his rooks) and it would makes c5 a strong square for black -- eventually a good place for his poor Na6. Instead, he opted for <10...Nd7?>, moving the knight twice, blocking his LSB, and worse, allowing white to exchange bishops and develop his queen with attack: <11.Bxg7 Kxg7 12.Qd4+!>
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To get out of check, black's best choices are either to block with the the pawn via 12...f6 or just retreat the king with 12...Kg8. Anand chose one of the worst ways with <12...Nf6?>, and so now black has a pinned knight that is guarded only by the king, and not easily guarded by anything else. This gives white an obvious target of attack, which white hits right away with <13.Nd5>, forcing black to guard the knight with his queen on d8 <13...Qd8>
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Black is stymied by both poor development and tactical weakness in this position. White contineus to develop his attack with <14.Ng5>.
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This threatens Nxh7 which would win the Nf6 and blow open black's defense. It also threatens further attack beginning with f4. At this point, black is really forced to play 14...Rh8 to stop ...Nxh7. Anand missed this and tried to defend on the e-file with <14...Re8?> -- which proved to be too slow: <15.Nxh7! Rxe4 16.Qc3!>
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White maintains the pin on Nf6 and he has the black king swarmed by knights. Black has no good moves, but he apparently overlooked the tactical loss after <16...Rxe2? 17.Nhxf6!>
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While three of black's pieces sit uselessly on the kingside, white has both the time and resources to proceed with a deadly assault. The most immediate threat is Ne8++ (double-check blocking defense of the back rank and threatening Qg7#), and after ...Kh6 white has Qh8+ to flush out the king with mate to follow. Black tries to counter this threat with <17...Qh8> but then <18.Ne4+>
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Anand threw in the towel, seeing that the best he can do is 18...Kh7 (18...Kg8 19.Ne7+! 20.Kf8 Qxh8) 19.Ng5+ Kg8 20.Qf3 attacking Re2 and threatening Qxf7#. The rook must be lost, and shortly after, the game. |