Chess
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.THE RECENT Rapid Tournament in Brussels was not generally a good advertisement for fast rates of play. Too many games were decided by blunders. However, Viswanathan Anand's win over Ivan Sokolov was a fine example of the quality of play possible at a rate of 30 minutes for the whole game.
In the opening, White's bishop seemed tricked by his opponent's move order into making a cumbersome detour to reach g2, but Black's knight on c5 looked pretty but was relatively ineffective. On c6 or d7, the knight would exert more control over the centre.
Playing Rb8 and Re8, Sokolov put his rooks where they usually go in this system, one preparing for b5, the other lurking in readiness for any opening of the centre, but Anand's 14. e5] was a brilliant piece of tactical opportunism. With 15 . . . Qxe5 losing one rook to 16. Bf4, the game continuation exposed the problems of the unprotected nature of its colleague on e8. Anand's 16. Rxf7] and Qh5+ is an obvious enough start to his combination, but the real sting comes in 20. Ndb5]
Playing 21 . . . Qd7, Sokolov must have expected 22. Bxc5+ Kg8, but 22. Qxh7]] sealed his fate. Quite apart from the continuing threat of Bxc5+, White now threatens also 23. Rxf6+ gxf6 24. Bh6+. At the end, 26 . . . Kg6 27. Be4+ Kg5 28. Qh4 is mate. A delightful little game, showing that speed and brilliance are by no means incompatible.
White: Anand
Black: Sokolov
1 e4 c5
2 Nf3 e6
3 d4 cxd4
4 Nxd4 a6
5 Nc3 d6
6 a4 Nf6
7 Be2 Nbd7
8 0-0 Nc5
9 Bf3 Be7
10 g3 0-0
11 Bg2 Qc7
12 Be3 Rb8
13 f4 Re8
14 e5 dxe5
15 fxe5 Nfd7
16 Rxf7 Kxf7
17 Qh5+ Kf8
18 Rf1+ Nf6
19 exf6 Bxf6
20 Ndb5 axb5
21 Nxb5 Qd7
22 Qxh7 Qe7
23 Rxf6+ Qxf6
24 Bxc5+ Re7
25 Qh8+ Kf7
26 Nd6+ 1-0
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments