Tags:
Journalism of Courage
Kochi, Dec 29: Viswanathan Anand of India and Micheal Adams of England played out an exciting draw today to keep the scores level 2-2 in the completion of their fourth game of the World Chess Championships at Groningen, according to reports reaching here.
With this, all the four games have ended without yielding any result, thus forcing the match into tie-breaker.
The winner will play Anatoly Karpov in a six-game title match at Laussane from January 2.
ADAMS LET OFF: Yesterday in the third game Anand had enjoyed a good position from early in the game and only a tactical blunder (29.Qd2) saw Adams relieve the pressure and escape with a draw. At the conclusion of the game Anand was clearly upset at the result and left before giving his customary lecture to the assembled press. Adams was also not happy with his play, “This game was a bit miserable, the first two games were of a higher quality,” he evaluated.
Adams, with the white pieces once more, chose to avoid an open Sicilian (1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4) and selected a variation of his favourite anti-Sicilian weapon involving Bb5. The theoretical novelty appears to be the move 7. a4 which like the opening wasn’t very threatening for Black. Adams’ play made a strange impression and by the time Black had played 12. b6 Anand was at least equal and after 16.d5 he was pressing.
Anand offered an exchange of Queens with 24. Qd3 which Adams declined with 25.Qb3, in retrospect this might have been wrong as Adams pointed out the possibility of 25. c4! which looks very strong. Play might continue 26.Qb5 Bc5! 27.Nf1 (27.Kh2?? a6! wins) 27..Qxe4 when Black has excellent winning chances. Adams didn’t mention this specific variation but had said that “In some lines I’m forced to give up my e4 pawn and it it is very difficult for me.”
In their brief post-mortem the players also thought that 27..Kh8! and only then 28..Rf8 was dangerous for White. Anand had rejected 27..Kh8 because of the reply 28.e5 sacrificing a pawn but freeing the e4 square for the White knight, Adams regarded 27..Kh8 as a very good try for Black however.
The critical moment of the game was reached on move 29 when Anand could have played 29..Bd4! when Adams thought “I might be hanging on with 30.Ng4 but it’s not certain.” Anand can continue 30.Ng4 Bxf2+! 31.Nxf2 Qg3 32.Re2 Ne3 33.Qxe6+ Kg7 34.Qe7+ Rf7 35.Nh1 Qf4 36.Qxf7+ Qxf7 37.Rxe3 Qb3 when Black wins, this line was discovered by Grandmaster Pravin Thipsay of India. Instead of 29..Bd4! Anand made a tactical mistake with 29..Qd2?? when he admitted later “I saw 30.Nf5! but only after I had made my move.” Adams who gives nothing away with his expression at the board must have been delighted by such a gift.
After 30.Nf5! Adams even had a slight advantage but it was only enough for a draw, stating “He can meet 32.Qe6 with 32..Bg7 and then the black Queen can take on b2 so I have nothing here.”
Moves
V Anand vs M Adams (Game 4)
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 O-O 8. c3 d5 9. exd5 Nxd5 10. Nxe5 Nxe5 11. Rxe5 c6 12. Re1 Bd6 13. d3 Qh4 14. g3 Qh3 15. Re4 Qf5 16. Nd2 Qg6 17. Re1 Bg4 18. f3 Bh3 19. Ne4 Rae8 20. Re2 h5 21. Bg5 Bc7 22. Qd2 Kh8 23. Rae1 f6 24. Nf2 Rxe2 25. Rxe2 Bf5 26. Bxd5 cxd5 27. Bf4 Bxf4 28. Qxf4 Bxd3 29. Rd2 Bb1 30. Qd6 Re8 31. Qxd5 Kh7 32. Kg2 Re5 33. Qb3 Qe8 34. a3 Bf5 35. Qb4 Bd7 36. Qd4 Bc6 37. Qd3 Kh6 38. Qd4 Qa8 39. Rd3 Qe8 40. g4 Re2 41. Qf4 Kh7 42. Qf5 Qg6 43. Qxh5 Qxh5 44. gxh5 Rxb2 45. Rd6 Be8 46. Rxa6 (1/2-1/2).
