[#] 1.e4 c5 2.f3 c6 3.c3 f6 4.b5 c7 5.O-O d4 6.xd4!?

[The main contnuation here is considered to be: 6.e1 , which was confirmed by Kasparov, who implemented it against Leko two rounds later.]

6...cxd4 7.d5 xd5

[After: 7...c5 , White can 'add some fire' by: 8.b4! ]

8.exd5 c5

[In the case of: 8...g6 , strong is: 9.e1! , which indicates the weakness of the black e7-pawn.]

9.c4! Novelty. In the game of the less known (to me!) players

[White failed to obtain advantage after: 9.e2 xd5 10.c4 f5 11.b4 e6 12.b2 xb4 13.xd4 O-O , Boudre-Godard, France1998.]

9...dxc3? And this is just an excessive curiosity, a 'what-if' playing. Now Peter knows it all, but at what enormous cost!

[Stronger is: 9...a6 10.a4 b5! , when Black can at least develop his queenside.]

10.b3! White's advantage in the development becomes so overwhelming, that Black's extra pawn is virtually useless. Now Black takes a risks of getting under a crushing attack, when his king resides in the center! 10...a6 11.e2 c2 An attempt of returning the stolen purse fails. The thief is caught red-handed! 12.d4! d6

[Also bad is: 12...xd4 13.e3! ]

13.f3 All the rest is just the realization. Anand plays with the opponent in his peculiar manner, like a cat with wounded mouse. He lets it go, protracts the struggle, but never lets him run away completely... 13...g6 14.d2 f6 15.d6! A beautiful blocking pawn sacrifice! 15...xd6 16.fe1 a5 17.xc2 g7 18.xa5 O-O 19.c3 e8 20.b3 c7 21.a4! d6 22.a5 b8 23.ec1! f5 24.d2 d7 25.e3 e5 A useless atempt of obtaining a counter play. 26.dxe5 dxe5 27.d5! e6 28.xe6 xe6 29.xe6 xe6 30.b4 e4 31.a2 Importnt is, that the bishops are still on the board, which is to the stronger side's benefit. Black cannot trade them off. 31...e5 32.g3 f8 33.c4 f5 34.d2 At this moment, Anand starts expressely slow playing in the opponent's time trouble.

[I think, White should simply advance his pawns on the queenside by: 34.b5 a8 35.a6! bxa6 36.ca4 ]

34...e8 35.d5 d8 36.b5 d7 37.cc5 f6 38.c8 f7 39.g2 e8 40.c4 e5 41.h4 f6 42.bc5 d8 43.c8 e5

[After: 43...f6 , Anand would not just abstain from playing: 44.b5 ]

44.xd8! A beautiful winning combination. 44...xd8 45.c7 e6! Peter choses the most stubborn continuations now and later on, which forces his opponent to demonstrate his technique.

[Transposing into the pawn endgame leads to Black's rapid defeat after: 45...e7 46.xe7 xe7 47.g5 d7 48.xd8 xd8 49.f3 d7 50.b5 d6 51.fxe4 fxe4 52.f2 c5 53.a6 bxa6 54.bxa6 b6 55.e3 xa6 56.xe4 , and the white king destroys all Black's kingside.]

46.xb7 ed5! Some mating threats for the white king along the rank 1 are still possible! 47.xh7!

[Black's idea becomes transparent in the variation: 47.a6 d1 48.a7 a1 49.g4 dd1! ]

47...b5

[And now, quite harmless for White is: 47...d1 48.g7 f6 49.b7 e6 50.b6 f7 51.g5 8d7 52.a6 a1 53.g4! , when the white king flees away to e5.]

48.c5! The black rook is trapped on b5. 48...d2 49.f1 a2 50.c7 f4 51.e7 f6 52.xe4 fxg3 53.fxg3 g5 54.h5! f5 55.e2 a3 56.g2 g4 57.h6 xg3 58.f2 h3 59.e6 b7

[59...f5 60.b6! xb6 61.axb6 xh6 62.b7� ]

60.e2 f5 61.a6 h2 62.e3 d7

[62...h3 63.f2! ]

63.d6 xd6 64.xd6 xh6 65.a7! A winning tempo. 65...h3

[65...h8 66.b8! h3 67.d4 a3 68.b5� ]

66.d4 a3 67.c5! g4

[After: 67...e6 , winning is: 68.b6! , followed by blocking the a-file.]

68.d5 g3 69.c6 g2 70.b7 e6 71.g1! Avoiding the fire-proof Leko's last trap,

[which is: 71.a8=? xa8 72.xa8 d5 73.b7 c4 74.c6 g1=!= ]

71...d5 72.b5 Black resigned.

Annotated by GM S. SHIPOV [1:0]