Happy Birthday Melody Amber (Anand-Nakamura, Monte Carlo 2011)

The Dutch IT billionaire Joop van Oosterom is an avid chess fan and a world champion too at correspondence chess. To celebrate his daughter Melody Amber's birth he created the eponymous tournament that has run annually for twenty years. With nice appearance fees and no rating points at stake, the players can concentrate purely on chess. In the early years different formats were experimented with before settling on the current double round robin of blindfold and rapidplay.

This year's event, to be the last, featured 12 grandmasters who can be arranged like the pecking order at a medieval court. The inner circle of favorites are Anand, Carlsen, Aronian and Nakamura. World champion and #1 ranked V. Anand  is enjoying an Indian summer that proves chess life does not stop at 40. World #2 Magnus Carlsen impresses with his peculiar style of fighting chess which has sometimes backfired recently. The likeable Levon Aronian is now among the 2800 superelite while Hikaru Nakamura continues to improve and has added a dimension of solidity to his aggressive style.

Next are four Amber veterans who are feeling their age: Vassily Ivanchuk the crown prince seesaws between beautiful masterpieces and unrecognizable play. Boris Gelfand plays sharp openings but over time his drawing margin has increased while former world champions Vladimir Kramnik and Veselin Topalov are going through a lackluster patch.

Finally there are four players capable of beating anyone on a given day: Alexander Grischuk, Sergey Karjakin, Vugar Gashimov and Anish Giri. Nevertheless, their recnt form or lack of Amber experience suggests it unlikely they would be a contender.

The first week of play brought some surprises. Aronian broke away with a number of 'lucky' wins while Carlsen and Anand jockeyed for second. Nakamura, perhaps because of his newly serious attitude, was languishing near the bottom. Ivanchuk started disastrously but then defeated Anand and Carlsen in their matches. This year's Amber featured a larger than usual share of blunders in the blindfold games but this only added to the entertainment value.

 Nakamura-Carlsen, 44. Rc7?? Kd8??

 Karjakin-Gelfand, 36 Be4??

 Anand-Gelfand, 58. h5??

 Gashimov-Aronian, 30. f5??

 Topalov-Grischuk, 69... Ra1??

 Aronian-Gelfand, 28... Qc3??

The Anand-Nakamura minimatch ended in a tie. The American has now drawn all five encounters against the World Champion. In the rapid game Nakamura was under pressure as Black but held on to draw an endgame with rook against bishop and two pawns.

Anand, Viswanathan (2817) - Nakamura, Hikaru (2744) [C12]
Melody Amber rapidplay, Monte Carlo 2011

 

1. e4 

 

The young Anand was exclusively an 1.e4 player. Then he went through a 1.d4 phase, returned to 1.e4 and successfully trotted out 1.d4 again in his matches against Kramnik and Topalov. Lately he has preferred 1.d4 except when targeting specific opponents.

 

1... e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 

 

Anand is also a leading exponent of the Steinitz 4.e5 with both colors.

 

4... Bb4 

 

The McCutcheon variation that has never been as popular or considered as sound as 4... Be7 or 4... dxe4. Anand would have anticipated it as it is part of Nakamura's repertoire. On the flip side, maybe the McCutcheon is a good choice against the World Champion! In recent tries he has scored only 50% with draws against Radjabov, Morozevich and Shirov.

 

5. e5 h6 6. Bd2

 

Gashimov-Nakamura saw the sideline 6.Be3 with a sharp struggle ending in a win for Black.

 

6... Bxc3 7. bxc3 Ne4 8. Qg4 g6

 

An alternative is 8...Kf8 with the plan of ...c5-c4, ...b5-b4 against which Anand has produced model games against Ivanchuk and Korchnoi.

 

9. Bd3 Nxd2 10. Kxd2 c5

 

 

The appeal of this McCutcheon mainline lies in the unsafe position of both Kings allowing Black some counterpunches.Nevertheless, White has an enduring pull on the dark squares hence its unpopularity.

11. Nf3 Nc6 12. dxc5

Relatively rare but presumably Anand had a specific idea in mind.

12... Qa5 13. Qf4 Qxc5 14. Nd4 Bd7 15. Rhb1 

Apparently new. The game Minasian-Lputian, Armenian ch 1996 is typical of Black's counterplay: 15.Qf6 O-O 16.Nxc6 Bxc6 17.h4 Rac8 18.Bxg6 Be8 19.Bd3 Qxc3+ 20.Ke2 Bb5.

15... O-O-O 16. Rb5

16. Qxf7 Nxd4 17. cxd4 Qxd4 would be terrible for White.

16... Qe7 17. Rab1 b6 18. Nxc6 

The caveman like 18. Rxb6 axb6 19. Ba6+ Kc7 does not lead to anything. A better try is 18. Rxd5 exd5 19. Ba6+ Kb8 20. e6+ Ka8 21. exd7 Qe5 but White's compensation is inadequate.

18... Bxc6 19. R5b4 g5 

19... Qg5 20. Qxg5 hxg5 21. h3 d4 looks like another reasonable way to maintain the balance.

20. Qe3 Qc5 

Heading for an endgame rather than the sharp 20... f6. 

21. f4 gxf4 22. Rxf4

22. Qxc5 bxc5 23. Rxf4 might be a better try although
Black should still hold.

22... Rhg8 23. g3 Qxe3+ 24. Kxe3 Rg5 25. Rxf7

White has no time for 25. Kd4 f5 26. exf6 e5+

25... Rxe5+ 26. Kf4 Rh5 27. g4

A critical moment as the later endgame is not easy to win. Sharper was 27. h4 Rg8 (27... d4 28. Rxa7 b5 29. a4) 28. Rxa7 e5+ 29. Ke3 d4+ 30. Ke2 e4 31. Ba6+ Kb8 32. Re7 {when White appears to be winning.

27... Rxh2 28. Rxa7 Rd7 29. Ra6 Kc7 30. Kg3 Rd2 31. Rbxb6 Bb7 32. Rxb7+ Kxb7 33. Rxe6 

White risks little with the exchange sacrifice but can he win? Anand comes up with the plan of anchoring his Bishop with one pawn and pushing the other but Nakamura's precise defence achieves a well deserved draw.

33... Rc7 34. Rxh6 Rxc3 35. Kf4 Rf2+ 36. Ke5 Rg2 37. Rg6 Ra3 38. Kxd5 Rxa2 39. Be4 Re2 40. c4 Rad2+ 41. Ke5+ Kc7 42. Kf5 Rf2+ 43. Kg5 Rd4 44. Bd5 Kd7 45. Kh6 Re2 46. Rg7+ Kd6 47. g5 Re5 48. Rf7 Rh4+ 49. Kg6 Rg4 50. Rf5 Rg1 51. Kf6 Rxf5+ 52. Kxf5 Rf1+ 53. Kg6 Ke5 54. Kg7 Rf4 55. g6 Kf5 56. Bf7 Rd4 57. c5 Rd8 58. c6 Rc8 59. Bd5 Rc7+ 60. Kh6 Kf6 61. Kh5 Ra7 62. Bf7 Kg7 63. Kg5 Ra5+ 64. Kf4 Rc5 65. Be8 Rxc6 1/2-1/2