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Chess: The pit and the pendulum

William Hartston
Monday 01 August 1994 23:02 BST
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ANAND'S win against Kamsky in the third game of their Fide world title match in Sanghi Nagar, India, showed the patient side of the young Indian grandmaster, writes William Hartston. Famed for his speed of play and brilliant command of tactics, Anand spent most of this game defending calmly, and only began to apply the pressure after move 30.

For the second time in the match, Kamsky played the Marshall Gambit, but he diverged from the first game with 15 . . . Re8 instead of Bg4. With the pair of bishops and a good deal of white- square pressure, he had fair compensation for his sacrificed pawn, but Anand eased his game by forcing the exchange of all the rooks, starting with 24. Nf1 and ending with 29. f3.

When his early initiative disappeared, Kamsky was clearly fighting for a draw, and liquidating his a-pawn with a4 and a3 was a good start. As Boris Spassky often demonstrated a quarter of a century ago, Black's two bishops can hold such positions when a pawn down.

As the 40-move time control approached, Anand succeeded in tempting some errors. Black cannot have been happy playing 39 . . . g5, extending his pawn front and stretching his defences. Anand's splendid pendulum effect with his queen, from f2 to c2 to h2 to a2, finally drove Black into the pit of defeat.

White's play between moves 35 and 45 is a beautiful example of precision and power, but Kamsky must feel that he threw this game away.

White: Anand

Black: Kamsky

1 e4 e5 32 Bd2 a5 2 Nf3 Nc6 33 Ne3 g6 3 Bb5 a6 34 Qf2 a4 4 Ba4 Nf6 35 Ng2 a3 5 0-0 Be7 36 bxa3 Bxa3 6 Re1 b5 37 Bf4 Bc6 7 Bb3 0-0 38 Be5 Bf8 8 c3 d5 39 Nf4 g5 9 exd5 Nxd5 40 Ng2 Qe6 10 Nxe5 Nxe5 41 Ne3 Kf7 11 Rxe5 c6 42 Qc2 Bd7 12 d4 Bd6 43 Qh2 Qg6 13 Re1 Qh4 44 Qa2 Qe6 14 g3 Qh3 45 Qxd5 Qxd5 15 Be3 Re8 46 Nxd5 Bc6 16 Bxd5 cxd5 47 c4 Ke6 17 Qf3 Ra7 48 Nc7+ Kd7 18 Nd2 Rae7 49 Kf2 Ba3 19 a4 bxa4 50 Ke2 Bb2 20 Rxa4 h5 51 Nb5 g4 21 Ra5 Bb7 52 fxg4 fxg4 22 Raa1 Bc8 53 Kd3 Ba1 23 Ra5 Bb7 54 Kc2 Be4+ 24 Nf1 h4 55 Kb3 Bd3 25 Raa1 Re4 56 Nc3 Ke6 26 Bd2 hxg3 57 Nd5 Kf5 27 hxg3 f5 58 Nb4 Be2 28 Qg2 Qh5 59 c5 Bd1+ 29 f3 Rxe1 60 Kc4 Ke6 30 Rxe1 Rxe1 Black resigns 31 Bxe1 Qe8

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