WCC 2010 game 10

Another Grunfeld, deviating on move 10...b6 (as played by Bill Hartston, him of the quotation in my right column, as Black against Knaak in Italy 1979, 1-0 in 35 moves.

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. e4 Nxc3 6. bxc3 Bg7 7. Bc4 c5 8. Ne2 Nc6 9. Be3 O-O 10. O-O b6 11. Qd2 Bb7 12.Rac1 e6



after 13. Rfd1

Rather than playing -e6-, Anand, yet again full of surprises, replies 13...cxd4 14. cxd4 Qd6 That'll teach him.
Which center pawn advance will this elicit: e5 or d5?



15. d5 Na5?Is this preparation, desperation or deception? maybe this Knight on the rim isn't that dim afterall. It can march on to =b4= and cause some havoc. Black's plan could be interpreted as an attempt to demolish the d-5 pawn by attacking the DSB on -e3- first.


Having the square =d4= free for another piece will come in handy for White.
16.Bb5 RxR 17.RxR Rc8 18. h3
Now there's a turn-up for the books. No continuation of the giant clear-out for Topalov. He wants to hang on to that Rook.



after 18.h3


Black's DSB has a free run, thanks to White's pawn structure.

18.h3 Rxc1+ 19.Qxc1 e6 20.Nf4

and Black has created a very strong kingside with a huge no-go sign to Black's LSB.

Will they be swapping their DSBs any time soon?
20. Nf4 exd5 21. Nxd5 f5 22. f3 23. fxe4 Qe5
Finally. The Queen on her throne. Anand must be planning to keep her Maj and not enter into any exchanges soon.




24. Bd3


What was wrong with 24...Bxd5 may I ask??


Anyways, Anand didn'tlike that move and played 24...Nc6.
which is bound to give White more breathing space.

Enjoyable first 40 moves of game 10.

Play-through board up till move 42






They draw on move 60.