Learn from Anand-Carlsen games - Part 1.

Carlsen(2625)-Anand(2792) Glitnir Blitz 2006.

(B)

Vishy Anand as Black continued here with the very logical and tempting move c4. What do you think about it?

Solution:
This was a blitz game and Anand had employed the Benko Defense. An opening which he rarely plays. But here he not only played it but also got a very promising position as black. He had recovered his pawn when he won a pawn on h3 and now can slowly build up the pressure. However he noticed the typical Benko undermining move of 1...c4. Usually when black is able to play c4 in benko he gets a lot of play. But here Anand forgot about his king! The g7 bishop is missing and hence the game continued
1....c4? 2.bc4! Nc4 its a fork but white replies now with 3.Qh6!! Just like in life when we put our resources in our area we often neglect the other and this is exactly what happened. In his bid for queenside counterplay, Anand missed this little trick!

(B)

With Ng5 coming up, Anand fell into an elementary mating pattern. Of course its a blitz but we can learn how the combination of Qh6+Ng5 can be so fatal.

Thus Anand defended his King with 3...f6 and Carlsen won a piece with 4.Rb4!

This was the first game in which Carlsen convincingly beat Anand. However still the difference in their level was quite apparent as the next game Carlsen won against Anand was after almost 2 years in march 2008!