Anand scores a brilliant win

I recently purchased a copy of "Heroes of Classical Chess" by Craig Pritchett. It covered a group of players (Rubenstein, Smyslov, Fischer, Anand and Carlsen) who Pritchett felt played chess in a "classically direct" style. In his introduction he admits that "style" is an elusive quaility, but he defines the "classically direct" style as having in part "a fundamental sense of analytical correctness".
Clearly game 4 of the current World Championship Match is evidence of Anand's expertise in this regard. Cleverly choosing an opening system designed to keep the game on his terms, rather than Topalov's, he aimed for a position that wasn't aggressive of defensive, but one that was simply good (in the sense that he could dictate the course of the game). As it turned out that the position he achieved offered him good attacking chances, which he then exploited with a brilliant sacrificial attack. If some commentators felt that 15.Qa3 in game 2 was reminiscent of Fischer's 11. ... Nh5 in Game 3 of the 1972 match against Spassky, then this game could be compared with Fischer's win in Game 6 in the same match, in both style and significance.

Anand,Viswanathan (2787) - Topalov,Veselin (2805) [E04]
WCh Sofia BUL (4), 28.04.2010

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.g3 dxc4 5.Bg2 Bb4+ 6.Bd2 a5 7.Qc2 Bxd2+ 8.Qxd2 c6 9.a4 b5 10.Na3 Bd7 11.Ne5 Nd5 12.e4 Nb4 13.0-0 0-0 14.Rfd1 Be8 15.d5 Qd6 16.Ng4 Qc5 17.Ne3 N8a6 18.dxc6 bxa4 19.Naxc4 Bxc6 20.Rac1 h6 21.Nd6 Qa7 22.Ng4 Rad8 (D)
23.Nxh6+ gxh6 24.Qxh6 f6 25.e5 Bxg2 26.exf6 Rxd6 27.Rxd6 Be4 28.Rxe6 Nd3 29.Rc2 Qh7 30.f7+ Qxf7 31.Rxe4 Qf5 32.Re7 1-0