Is chess this simple?

In one of my opening books (I cannot remember which) there was a comment attached to the variation 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+? "Chess is not that simple". Of course there are times when sacrifices on f7 do work, but they aren't that common. So Wang Hao's sacrifice on move 7 in the Beijing GP comes a real surprise. Even more surprising is that it lead to a win in 22 moves. Certainly Giri looks as though he missed some better defences (Bf8 is ?! at best), but the shock value of defending a piece up may have had a lot to do with this. Fortunately for Black 5. .. exd4 is a sideline, and if you want to play this line and not get hacked, then 5. ... Be7 is still the best move.


Wang,Hao - Giri,Anish [C41]
Beijing GP, 11.07.2013