Viva Anand

After a less than stellar 2017 (except for the last bit), Viswanathan Anand continues his resurgence at the Tata Steel event in The Netherlands. He won his first round game against Maxim Matlakov and then drew with Karjakin in round 2. In round 3 he was up against Fabiano Caruana, and defying the age gap, beat the young American in a complicated game. He now leads the event on 2.5/3, along with Anish Giri, who seemingly surprised everyone by winning his first two games.
As I type this Giri is up against World Champion Magnus Carlsen in a sharp line of the French, where Black has thematically sacrificed the g and h pawns for activity in the centre. Anand is facing countryman Adhiban, and might be outright first by the time I wake in the morning.


Anand,V (2767) - Caruana,F (2811) [C42]
80th Tata Steel GpA Wijk aan Zee NED (3), 15.01.2018

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nf3 Nxe4 5. d4 d5 6. Bd3 Bd6 7. O-O O-O 8. c4 c6 9. Qc2 Na6 10. a3 Bg4 11. Ne5 Bf5 12. b4 Nc7 13. f3 Bg6 14. c5 Bxe5 15. dxe5 Ng5 16. Bb2 d4 17. f4 Nd5 18. fxg5 Ne3 19. Qd2 Bxd3 20. Qxd3 Nxf1 21. Kxf1 Qxg5 22. Nd2 Qxe5 23. Nf3 Qh5 24. Qxd4 f6 25. Qc4+ Kh8 26. Bc1 Rfe8 27. Bf4 a5 28. Bd6 axb4 29. Qxb4 Qd5 30. Qxb7 h6 31. Kg1 Ra4 32. h3 Rc4 33. Qb2 Qd3 34. Ra2 Qd1+ 35. Kh2 Rc1 36. a4 f5 37. Qb7 f4 38. Bxf4 Rxc5 39. Rd2 Qxa4 40. Qf7 Rg8 41. Be5 Qc4 42. Rd6 1-0