Alright, third AnandWatch in 3 games. It can mean only
one thing – that he has won 3 in a row!

To fully savor today’s victory, we have to look back
to Round 3. Bologan killed Anand in that Caro Kann,
and in press conference, he said that he was expecting
Anand to play 1…c6. To understand this, we have to
remember that Anand’s second these days is GM Rustam
Dautov, a Caro Kann expert. Viktor clearly came
prepared and outplayed Anand at his own game. 

Fast forward to Round 7. Bologan is untouchably hot.
He has Black and he coolly plays 1..c6, imitating
Anand's Round 3 defence. For the next few moves,
things are all in book, though Viktor chooses a very
sharp line, moving his g-pawn forward.

Now, in move 14, Anand unleases Re1. I was listening
to Roman on ChessFM and he seemed pleasantly
surprised. Right away, he said that this was an
innovation. (Anand’s trainer earned his money with
that one move!).

This got Bolo thinking for a long time. Every patzer
in ICC was screaming for a subsequent Rxe6 by Anand.
But apparently, the time was not yet ripe. Anand
played a Queen move, and things kept on heating up.

The funny thing is that these same people didn’t see
Anand’s 22. Rxe6!! This a true sac, (not a fake
tactical one) because the returns are there, but they
take time to realize. (Tony wanted to give Vishy the
brilliancy prize for that one.)

Anand wasn’t going to let this one go. He pressed and
after a good fight, Bologan simply gave up. This is
the stuff of fiction, folks. To beat Bologan with
White against the same Caro Kann! 
Sweet revenge, indeed. 

For those of you who like to look at a little bit of
analysis, here’s a nice html version of the annotation
by GM Boris Altermann. And Boris praises Anand a lot
in this game. He compares Vishy to both Andersson and
Paul Morphy in this one game.
Check out:

http://www.chessclub.com/event/palview/dortmund2003-7-1a.htm

Okay, that’s it for now. Until the next win.

Cheers,
Ram