Top GM spent 1:43 min on move four – in Armageddon blitz!

by ChessBase
4/8/2012 – It's a rapid chess knockout event with absolute world-class players. In a blitz Armageddon tiebreak game player A chooses the Petroff with the black pieces, and on move four he falls into a deep think – for almost two minutes! Can you guess who the player was – hint: one of the fastest in the world – and how the game ended? Watch this exciting Easter video with wonderful commentary.

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Anand spent 1:43 min on move four – in Armageddon blitz!

It happened at the Intel/PCA Rapid Chess Grand Prix, back in 1994, with the likes of Kasparov, Kramnik, Anand, Ivanchuk, Shirov, Korchnoi, Timman at the start. In round one Vishy Anand, wearing oversized glasses (we all did that at the time) played two draws against Ilya Smirin. An Armageddon blitz game was required. Smirin getot white on a coin toss, and with six minutes on his clock, to Anand's five, he has to win.

Enough said – just sit back watch the game unfold, and listen to the superb commentary by Maurice Ashley and Daniel King. It sent shivers down the backs of a mainly lay audience in New York – and down our backs too, when we watched it again 18 years later.

Here's the wonderful game for you to study and analyse:

[Event "PCA/Intel-GP"] [Site "New York"] [Date "1994.??.??"] [Round "1"] [White "Smirin, Ilia"] [Black "Anand, Viswanathan"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C42"] [WhiteElo "2615"] [BlackElo "2720"] [PlyCount "100"] [EventDate "1994.06.??"] [EventType "k.o. (rapid)"] [EventRounds "4"] [EventCountry "USA"] [Source "ChessBase"] [SourceDate "1994.09.01"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. d4 Nxe4 4. Nxe5 d6 5. Nf3 d5 6. Bd3 Nc6 7. O-O Be7 8. c4 Nb4 9. Be2 Be6 10. Nc3 O-O 11. Be3 Bf5 12. Rc1 dxc4 13. Bxc4 c6 14. Ne5 Nxc3 15. bxc3 Nd5 16. Qb3 f6 17. Qxb7 fxe5 18. Qxc6 Be4 19. dxe5 Kh8 20. Bd4 Rc8 21. Qa6 Nf4 22. f3 Rc6 23. Qa4 Rxc4 24. Qxc4 Bd3 25. Qc6 Ne2+ 26. Kh1 Nxd4 27. cxd4 Bxf1 28. Rxf1 Qxd4 29. f4 Qxe5 30. g3 Qc5 31. Qe4 Bf6 32. Kg2 Rc8 33. Rf2 Qc6 34. Qxc6 Rxc6 35. g4 h6 36. Kf3 Rc3+ 37. Ke4 Kh7 38. Re2 Rc4+ 39. Kf5 Rc5+ 40. Ke6 Rc4 41. Rf2 Kg6 42. h3 Rc3 43. Rh2 Rf3 44. f5+ Kg5 45. a4 Kh4 46. Kd5 Ra3 47. Kc6 Rxa4 48. Kb7 a5 49. Kb6 Ra3 50. Kb5 Rxh3 0-1

And encore? Here's a heart-stopping PCA blitz game in London a year later. The commentators explain it all.

[Event "PCA/Intel-GP"] [Site "London"] [Date "1995.??.??"] [Round "3"] [White "Anand, Viswanathan"] [Black "Dreev, Alexey"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C00"] [WhiteElo "2725"] [BlackElo "2670"] [PlyCount "130"] [EventDate "1995.08.??"] [EventType "k.o. (rapid)"] [EventRounds "4"] [EventCountry "ENG"] [Source "ChessBase"] [SourceDate "1996.01.01"] 1. e4 e6 2. d3 d5 3. Nd2 Nf6 4. Ngf3 b6 5. e5 Nfd7 6. d4 c5 7. c3 Be7 8. Bb5 Ba6 9. a4 Bb7 10. O-O Nc6 11. Re1 cxd4 12. Nxd4 Qc7 13. N2f3 O-O 14. Bxc6 Bxc6 15. Bg5 Bd8 16. Bxd8 Raxd8 17. b4 Bb7 18. Re3 Ba6 19. Qc2 h6 20. Rae1 Rc8 21. h4 Rfe8 22. Nh2 Qc4 23. Qd2 Nf8 24. Rg3 Kh8 25. Ng4 Nh7 26. Kh2 Qc7 27. f4 Qe7 28. Rh3 Rc4 29. Ne3 Rc7 30. f5 Rec8 31. Kg1 Bb7 32. Nb5 Rd7 33. Nxa7 Ra8 34. Nb5 Rxa4 35. Nd4 Ra8 36. Ng4 exf5 37. e6 fxe6 38. Ne5 Nf8 39. Nxd7 Qxd7 40. Rhe3 Bc8 41. Nf3 Qd8 42. Ne5 Qxh4 43. Rh3 Qf6 44. Qd4 Bb7 45. Qxb6 Bc8 46. Qc7 Kg8 47. Rg3 h5 48. b5 h4 49. Rf3 Ra2 50. Qxc8 Qg5 51. Rf2 Rxf2 52. Kxf2 Qg3+ 53. Kf1 h3 54. gxh3 Qxh3+ 55. Ke2 Qh2+ 56. Kd1 Qb2 57. Qc5 Qb1+ 58. Kd2 Qb2+ 59. Ke3 Qh2 60. Nf3 Qh6+ 61. Ke2 Qh5 62. Qd4 Qh3 63. Rg1 g6 64. b6 Qh5 65. b7 Qh7 0-1

We remind you that both commentators are star authors of our Fritz Trainer series. If you enjoyed their commentary of the Smirin-Anand blitz you might consider some one-on-one lessons from them:

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