Tuesday, January 15

Anand Smacks Aronian in the Meran



If you haven't seen today's game from Wijk aan Zee, then stop everything and take a look.  You don't just see 2800 players getting checkmated in under 25 moves with either color, even less with the White pieces!  Absolutely stunning!

Indeed, after the stunning one-two punch 15... Bc5 and 16... Nde5, Levon Aronian found himself in deep trouble.  Kudos to Vishy Anand for executing an incredible piece of opening preparation (originally intended for Boris Gelfand in last year's title defense).  This was not the first time that Anand refuted a topical opening variation with an explosive double piece sacrifice.  Young Grandmaster Sergey Karjakin learned a painful lesson in the Najdorf in 2006, ironically also at Wijk aan Zee.

Make sure to check out the dozens of poignant short videos at the Tata 2013 website, featuring the participants in the elite section.  Some videos appear humorous, others emotional, still others downright instructional, and all worth watching.  Highly recommended!

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