Anand-Sokolov Queen Sac Leads to Exclam Dunk at Wijk aan Zee

Viswanathan Anand, who was born December 11, 1969, became India's first grandmaster in 1988. In 1995, he played for Garry Kasparov's world title and lost 10.5-7.5. Anand won the FIDE championship in 2000 by defeating Alexei Shirov 3.5-0.5. He lost that title in 2002 in the FIDE semifinals. In 2007, he became the undisputed world champion scoring 9/14 in a double round robin tournament. His peak rating was over 2800.

Ivan Sokolov (pictured) was born June 13, 1968 in Yugoslavia and was the Yugoslav champion in 1988. GM Sokolov now lives in the Netherlands. He has been a top level player and writer.

In the following game, Anand plays the Ruy Lopez. When Sokolov plays 7...0-0, the continuation 8.c3 d5 would offer the Marshall Gambit (C89). Anand avoids this with 8.a4 (C88). When White avoids the Marshall it is proper to use the label Anti-Marshall. The lines in C88 are actually older than the Marshall Gambit or Attack and were and still are used for their own utility.

The game provides unbalanced excitement beyond what a Marshall pawn sacrifice alone would have after a queen is placed on the altar of double exclamation points. Then exclams are in the air with some missed in the game, but appearing in the notes.