Giri Beats Anand, Catches So In Bilbao

For the first time in his career Anish Giri defeated Viswanathan Anand in a classical game of chess. The Dutchman joined Wesley So in the lead at the Bilbao Masters Final.

“I don't know how I did it,” said Giri. “Generally it's impossibe.”

The Dutchman drew his first game with Vishy Anand in Wijk aan Zee in 2011 in an ending where he was better, but it took him four and a half years to conquer the great Indian player.

Sure, Giri had defeated Anand three times already in blitz games, but those were intended to determine the drawing of lots at super tournaments. “But I don't count those. Vishy doesn't really care about the pairings. He also plays well with Black. I care more.”

The win was basically in the pocket at move 11. Perhaps a bit confused by Giri's preparation, Anand made a huge mistake.

“In the opening Vishy blundered a double attack,” said Giri. “It was surprising because the position was very static, and suddenly there was this double attack.”

Giri won a pawn and got a dominating position. Anand gave up his queen for a rook and a bishop, hoping for a fortress (and some play over the white squares), but unfortunately for him his opponent still had an a-pawn.

But Giri didn't play the next phase very well. “I could win in many ways but at the end I made it as difficult as possible for myself,” he said. “He achieved a decent setup with the knight coming to e6 and it's not so easy actually.”

So how did he win? Well, Anand lost on time. Yes, you heard it right.

In Bilbao the time control is not standard: 90 minutes for the first 40 moves, followed by 60 minutes for the rest of the game, plus 10 seconds per move starting from move number 41.

“It was perhaps the worst game of my career,” Anand said in Spanish at the press conference. “I made some ridiculous moves. It was horrible.”

Giri now shares first place with Wesley So, who drew his black game with Ding Liren. An irregular King's Indian turned into some kind of Benoni, and after the opening Ding's piece set-up made a somewhat clumsy impression.

So went for a middlegame with knight vs bad bishop and definitely had the upper hand. “He messed up somewhere,” said Giri about the position after the time control. Somehow the Chinese had survived.

This interesting draw was annotated by GM Dejan Bojkov:

2015 Bilbao Masters Final | Round 4 Standings

#	Name	Rtg	Perf	1	2	3	4	Pts	SB
1	Giri,Anish	2798	2875		1	13	1	6	4.25
2	So,Wesley	2760	2879	1		1	31	6	4.25
3	Anand,Viswanathan	2803	2696	10	1		1	3	3.25
4	Ding,Liren	2782	2692	1	01	1		3	3.25