Why did Anand play Rc5 in move 30 instead of continuing with Bb6?
Bxb3 is a crazy move to play. Basically letting White force good knight vs bad bishop position no? Also Ne1 was a nice touch
@Gnz110 said in #11:
> Why did Anand play Rc5 in move 30 instead of continuing with Bb6?
I doubt anyone can really answer that, but if I had to guess (and I do), things it looks like that does: (full disclosure, I did not look at the engine before writing this so these are the things "I" would have been thinking)
1: It closes off the g1-a7 / which stops the Q from infiltrating down to a7. If the Q hits a7, a5 might become a liability which is difficult to defend. There's also a loose B on d8.
2: The R is undefended on c6, but it's supported by a P on c5.
3: There's really not many moves he can make without creating more weaknesses. It might have been viewed as the best choice of several not-great choices. Move the B anywhere and it loses scope, bigtime. It's likely to have to return anyway.
4: on c6, the R is diagonal to the N which means the N can move with tempo, possibly creating a tactic down the road. There isn't one now, but who knows what will develop.
Now I looked at the engine (shallow depth of 27). Seems it wants h5, which maintains 0.4. The computer might like it but I know I would be hesitant to start pushing pawns in front of my king. Qc8 is another move that holds 0.4, I have no idea why other than it just doesn't do anything. Next is Qd7 which drops to 0.5 same as Rc5.
@V1g1yy said in #13:
> I doubt anyone can really answer that, but if I had to guess (and I do), things it looks like that does: (full disclosure, I did not look at the engine before writing this so these are the things "I" would have been thinking)
> 1: It closes off the g1-a7 / which stops the Q from infiltrating down to a7. If the Q hits a7, a5 might become a liability which is difficult to defend. There's also a loose B on d8.
> 2: The R is undefended on c6, but it's supported by a P on c5.
> 3: There's really not many moves he can make without creating more weaknesses. It might have been viewed as the best choice of several not-great choices. Move the B anywhere and it loses scope, bigtime. It's likely to have to return anyway.
> 4: on c6, the R is diagonal to the N which means the N can move with tempo, possibly creating a tactic down the road. There isn't one now, but who knows what will develop.
>
> Now I looked at the engine (shallow depth of 27). Seems it wants h5, which maintains 0.4. The computer might like it but I know I would be hesitant to start pushing pawns in front of my king. Qc8 is another move that holds 0.4, I have no idea why other than it just doesn't do anything. Next is Qd7 which drops to 0.5 same as Rc5.
After Bb6 I think white is forced to take the bishop otherwise Bd4 will come, wouldn’t that be a better choice than dealing with the knight on d5?
@Gnz110 said in #14:
> After Bb6 I think white is forced to take the bishop otherwise Bd4 will come, wouldn’t that be a better choice than dealing with the knight on d5?
Well, the engine doesn't agree, and I'm the wrong person to critique Viswanathan Anand. Open an analysis board with the PGN and see what it says. You are correct about the best response to Bb6 is to take with the N, but it's bad for black. Depth 49 says +1.1, so that isn't a good trade for black and he most certainly knew that. Even seeing the engine 16 plies later I still can't see why, but he did because he played a move 0.6 eval better. Not "the" best, but pretty close to it.
@Gnz110 said in #11:
> Why did Anand play Rc5 in move 30 instead of continuing with Bb6?
I think because he wanted to hold onto some hope of counterplay in the future. Look at just the most straight forward line: 30. .. Bb6 31. Nxb6 Rxb6 32. Rd5 Ra6 33. Qd3.
Black's completely paralyzed trying to defend d6 and a5, needs to keep an eye open for c5 tricks, and he's also going to have to make sure white's queen doesn't manage to penetrate on the kingside after some pawns get moving over there. I don't think white can ever lose that position, but black easily can. By keeping the dark bishop on, he retains some hope of counterplay and even winning chances if white doesn't play quite accurately.
@OhNoMyPants said in #16:
> I think because he wanted to hold onto some hope of counterplay in the future. Look at just the most straight forward line: 30. .. Bb6 31. Nxb6 Rxb6 32. Rd5 Ra6 33. Qd3.
>
> Black's completely paralyzed trying to defend d6 and a5, needs to keep an eye open for c5 tricks, and he's also going to have to make sure white's queen doesn't manage to penetrate on the kingside after some pawns get moving over there. I don't think white can ever lose that position, but black easily can. By keeping the dark bishop on, he retains some hope of counterplay and even winning chances if white doesn't play quite accurately.
That makes a lot of sense.
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