Anand lost badly in round 1 on the black side of a Gruenfeld, and I anxiously await his next response to 1.d4. In the overview I undertook in December, I noted (airily I'll concede) that Anand had to go back to the drawing board against 1.d4. He had previously been tossed around in the Queens Indian by Topalov. I question the Gruenfeld at this level and particularly against Topalov. As a CC player, my experience with the Gruenfeld is that in all its forms, it's an amazing amount of work, and the lines for Black often walk a razor's edge. "Work" in this context means computer analysis. I'm of the mind that Topalov currently has no peer in the use of computers, and the Gruenfeld is accordingly a questionable choice. As many have said, Anand appears to have lost game 1 at home. Having said all that, many will suggest that had Anand played 23...Bd7 rather than 23...Kf7??, Black would have been fine. Fair enough, but it's easy to fall off a razor's edge.
No comments:
Post a Comment