Of course the amiable Indian super-GM was joking – the game was a 5-minute game after all, but it was one of the most hilarious blitz games I have ever played. I played straight man to Vishy the slapstick artist. He flung the pie squarely in my face.

In 1991 Anand was a rising star – his quick sight of the board and the speed at which he played made him the talk of the chess circuit in the early 1990s. The actual tournament of Munich 1991 was a bit disappointing for him – but he showed many flashes of the complete player he would later become.

At the end of the tournament, a blitz tournament was held in which all participants competed, along with (if my memory is correct) a few locals. Anand won the blitz event effortlessly, usually taking just a minute or two to dispose of his opponents. I played him near the end of the blitz tournament and hoped to at least make the speed-demon work for his point.

Here is the game.  Viewer discretion is advised.  Unrated.

Anand - Christiansen [B42]

Munich Blitz, 1991

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 a6 5.Bd3 Bc5 6.Nb3 Ba7 7.Nc3 Nc6 8.Qe2 d6 9.Be3 b5

Better than the unnecessary 9...Bxe3 10.Qxe3 which improves the position of White’s Queen. 

10.0–0–0?!

White’s knights huddled on b3 and c3 make nice targets for Black’s impending pawn storm, so castling long is very risky.

10...Nf6

10...Nge7 is also possible.

11.Bxa7 Rxa7 12.g4 0–0 13.g5 Nd7 14.f4 b4 15.Na4 Nb6 16.Nxb6 Qxb6

GET READY FOR THE a-pawn EXPRESS!

The path for Black’s a-pawn has been cleared.

17.f5 a5 18.f6 g6 19.Kb1 a4 20.Nd2 e5!

A little impetuous would be 20…a3 23.Nc4 Qd4 24.Qe3! when White secures the position with strong pressure.

21.Nc4?

21.Bc4! was better, with the idea of 21…a3 22.Nb3 (guards the dark squares, notably d4) 22…axb2 23.Rxd6 with unclear play.

21...Qc5

I was looking forward to a crushing counter-attack based on moves like Nd4 and Be6.  My Rook on a7 even helps guard the 7th rank in the event of h4-h5xg6 …fxg6.

22.h4 Be6 23.Ne3 Nd4 24.Qf2 Rb8

Everybody joins the attack.  

25.Rdf1

TIME FOR SOME VIOLENCE

25...Bxa2+!

The beginning of what I thought would be a winning attack. Anand was about 30 seconds ahead on the clock at this stage – I probably used about 2 minutes so far to Vishy’s 90 seconds.

26.Kxa2 b3+ 27.Kb1 a3 28.c3 axb2

Also very effective is 28...Nc2.

29.Qxb2

Not 29.cxd4 Ra1+ 30.Kxb2 Qxd4 mate.

29...Ra2 30.Nc4! Rxb2+ 31.Kxb2 Nb5

The second wave of the attack starts. White cannot guard the a-file because of …Qf2+ possibilities. So, Vishy tries to create some kingside play.

32.h5

I was hardly looking at that side of the board. The time difference now was getting bigger.  Vishy was playing very briskly now while I was using up time finding good moves.

32...Qa7! 33.hxg6!

Or 33.Ra1 Qf2+ 34.Kxb3 Nd4+ 35.Ka3 Nc2+ 36.Bxc3 Qa7+ 37.Na5 Qxa5 mate.

33...Qa2+ 34.Kc1 Nxc3

My eyes were glued to the queenside – how could he have anything serious going on the kingside?  34...hxg6 was simpler however.

35.gxf7+ Kf8 36.Rxh7! b2+ 37.Kd2 b1=Q+ 38.Ke3

PANIC SETS IN

Now panic sets in.  Somehow I was only looking forward at this point – how can I wrap this up cleanly? The retreat check 37...Qa7+ would end matters at once, but by now I had less than a minute and perhaps I was suffering from two queen overload.  I decided to “simplify.”

38...Qxf1?

The first sign of panic.  A couple seconds of thought should have led me to find 38...Qa7+.

39.Bxf1 Nd1+?!

I wanted to keep the initiative here as I started looking at things like 39...Rb1 40.Rh8+ Kxf7 41.Rh7+ Ke6?? 42.Re7 mate. But actually 41...Kg6 quickly ends resistance (instead of 41...Ke6).

40.Kf3 Qf2+ 41.Kg4 Qxf1 42.Nxd6

PANIC IS REPLACED BY HORROR

To my horror, this powerful move not only threatens mate with Rh8, but the knight also guards the e4-pawn and provides white’s King with a safe refuge on g6. Winning now is problematic, and with the time I had left – very unlikely. Now I was groping for some way to return material and eliminate those nasty pawns.

42...Ne3+ 43.Kh5 Qh1+ 44.Kg6 Rb1

“Safer” was 44...Qxh7+ 45.Kxh7 and then …Rb1.

45.Rxh1

45.Rg7 was actually “stronger” as Black has nothing better than 45…Qh8 46.Rg8+ Qxg8+ 47.fxg8=Q+ Kxg8 48.Nf7 Ng2 49.Nxe5 Nf4+ 50.Kf5 Rf1 51.Nc6 Nh3+ 52.Kg4 Nf2+ 53.Kf5 Nh3+ with a draw.

45...Rxh1 46.Nb7 Rg1??

I could still hold on with 46...Ng2 47 Kf5 Nh4+ followed by 48…Rg1– although with just a few seconds left on the clock, I doubt if I could have eliminated all of his pawns before my flag fell.

47.Nc5

NOW WHITE’S WINNING