Did Anand miss a win in Game 3?

[notyetagm]

In Game 3 of the WC match, the following position was reached after move 33.

[d]2r5/1p2R2p/3P2k1/p4p2/7R/1P3P2/P2r2P1/1K6 w - -
Instead of Anand's 34.Rc7 the alternative 34.d7! looks very promising.

[d]2r5/1p1PR2p/6k1/p4p2/7R/1P3P2/P2r2P1/1K6 b - -
What is your and your engine's opinion?

From the comment thread over at Chess Vibes http://www.chessvibes.com/reports/anand ... r-37-moves

In the press conference, they analyzed a nice line that at the end with a rook sac and queen with check. This was 34.d7 Rcc2 35.Rc4 Rb2+ 36.Kc1 Rxa2 37.Rc8 Rf2 (Threatening mate on f1 or a1) 38. Re6+! Kf7 39.Rf6!! wins. So Vishy had not seen this resource and hence dint play 34.d7. A pity. But a nice fighting game

[Jouni]

In Jeffrey Hall line ... 35.Rc4 Rb2+ ?? is losing (-Rxc4 = draw)

[Houdini]

From the comment thread over at Chess Vibes http://www.chessvibes.com/reports/anand ... r-37-moves

In the press conference, they analyzed a nice line that at the end with a rook sac and queen with check. This was 34.d7 Rcc2 35.Rc4 Rb2+ 36.Kc1 Rxa2 37.Rc8 Rf2 (Threatening mate on f1 or a1) 38. Re6+! Kf7 39.Rf6!! wins. So Vishy had not seen this resource and hence dint play 34.d7. A pity. But a nice fighting game

He'll be disappointed to have missed a good opportunity - he didn't have a lot of time left on the clock.

After 34.d7! there appear to be 3 main defenses for black:
1) 34...Rcc2 35.Rc4 Rxc4 36.bxc4
2) 34...Rd1+ 35.Kb2 Rd2+ 36.Ka3 Rcc2
3) 34...Rd1+ 35.Kb2 Rc5 36.Rexh7 Rd2+

So far in each line Houdini gives a score above +0.9 at depth 35 or higher.
Not sure whether it's a win, but it's certainly very promising.

[Mike S.]

After intensive backwards analysis in several sub-variations, and at 20+ depths, Ivanhoe 946h's opinion is:

39: Anand,V - Gelfand,B, World Chess Championship Match 2012
[d]2r5/1p2R2p/3P2k1/p4p2/7R/1P3P2/P2r2P1/1K6 w - - 0 1

Analysis by Ivanhoe 46hm w32 Analysis-tb (Atom N455/1.66 GHz only):
(...)
34.d7 Rcc2 35.Rc4 Rxc4 36.bxc4 h5 37.Kc1 Rd4 38.Kb2 Kf6 39.Rh7 Kg6 40.Kc3 Rd1 41.d8R Rxd8 42.Rxb7 Kf6 43.c5 Rd5 44.Rb5 a4 45.Ra5 Ke7 46.a3 f4 47.Kb4 Rd2 48.Ra7+ Ke6 49.Rg7 Rc2 50.Kb5
+/- (0.97) Depth: 10 00:00:01 309kN
+/- (0.98) Depth: 21 00:01:31 37938kN, tb=757

I guess 34.d7 was a reasonable attempt to win, but it has been reported that Anand was low on time.

[gleperlier]

[d]2r5/1p1PR2p/6k1/p4p2/7R/1P3P2/P2r2P1/1K6 b - - 0 1

Analysis by CM XI Aiglos II:

1...Rd1+ 2.Kb2 Rd2+ 3.Ka3 Rcc2 4.Ka4 Rxa2+ 5.Kb5 Rab2 6.Kxa5 Rxb3 7.Rb4 Rd5+ 8.Ka4 Rxb4+ 9.Kxb4 Kf6 10.Rxh7 Ke6 11.d8Q Rxd8 12.Rxb7 Rd2 13.g3
+/= (0.52) Depth: 17 00:03:12 503mN
(Gab, 14.05.2012)

[kgburcham]

Again as I wrote above without even using a chess engine,Mr.Houdini has rushed a little bit so early to claim that Anand had missed an easy win....
Dr.D

I went back to see the "Easy Win" words, could not find them.
All I could find that Robert said is this:
"Instead of Anand's 34.Rc7 the alternative 34.d7! looks very promising."

with Roberts high chess rating, strong hardware, strong program, and programming ability, I didnt think he would say "easy win".
This group has run off most all programmers, I hate to lose another programmer, but if Robert dissappears, I will still read here.
kgburcham

[Waschbaer]

Mr.Houdini has rushed a little bit so early to claim that Anand had missed an easy win....

Sorry, you must see things that aren`t there!
In his post Mr. Houdine asked: did Anand miss a win?

And he wrote: "...looks very promising"

Nothing else!

[Dr.Wael Deeb]

Mr.Houdini has rushed a little bit so early to claim that Anand had missed an easy win....

Sorry, you must see things that aren`t there!
In his post Mr. Houdine asked: did Anand miss a win?

And he wrote: "...looks very promising"

Nothing else!

"Very promising" in the game of ches is almost identical to winning the game actually so I stick to my guns on that....

I am not interested in a game of words and I do handle the english language pretty well....at least I think so

[Jack Lad]

[d]2r5/1p1PR2p/6k1/p4p2/7R/1P3P2/P2r2P1/1K6 b - - 0 1

Analysis by CM XI Aiglos II:

1...Rd1+ 2.Kb2 Rd2+ 3.Ka3 Rcc2 4.Ka4 Rxa2+ 5.Kb5 Rab2 6.Kxa5 Rxb3 7.Rb4 Rd5+ 8.Ka4 Rxb4+ 9.Kxb4 Kf6 10.Rxh7 Ke6 11.d8Q Rxd8 12.Rxb7 Rd2 13.g3
+/= (0.52) Depth: 17 00:03:12 503mN
(Gab, 14.05.2012)

6. Kxa5? is a blunder. White needs to play Kb6! instead to win.
[d] 8/1p1PR2p/1K4k1/p4p2/7R/1P3P2/1r1r2P1/8 b - - 3 6

[Dr.Wael Deeb]

Again as I wrote above without even using a chess engine,Mr.Houdini has rushed a little bit so early to claim that Anand had missed an easy win....
Dr.D

I went back to see the "Easy Win" words, could not find them.
All I could find that Robert said is this:
"Instead of Anand's 34.Rc7 the alternative 34.d7! looks very promising."

with Roberts high chess rating, strong hardware, strong program, and programming ability, I didnt think he would say "easy win".
This group has run off most all programmers, I hate to lose another programmer, but if Robert dissappears, I will still read here.
kgburcham

So what Should I do

Build a statue of Robert and get down on my knees because he's a programmer

Sticking to the same logic,where were you when Don or the so called Mr.Komodo called me Dweeb without no reason of whatever

I treat people by their kindness or by their nasty nature....Robert is definitely in the second group and if he wants to leave then let it be....
Dr.D