by Quah Seng Sun
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The ongoing world chess championship has its exciting moments.
IT HAS been a week since the start of the world chess championship match between defending champion Viswanathan Anand and his challenger, Veselin Topalov. After all the drama of Anand’s overland journey from Frankfurt to Sofia, the match was put off for a day and it kicked off last Saturday instead of Friday.
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I was a little miffed to learn that the Bulgarian Chess Federation and the match organisers had refused to meet Anand halfway. A lot of reasons were given but I think they were only trying to make it difficult for the world champion. Initially, Anand had requested for a three-day postponement but a one-day postponement would have been reasonable enough.
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In the end, it was left to the World Chess Federation (Fide) to find an amicable solution and they decided that the first game would start on Saturday. However, it doesn’t seem to be the end of the story because the latest word from Sofia is that Silvio Danailov, who is Topalov’s manager, is contemplating suing Fide for the late start.
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Of course, he is well within his rights to seek legal redress but I think it also paints him in a bad light. After all, it was no fault of anybody that the volcano in Iceland erupted and caused air traffic chaos in Europe.
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Everybody knows that this is a very high-stake match in Bulgaria. All the more reason that if Danailov really wants Topalov to win the world championship title, let him win it fair and square from Anand over the board.
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By the way, I’m writing this story during the first lull in the match. As I write this on Monday, only the first two games have been completed. And I’m already having withdrawal symptoms!
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Unfortunately, the match rules stipulate that there should be a rest day after every two games. As the schedule would have it, Monday was a rest day. The players are resting or preparing themselves for more battles ahead, but we chess followers can only wait impatiently for the next day to come.
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The only consolation is that the two games have been very exciting and decisive. At the opening ceremony three days earlier, Topalov drew the white envelope, meaning that he would play the first game of this match with the white pieces. That was the first stir of excitement. With the white pieces, we can expect the Bulgarian grandmaster to kick off the match in his aggressive style.
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True enough, Topalov was first off the block. He came out fighting and slugging. Remarkably, Anand tried to match him blow for blow. When I was following this game live through the Internet, my first thought was whether both players were playing blitz chess or world championship chess.
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For this particular match, they had agreed on a time control of 40 moves in two hours, followed by 20 moves in one hour, and then a final 15 minutes for a play-to-death session. There’s lots of time to think and yet, Topalov and Anand sailed through their first 18 moves in barely 10 minutes.
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It was only on the 19th move that Topalov paused long enough to think. Here was where the real battle began. Unfortunately, the game ended early, after another 11 moves. Anand made an uncharacteristic blunder in the game. He made his position more difficult for himself by walking into a piece sacrifice. This is the game:
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Veselin Topalov – Viswanathan Anand, Game 1
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. e4 Nxc3 6. bxc3 Bg7 7. Bc4 c5 8. Ne2 Nc6 9. Be3 O-O 10. O-O Na5 11. Bd3 b6 12. Qd2 e5 13. Bh6 cxd4 14. Bxg7 Kxg7 15. cxd4 exd4 16. Rac1 Qd6 17. f4 f6 18. f5 Qe5 19. Nf4 g5 20. Nh5+ Kg8 21. h4 h6 22. hxg5 hxg5 23. Rf3 Kf7? (Black needs to tread carefully in this position. His knight and one of the rooks are terribly out of play on the queenside and his king is rather exposed. On the other hand, White has good chances on the kingside and there’s always a danger of him infiltrating through the c-file. Black’s 23rd move is a blunder and allows a decisive stroke from White. The best resistance may be 23…Bd7.) 24. Nxf6 (After this sac, which White played almost immediately, Black’s position is untenable.) 24….Kxf6 25. Rh3 Rg8 26. Rh6+ Kf7 27. Rh7+ Ke8 28. Rcc7 Kd8 29. Bb5 Qxe4 30. Rxc8+ 1-0
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People like me watching from afar were shell-shocked. Why was it so easy for Topalov to dismantle Anand’s game? Has Topalov’s preparation been so superior that Anand had no answer? Or, was the Indian grandmaster still suffering from his overland drive?
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It was also almost impossible to gauge Anand’s frame of mind after this loss. Would he brush it aside as an aberration? Certainly, it came as a shock to his system and to his world-wide fan base. Most people would be demoralised to have lost in only 30 moves. However, Anand is made of sterner stuff and he came back with a firm resolve on the next day. In the second game, he gave Topalov no opportunity at all for open tactical play and scored a fine win to level the match at 1-all. Here it is:
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Viswanathan Anand – Veselin Topalov, Game 2
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. g3 dxc4 5. Bg2 a6 6. Ne5 c5 7. Na3 cxd4 8. Naxc4 Bc5 9. O-O O-O 10. Bd2 Nd5 11. Rc1 Nd7 12. Nd3 Ba7 13. Ba5 Qe7 14. Qb3 Rb8 15. Qa3 Qxa3 16. bxa3 (Shades of Bobby Fischer. Inspirational. I still remember one of Fischer’s games with Spassky in 1972 when he willingly saddled himself with a doubled pawn on the h-file. Likewise in this game, Anand accepted the doubled pawns on the a-file. However, in return, he keeps up the pressure on the queenside.) 16….N7f6 17. Nce5 Re8 18. Rc2 b6 19. Bd2 Bb7 20. Rfc1 Rbd8 21. f4 Bb8 22. a4 a5 23. Nc6 Bxc6 24. Rxc6 h5 25. R1c4 Ne3? (This move is considered a mistake. Black showed impatience with the position.) 26. Bxe3 dxe3 27. Bf3 g6 28. Rxb6 Ba7 29. Rb3 Rd4 30. Rc7 Bb8 31. Rc5 Bd6 32. Rxa5 Rc8 33. Kg2 Rc2 34. a3 (At this stage, Black is probably already lost. This unassuming pawn will ultimately decide the game.) 34….Ra2 35. Nb4 Bxb4 36. axb4 Nd5 37. b5 Raxa4 38. Rxa4 Rxa4 39. Bxd5 exd5 40. b6 Ra8 41. b7 (I hope you remember that this was the pawn that was originally on the a2 square) 41….Rb8 42. Kf3 d4 43. Ke4 1-0
