Tal’s good and bad news

Return of the King: Viswanathan Anand
Chidanand Rajghatta , TOI Crest, May 29, 2010, 05.34am IST

The great chess Grandmaster Mikhail Tal died, and Vishy Anand, who idolized him as a kid, heard his voice one day. “What’s it like up there?” he inquired of Tal.

“What do you want to hear first, the good news or the bad news?” Tal asked. “Tell me the good news first.” “Well, it’s really heaven here. There are tournaments all the time and I can play Steinitz, Alekhine, Lasker, Capablanca, Fisher, and all the greats.”

“Fantastic!” Anand said. “And what is the bad news?” “You have Black against Topalov on Tuesday.” If Vishy Anand had heard the joke, manufactured by chess buffs earlier this month, he would have had a good laugh. But it wouldn’t have been a downer. Defeat Anand has experienced, but defeatism is not in his DNA. This is the story of a man who can lose an occasional game of chess, but who has seldom, if ever, lost his composure or poise. It is a story of mental strength as much as cerebral depth. And it is a saga that extends far beyond the chess board.

Vishy Anand is a winner on the chessboard and beyond. In chess, the player who makes the first move with White has a minuscule advantage.

But Black can neutralise this and steer the game to a draw; even win sometimes if White does not play immaculately. However, in the eleven games Bulgarian Veselin Topalov and Vishy Anand had played in the World Chess championship that began on April 24, neither had won a game with Black pieces.

On that triumphant Tuesday, May 11, Game 12, Anand had Black against Topalov. Their scores were tied at five and half points each, having won two games each and drawn five. Another draw would make it 6-6, leading to a tie-break.

The title scrap would then be resolved in a series of rapid games, which Anand, known as the lightning kid in his younger days for the speed of his moves, was favoured to win. He not only had a career plus score against Topalov in classical chess, but had a huge lead in short blitzes.

But Topalov was playing before his home crowd, with other advantages we will get into a little later. Although it was a relatively short world championship – in the past, some of the contests were interminable, stretching months – both players were exhausted. They play a lot more tournaments these days. Topalov had led a cantankerous build-up to the finale, including a little invoked clause that forbade talking and offering draws directly – a rebuff to the genial and chatty Anand.

So, for nearly three weeks, every game had gone on – grinded on – for more than four hours in solid, unsmiling, tension. It was a grim face-off . Topalov, who was ranked higher than Anand despite the latter holding the world crown, was a formidable opponent. Both players called on enormous powers of concentration, deep reserves of strength in a nerve-wracking event at which humour is at a premium.

Here is the full article.