World Championship Chess: It’s eye of the Tiger from Madras
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India’s Viswanathan Anand has retained his world title in Sofia after a marathon match and a surprise final game win. Anand beat local hero Veselin Topalov in the twelfth and final game to eke out a 6.5-5.5 win, an unlikely result in a match where he was outranked and often outplayed. Anand’s underdog victory is worthy of being made into a movie, although perhaps it already has been; the parallels between Anand’s success and the cinematic classic Rocky IV are uncanny: Over-the-hill champion takes on a seemingly invincible Eastern European automaton. Veteran is dead on his feet when, with a series of big hits, he turns the match around and wins the world title. Exhausted winner lectures the watching Politburo on the need for world peace. OK, Anand missed emulating Stallone on the last point but the Tiger from Madras did praise the organisers, admitting also that he was as tired as he looked:
The final game was typical of the two players’ styles, Anand prepared to develop quietly while Topalov went looking for adventure. For a few moves Topalov’s pieces were left offside and Anand lashed out, sacrificing material to get to the Topalov king. The sacrifices should never have been accepted but Topalov let down his guard and Anand crashed through to a decisive victory, the only win by a player with the black pieces during the entire match. “My first emotion is mainly relief,” admitted “Vishy” Anand. “My opponent is a fantastic fighter and had the advantage in most of our games. Either of us could have won this match; in fact no one would have been surprised had either of us won.” Topalov congratulated Anand — and even spoke to him for the first time since the match began, trying to identify where he had gone wrong. A few minutes later at the post-match press conference Topalov looked vaguely stunned, as did the dozens of local journalists and cameramen. Topalov identified poor finishing as the weakness which had cost him dearly; that, plus an amazing claim, in all seriousness that he had tried to avoid the playoffs because they were to be played on May 13 — and he had lost the world title after similar rapid playoffs in 2006, also on the 13th of the month. To avoid playing on the 13th, Topalov had gambled and lost the world title. So, amazingly enough, the key to the match turned out to be Vishy Anand’s nightmare journey to Sofia through volcano ravaged Europe. Anand was granted a single day’s delay for his troubles, but that was enough to push the tiebreakers from the 12th to the 13th. Anand will keep the world title until London 2012 when it is quite likely he will be forced to defend the crown against a player half his age — Norway’s Magnus Carlsen, already the youngest world number one in history. Anand and Carlsen have previously worked together but now master and student may become mortal enemies. Hang on – isn’t that exactly the plot of Rocky V? World Championship 2010 Game 12
White: V.Topalov
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11 Comments
Like wow man!!
8.Bxe7 Qxe7 9.Rc1 c6 10.Be2 Nxc3 11.Rxc3 dxc4 12.Bxc4 Nd7 13.0-0 b6 14.Bd3 c5 15.Be4 Rb8 16.Qc2 Nf6!?
Qc2 Nf6 - nearly had a trouser accident!!
Just want to say thanks for all the reports. I’m not into chess that much but absolutely loved the way you brought this championship to life.
I’d also like to say thanks Ian.
I’m not into chess much either, but your reports have been bloody brilliant stuff.
Ian am not sure whether you wished for anand to lose or u seriously think he isnt up to it as far as championship material goes? The guy is the undisputed champion in all forms of chess….knockout, robin league and classical one to one championship games! He is also the undisputed champion in blitz games and topalov by his own admission indicated he didnt have the confidence to take him on in the rapid games. Anand has remained in the top 3 and has been champion 4 times and has now proved he is one of the all time greatest players as he has also beaten kramnik and topalov fair and square. Am not sure if you have been watchin the games regularly, or maybe its your bias to topalov thats in your writing, but all GM’s and commentators have indicated that this tournament has been dominated by anand and this despite all indications that he wasnt in form! Nigel SHort has said that Anand has not won yet cos he has made a few blunders but Topalov hasnt exactly played out of his skin either. Except for the first game, Anand has blundered and given it away. Topalov on the other hand lost games 2 and 4 cos he was outplayed. He almost lost game 8 too. After the first game you indicated that Anand looked shell shocked. Either you are looking into a mirror and imagining things or you making it up? If anything Topalov was shell shocked after his losses, often mumbling and absent minded in the press conferences. Anand has always been cool and calm throughout and that is the reason he came out in flying colors. Give the respect where its due…the tiger from madras, went into the lion’s den where everyone from the organisers to the president of bulgaria chose to ignore and make things unpleasant for the world champion. Ian a little respect and acknowledgement from you might make reading your articles a little more interesting. But maybe thats the reason you are not a famous world champion as Anand is who has shown that with the right resolve, steely determination and focus, success is achievable.
Dancing Knight
Anand himself said at the closing press conference that Topalov had the advantage in the majority of the games. He also said today he appreciated the Rocky analogy, though he felt he had no problems playing in Bulgaria. (Yes, apparently Anand reads Crikey!)
It was a fight for survival for Anand over the chessboard and he came through.
This is the best written commentary on the world chess championship I have found on the internet. While Anish Giri’s analysis is terrific I have really enjoyed the flavour and the background info and humour in these columns. The link to Robichess analysis video was also welcome - good for mediocre players such as myself. I wish there was more chess reported by Ian Roger’s on crikey! There’s bugger all other coverage in the Australian news media - even now at the conclusion of the match.
If there is enough grist for a follow up column about the what all the main players said, who the seconds were, how anand and topalov viewed the match etc., I would love to read that too!
Anand was underd0g? Please remember Anand was considered favourite before the match by many GMs and from Polls.
Even if Anand said so, is it a fact Topalov had advantage in majority of games?
Game 1 was a unnecessary loss. Then Anand could have drawn Game 8 and also won Game 9..
54…BC6?? in game 8 and mising 62.RDD7! in game 9 are one move game changers.Not to mention 42.Qa4 is game 7.
On the other hand Toplaov did not seem to have a very clear winning position anytime otherwise.
@Knightmare…Exactly! Underdog? Really? 4 times world champion and current world champion starts as underdog according to Mr Rogers?
@Ian Rogers….if you cared to listen on further to what anand had to say….”topalov had advantage in some of the games. We were expecting Topalov to play hit and run tactics…change openings every 2 games or so. So I was unprepared in games 5- 6 onwards when he (Topalov) chose to continue with catalan and d4. I really had to work on board and we had to rework our strategies. I was really playing on his prepared lines…” So yes in that respect it was a fight for survival.
The brilliance of anand here is that even though all his pre match preparation was quite useless as topalov and his team had out prepared him and so it was left for him to think on the board, he still managed to hold on and retain the championship. Which also explains why he was using up more on his clock.
Thus the point being that albeit Topalov’s preparations were better, it was the better chess player who prevailed during the actual battle on the 64 square chess turf.
And as for Anand being appreciative of your biased and inaccurate reporting…i think he’s merely being polite.
@Tom…nearly? I was pitching tent on 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 Be7 5.Bg5 h6 6.Bh4 0-0 7.e3 Ne4!?
Mr. Rogers. Either you’re biased or were following a different match to the rest of us. Also it is surprising that you had very little or almost nothing to say about Anand’s brilliance at the board and his OTB play.
Having followed all the 12 matches, I’ve tried and failed to understand how Topalov outplayed Anand despite Topalov losing three games (G2, G4, and G12), and very, very nearly loosing G9 when Anand had him running desperately for cover.
The games G1 and G8 that Topalov won were gifted to him by two blunders by Anand, no one in his right mind will call those two wins ‘outplayed’. And at no point did Topalov have a sniff at victory in the drawn games even though he searched in vain into the long hours of the match.
On the other hand, everyone who knows his chess (and is not biased towards Topalov) said Topalov was completely outplayed in the Catalan in G2 and G4. Even Topalov, when asked what went wrong in games G2 and G4 could not quite answer, merely saying that somewhere his position began to slip. This shows he did not blunder but was outplayed.
Mr. Rogers, if Topalov had blundered, meaning if a single move totally worsened his position, then he would be able to pinpoin that in G2 and G4. He could not.
G9, when he was thrown several lifelines after being completely outplayed by Anand, Topalov said he got very lucky, and said he was relieved to escape.
So, when did Topalov outplay Anand. Did you see something that the rest of GM commentators did not see? Or are you simply gutted by Topalov’s loss that you’ve lost your neutrality as a reporter/columnist.
I mean it really does not matter if you are not able to bring yourself to praise Anand. It doesn’t matter. The whole world does it, and that’s more than enough.
And when did Anand say that Topalov had advantage in all the games. A reporter can be pardoned his biases for, he is after all a human first and formost, but a reporter cannot be pardoned his inaccuracies. When did Anand say that. He did not say it.
And Anand, over-the-hill? That must be a joke. If you were to care to read all the GMs the GM Polgar interviewed on her site you’ll learn that most, most said they’re about equal, and more of them backed on Anand to win than Topalov. The few who backed Topalov did so since he was playing at home, in Sofia.
So you’re essentially saying that Anand could beat Topalov because Topalov was afraid to play on the 13th. But then didn’t Topalov win the World Title in San Luis on the 13th October, after the conclusion of the 13th Round?
The fact is Anand is a far universal player than Topalov, and is versatile enough to change styles as per the situation as was evidenced in him going for the Grunfeld, the Slav, the Nizmo-Indian, the Queens Gambit Declined, the Catalan and the like.
Hey Anand didnt say anywhere that he was outplayed???
Jees man Rogers, you sure know how to make up stories! And the world champion according to you reads your lousy comments…yeah sure! We believe ya! What a load of bull crap.