The Tiger of Madras

Last week I covered India’s double triumph in the Budapest Olympiad, winning gold in both the open and female section. This extraordinary success was to a great extent fuelled by the exploits of the Tiger of Madras, Viswanathan Anand, who has proved to be such an inspiration to his younger colleagues on the national team.

Anand (“Vishy” to his fans) is now very much an elder statesman, Vice President of FIDÉ, the world chess federation, and a likely future President, when the incumbent, the pro-Putin Russian Arkady Dvorkovich, eventually and inevitably steps down. 

Were that elevation to come to pass, Anand would join the Dutchman, Dr Max Euwe, as the only other world champion to make the transition to becoming President of the world governing body of our Mind Sport. 

Anand (born in 1969) was the 15th undisputed World Champion, reigning from 2007 until 2013. This honourable  achievement places Anand’s tenure on a par with the former champions Capablanca ( 1921-1927), Petrosian (1963-1969) and Kramnik (2000-2007).

According to the authoritative chessgames.com website, as an Indian and Asian chess player, Anand blazed a trail with a number of firsts. In 1984 he became the youngest Indian to earn the title of IM (aged 14), at 16 the youngest ever Indian Champion, and in 1987 the first Indian to win the World Junior Championship and India’s first grandmaster. Above all, he was India’s (and Asia’s) first World Champion. He was also the first World Champion since Robert James Fischer and the second since Max Euwe who did not originate from the Soviet Union, Russia or eastern Europe.

Unusually, Anand first won the championship at a double round-robin World Championship Tournament (2007) in Mexico City, in which he dominated with a score of 9/14, a full point ahead of joint second place finishers,  Vladimir Kramnik and Boris Gelfand, thereby succeeding Kramnik as the title holder of the unified World Championship. In 2000 Kramnik had taken the non- FIDÉ world championship title from Kasparov.   This, the Kasparov-Kramnik Classical World Championship Match , was the last of three world chess championships which I organised and for which I raised the sponsorship funds. The others were Kasparov v Karpov, London 1986, and in 1993 Nigel Short’s challenge against Garry Kasparov, on that occasion, with the invaluable support of TheArticle ’s Editor , Daniel Johnson. This 2007 victory crowned Anand as the undisputed world champion. 

Anand went on to defend his title a further three times. In Bonn in October 2008, Anand again bested Kramnik for the championship, in a traditional mano a mano match, scoring 6.5-4.5 (+3 -1 =7). The following year, Anand again successfully defended his title in the Anand-Topalov World Championship Match (2010) by 6.5-5.5 after winning the 12th and final classical game. 

In May 2012, Anand faced a fresh challenge from the winner of the World Championship Candidates (2011), Boris Gelfand . He once more successfully defended his title, winning 2.5-1.5 (+1 =3) in the rapid game tiebreaker , after drawing the classical games 6-6 (+1 -1 =10). 

As a result of Magnus Carlsen winning the World Championship Candidates (2013), held in London, the Anand-Carlsen World Championship Match (2013) took place in Chennai during November of that year. The first four games were drawn, before Carlsen won the fifth and sixth . The seventh and eighth were drawn, with Carlsen then winning the ninth, while drawing the tenth and last game to win the sceptre from Anand, giving a final score of 6.5-3.5 (+3=7) in Carlsen’s favour. 

Anand’s setback in the 2013 World Championship match against Carlsen did, however, qualify him to play in the World Championship Candidates (2014), which he won with a round to spare. He therefore earned the right to challenge Carlsen in a rematch, which commenced on 8 November 2014 in Sochi, Russia. Match result: Anand lost by 4.5-6.5 (+1 -3 =7) thus terminating his world title career. The two world title bouts against his monstrously strong Norwegian nemesis must have been a disappointment for Anand, whose lifetime score against Carlsen consists of 20 wins, as against 39 defeats. 

This week’s game is Anand’s victory against Aronian from the event where the Tiger of Madras first seized the world title. 

Levon Aronian vs Viswanathan Anand

World Championship Tournament (2007), Mexico City, rd. 2

1. d4

This game represented the first positive result of the event. Aronian later admitted that his bold advance 25. Rd5, was not good, and that he had missed …Qe6. He said that Anand had played well and he had not, his attacking idea being too speculative. In reply to a question about his state of mind after achieving the first win of the tournament, Anand replied that one should play on a day-to-day basis, and not get ahead of oneself.

1… Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 c6 5. Bg5 h6

At this point 5… dxc4 6. e4 b5 7. e5 h6 8. Bh4 g5 9. Nxg5 hxg5 10. Bxg5 Nbd7 is the famous Botvinnik variation.

6. Bh4

Offering a different type of gambit and admitting that 6. Bxf6 Qxf6 is probably harmless for Black.

6… dxc4 7. e4 g5 8. Bg3 b5 9. Ne5 h5 10. h4 g4

Although Black’s position is weakened on both wings he does enjoy an extra pawn. Furthermore a pattern is beginning to emerge in that Black’s pawns on g4 and c4 are threatening to restrict the movement of White’s f1-bishop.

11. Be2 Bb7 12. O-O Nbd7 13. Qc2 Nxe5 14. Bxe5 Bg7 15. Rad1 O-O 16. Bg3 Nd7 17. f3 c5 18. dxc5 Qe7 19. Kh1

This move seems insufficiently active. The critical line must be 19. Bd6 Qxh4 (threatening … g3) 20. fxg4 Bh6 21. Rf3 with complications. The engine also rejects the text move, but thinks reinforcing the black squares with 19. Qd2 or activating a rook with 19. Rf2, the more flexible options. After 19. Bd6, it feels Black has the most marginal advantage after: 19… Qxh4 20. fxg4 Ne5 or …b4.

19… a6 20. a4 Bc6 21. Nd5

White’s next move tries to storm the black camp with his bare hands. It is surprising that Aronian did not instead seek to counter Black’s strategy of containing the white king’s bishop. White could have achieved this by playing 21. fxg4 which also has the virtue of pocketing a pawn. After this the position remains devilishly complicated.

21… exd5 22. exd5 Be5 23. f4 Bg7 24. dxc6 Nxc5

The engine suggests 24… Nf6 is a stronger move, with: 25. Kh2 Rac8 26. Rfe1 Qxc5.

25. Rd5

A clear error by White gives Black an initiative that he is quick to exploit. Correct is 25. Kh2 Ne4 26. Rfe1 Nxg3 27. Kxg3 Bf6 28. Bxc4 Bxh4+ 29. Kh2 Qf6 30. g3 bxc4 31. c7 with parity.

25… Ne4 26. Be1 Qe6!

This was the move White had overlooked. His rook is now driven out of play, Black’s knight dominates the centre and by permitting Black with his next move to consolidate the pawn on g4, White is suddenly faced with a situation where his light squared bishop is virtually useless. 

27. Rxh5 f5 28. Kh2 Rac8 29. Bb4 Rfe8 30. axb5 axb5 31. Re1 Qf7 32. Rg5

An admission of the bankruptcy of his entire strategy beginning with 21. Nd5.

32… Nxg5 33. fxg5 Rxc6 34. Bf1 Rxe1 35. Bxe1 Re6 36. Bc3 Qc7+ 37. g3 Re3 38. Qg2 Bxc3 39. bxc3 f4 40. Qa8+ Kg7 41. Qa6 fxg3+ White resigns 0-1

Ray’s 206th book, “  Chess in the Year of the King  ”, written in collaboration with Adam Black, and his 207th, “  Napoleon and Goethe: The Touchstone of Genius  ” (which discusses their relationship with chess) are available from Amazon and Blackwells. 

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