No handshakes please‚ we’re Bulgarian

Impressions on Game 3‚ Anand–Topalov world championship match‚ Sofia

Going at each other like medieval knights in a joust, Topalov had unhorsed Anand in the first game and the favour was returned in the second. In chess, white has the first move and this confers a small advantage. At an amateur level this is irrelevant - victory goes to he who commits the second-last blunder. At the highest level however, top Grandmasters are adroit in nursing the advantage of the first move as long as possible. Winning percentages are significantly higher with white. Conversely, a draw with Black is a moral victory of sorts - you have withstood the onslaught and you will have white the next game. As one has to play both Black & White over the course of a match, the "classical" strategy was to try to win with White and draw with Black. Topalov however is not of this mould. A supreme attacking player, he aims for victory with either colour, a strategy first popularized by Bobby Fischer. This approach however requires immense mental and physical stamina.

In Sofia, there is a rest day after every two games. Each two-game unit can be treated as a mini-match, with the winner needing to accumulate enough of these small victories. The first run was over with colours even - both had scored with white. Now came the rest day giving both parties a chance to re-assess their strategies.

In an interview Anand said, "I think rest-days are a mix. Probably the night before the rest-day you sleep, knowing you have a day's cushion, in case something turns up but the rest day itself you can't rest that much. You end up doing a lot of work, and invariably if you finish the work for one game you start on the next game because we play two and rest. I think it allows you to recharge some batteries, get a grip on yourself but not more. In terms of work you still have to do a fair amount."

Topalov with White had succeeded in all his goals - a mathematically perfect attack had smashed Anand's Grunfeld defence. When Anand had White however, he was not able to gain any significant advantage, or rather, immediately winning advantage. Instead he steered the game towards terrain he was more comfortable with and there induced Topalov to make a series of missteps. In some sense this was even more of a victory, as Topalov's very ability to play such quiet positions was put to the question.

Now Topalov had white again, what would he do? There was no onus on him to change his approach, but would Anand repeat the dangerous, razor-sharp Grunfeld? Topalov opened with the queen pawn again and Anand adopted the Slav Defense, a more solid approach than the Grunfeld, and one with which he has immense experience. This was clearly "Plan B" for Team Anand. Based on subsequent events, it seems that their strategy was to play sharply and aggressively with Black and opt for quieter channels with white trying to minimize risks. Now after the loss with the Grunfeld, a 'classical' strategy was back. The Grunfeld, mangled by Topalov was presumably sent for rehabilitation. Anand's seconds would be working hard on it, to patch up the holes and render it fighting fit.

Topalov as if to prove that he was not afraid of simple positions, changed his approach, agreeing to exchange queens and get a position where he would exert pressure gradually. The game, in the Czech Wiesebaden variation of the Slav followed Game 6 of the Topalov-Kramnik match in 2006. Anand opted for a set-up popularized by Kramnik, where he would be quite solid except for his bishop, which would be locked out of the struggle, hidden behind a pawn wall. The struggle would revolve around this errant clergyman returning to the fold by the time Topalov's attack got going.

Topalov advanced the pawns on both his extreme flanks well up the board. When advanced so far ahead of the army such pawns can potentially be cut-off and taken or they could form spearheads for an assault. Topalov's "a-pawn" had drawn the short straw - its grim duty was to act as a bait. Were Anand to take it, the position would suddenly become alive, offering Topalov the cut & thrust play he so desired. Anand rejected the proffered sacrifice and worked to bring his Bishop into play. Rather like a throwback to the original Indian prototype, the Bishop moved in short one-move hops. Meanwhile Topalov attempted to sacrifice another pawn but once again Anand was not interested. Vishy was able to connect his rooks, and soon it was clear that White had nothing, it was time to agree to a draw.

What transpired now was more interesting than anything in the game. Normally, both players realizing the position is "dead", exchange meaningful glances, one player formally offers, the other accepts, and the score-sheets are exchanged and signed. It is a small ceremony in any case, but Topalov managed to turn it into a kabuki performance.

A little background: Topalov's manager Danailov in the run-up to the match had proposed that it should be played under "Sofia Rules". Under this, draw offers (and talking) between players is prohibited and all requests have to be routed through the arbiter. Anand had rejected this saying that "World championships are played under world championship rules". The idea behind the Sofia rules is to prohibit games ending quickly without a fight, the bane of many a tournament. While this is understood, world championships have their own drama, and several books can be written about the psychology of draw offers. A draw offer can be a gauge of the position, if your opponent rejects it immediately, it is clear he thinks he enjoys the superior position. Or a player may reject a draw offer and subsequently suffer a deterioration in the position - in such cases the mental agony is considerable, because you had rejected a peace treaty before! The Sofia rules may be seen as part of the regrettable tendency worldwide to eschew complexity in favour of 'results'. Whatever may it be, after Anand rejected his offer, Danailov proclaimed that Topalov would follow the Sofia rules unilaterally i.e he would not talk to Anand, accept or make any draw offers.

The final position saw Anand repeatedly check Topalov's king and they both went round and round the mulberry bush. Now Topalov however simply couldn't take the draw, strait-jacketed as he was by his manager's pronouncement. Instead, he fled the board in search of the arbiter, presumably offering the draw to him. That is not the S.O.P as defined by FIDE however, and the arbiter presumably rejected his attempt to enforce the Sofia Rules by fait accompli. Instead Topalov had to return to the board and the draw was secured under the normal provision of "repetition" i.e. the game is declared a draw if the same position has been repeated thrice. Topalov did not shake hands with Anand or offer his score-sheet leaving precipitately.

At the press conference, when asked about the disappearing handshake, Anand noted with a straight-face that "Maybe the arbiter has to shake hands." In the 1980s, the coach of the Detroit Pistons, Chuck Daly formulated the "Jordan Rules", a strategy hoping to contain Michael Jordan and his rampaging Chicago Bulls. Perhaps Danailov and Topalov should be thinking about the "Anand Rules" rather than the mechanics of draw offers.

Jaideep Unudurti is co-writing the Hyderabad Graphic Novel (http://hgnp.wordpress.com/)