A Momentary Lapse of Reason

Impressions on Game 8, Anand-Topalov world championship match, Sofia

After the feast, the famine. Game Seven's incredible high quality chess was a distant memory as both players turned in a sub-par performance. The omens were inauspicious: Topalov began with the same Wiesebaden Slav set-up seen in his two earlier games with White. Just like a stand-up comic who is no longer funny but keeps repeating the same lines. Anand deviated on the 13th move, but play followed in predictable ways. The queens were exchanged, Topalov had a slight plus due to the larger area his pieces covered, while Anand was cramped on the back ranks. He was unable to castle and his king interfered in the communication between his two rooks. Still it did not look too threatening. There were practical difficulties galore but nothing beyond the remit of a player of Anand's calibre.

The first lurch towards disaster was taken on the 22nd move when Anand sallied forth his pawn. Anand had calculated a sequence of moves but apparently missed an "intermezzo". The term, taken from the opera defines a composition that is a interlude between a larger performance. In chess terms, it is a move which can be played between a sequence of forced moves. Topalov's intermezzo was a knight move, which planted itself deep inside hostile territory. If this was bad, then worse followed as Anand then lost the pawn which had so daringly ventured forth.

The position was winning for White but Topalov prosecuted the "technical" part of the game in a most unbecoming way. He did not play incisively and soon Anand was constructing a "fortress", a special position which denies the stronger side the victory. His 36th move in particular was worthy of a champion, laying the foundations for his stronghold. Vishy seemed well on his way to halving the point when he made an inexplicable blunder dropping a further pawn and allowing his fortress to be breached. The position required eternal vigilance from Anand's Bishop but that wayward clergyman left the straight and narrow resulting in Anand's immediate resignation. Of course it is quite easy for Monday morning quarterbacking; one can only imagine the incredible stresses and forces raging out there in the middle.

PIt would seem that after their Herculean labours of the previous game, both players were exhausted. It is the first result dictated by stamina and endurance. Now the match has reached a stage where a good night's sleep is probably worth more than a good Knight.

In an interview Anand was asked whether he had a "system" or a coping mechanism for such defeats. "At some point you have to let go" he said. "That takes some time. A system as such is just a question of going to sleep and waking up often enough. In one or two days it should be gone. It helps if you are well prepared, you have lots of ideas, you are looking forward to every game, it flows with that. If you are having difficulties anyway, a defeat can accentuate your problem if you are not in good shape. That's when really things go wrong."

When you are faced with such a defeat, the important thing is to dig deep, clear your mind, keep your head and stay positive. And that's just me as a fan trying to write this report - God knows how Anand is feeling right now.

Anand has made his career remembering, now he has to learn to forget. And sometimes, that is the hardest thing to do.

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