The Real Chennai Super King

Impressions on Game 2, Anand-Topalov world championship match, Sofia

Anand had begun his campaign in the worst possible way. To lose is one thing, but to lose like this? Online commentators were shocked by the debacle, wondering if he had the "killer instinct" to return to the fray.
What strategy would he adopt now? Anand had White which meant he had the first move and could dictate the broad contours of the game. Which way would he turn? To seek bloody revenge after the fiasco; to play "normally" as if nothing had happened, or would he retreat into a shell? The Soviet school was firm on this point. After a crushing defeat, the party line went, use the white pieces to get a quick draw, all the better to recharge your batteries. Problem was, the Soviets were talking about a time when the minimum was a best of 24 games. The Sofia match is 12 games; there is no real time to recover.

Anand put the speculation to rest by opening with the queen pawn. He chose an opening called the Catalan, which promises quiet play with a subtle sting. Interestingly, the Catalan is a feared weapon of Anand's great rival and predecessor, Vladimir Kramnik of Russia. In fact, Kramnik in 2006 defended his title against Topalov using this same opening.

Anand's favourite movie, Terminator II, is notable by its main villain, the shape-shifting T-1000. This liquid metal terminator has the ability to mimic whatever shape it comes into contact with. It was as if Anand was taking a cue from this android assassin - blogger Mig Greengard notes that "Anand played a bit like Topalov to beat Kramnik in 2008 because unbalanced two-way attacking positions are Kramnik's weak spot. Yesterday Anand played like Kramnik to beat Topalov, whose weak spot is long positional maneuvering."

Topalov grabbed a pawn in the opening, and the terrain of the game was decided by this - Topalov would seek to retain this pawn as long as possible while Anand looked to get a return on his investment. Anand moved his bishop and queen onto the queen-side seeking to target the black pawns. Meanwhile, Topalov despite being a pawn up was looking to activate his bishop, which was hemmed in by his own pawns.

The tension reached a critical point on Anand's 15th move. As in the previous game, Anand began consuming a lot of time. Again, commentators were worried - to take so much time so early in the opening is never a good sign. There was an electronic gasp across the Internet as Anand finally made his move - a move offering to exchange queens. Former challenger Nigel Short was scathing in his commentary. "I am speechless" said the grandmaster, "15. Qa3 is a shockingly bad move. White has no winning chances whatsoever after this. Black wasn't threatening anything, so why exchange off the queens, ruin your pawn formation and make things easy for Black all at one go? And this dubious decision has come VERY early in the game."

Former women's champion Sofia Polgar was equally critical. "I do not understand Anand here" she said. "Is this home preparation? Why would he trade Queen and free up space for Black when he is a pawn down? Yes, Anand still has some compensation for the pawn. But this surely cannot be what Anand was hoping for with his first White of the match.

Only Russian grandmaster Shipov espied the finespun thread of Anand's thought. "Praise the chess gods" said he, "we've left the worn tracks. Moreover, Vishy made a move that you really won't think up in a minute... The novelty of the season! It's rare to find a queen exchange on White's initiative in this sort of position". Shipov also pointed to an analogous situation involving a game between two world champions - Garry Kasparov and Vassily Smyslov. Kasparov too had exchanged queens, doubled his pawns and gone onto win.

Ironically, Kasparov himself (according to Mig Greengard), who was watching the game online, left the room in shock after seeing Anand's move!

Play proceeded with Anand slowly exerting his power on the queen-side. Topalov in response pushed a pawn in the king-side but soon it was clear something was wrong. His pieces were not cohering; his moves were disjointed, aimless. All the time, Anand continued his invasion of the queen-side. The key was a decision Anand made on his 29th move. Topalov had returned the pawn he had grabbed and was hoping to fight back into the game using his trademark technique of inducing complications. Anand calmly retreated his rook, confident that time was on his side. Now suddenly the commentators sat up - it was a slow-motion disaster, Topalov's army was falling apart.

Anand's a-pawn, was a "passer" - i.e. there were no enemy pawns in front or either side of it, which means it has a free run to the end of the board where it can be promoted to a queen. Topalov tried to land a blow but Anand calmly parried his desperate attempts. All of a sudden it was over, Topalov forced to resign, his position hopeless - his rook was stuck behind Anand's pawn while Anand's own king was marauding in the centre of the board threatening to devour the remnants of Topalov's forces.

A chess champion sometimes has to play the sportsman, sometimes the artist and sometimes the scientist - for chess is a combination of all three. In this encounter Anand adopted a new guise, that of the psychologist. Topalov is naturally impetuous, always seeking to attack. A boxer always showering blows on the punching-bag. Purists may sneer, pointing out some of the less-than-computer perfect moves but Anand played the man as much as the board. He hung back enough, drained the sand, to leave Topalov striking vainly at the empty bag.

In short, Anand's win was a supreme triumph under pressure. But then, it is pressure that gives birth to diamonds. It may not have been a computer-perfect game but as a battle between two absolute wills, it was ultimately a fascinating human spectacle. And yes, Anand showed more killer instinct than a Great White shark dosed on methamphetamine.

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