"Viva la Vida!"

Impressions on Game 12, Anand-Topalov world championship match, Sofia

The equation before the final game was simple. Topalov with White had to create realistic winning chances. The rapid tie-breaks would see the Indian maestro as the overwhelming favourite. Anand on the other hand would be wary of the Bulgarian's intense and lethal "prep". Topalov's arsenal of prepared gambits and sacrifices needed to be avoided, so a journey off the beaten track was called for.

Topalov opened with the queen-pawn just as he had in all the games till then. Anand matched him with a similar move of his pawn. Topalov then offered another pawn as a gambit. Anand did not respond with the Slav but instead declined it. Now the familiar contours of the Queen's Gambit Declined appeared on the board. The "QGD" is a classical defense of impeccable pedigree. Anand's move forged a link in a invisible chain stretching back into the hoary past. It is the most played opening in world championship matches. The 1927 clash between Capablanca and Alekhine saw no fewer than 32 games played with this, used by both contestants with equal felicity. The Karpov-Kasparov summit clashes too saw repeated recourse to this weapon. On the 7th move Anand showed his intentions, with a knight move, he essayed the Lasker Defense. The defense is named after its inventor Emanuel Lasker, the second world champion who reigned for a staggering 27 years between 1894 and 1921.

The Lasker has a well-deserved reputation for solidity. It makes the position easier to defend for black because it initiates exchanges. It is like an arms reduction treaty which removes the combat elements of both armies. While it is a hard to break defense it doesn't really give Black many chances of winning. Anand's team however introduced a wrinkle which would give Black good chances should White over-press. Exactly what the situation required - chalk one up for the "A-team", Vishy's group of elite grandmasters helping him behind the scenes. Garry Kasparov, who was watching the game unfold online said that he didn't agree with Anand's opening strategy earlier and felt that Anand should have been playing openings like the Lasker from the start.

It was on the 16th move that this innovative idea was seen. Anand's knight move made Topalov pause in his tracks. Black would be left with a very weak pawn on the "c-file" which would be menaced by the enemy forces. Rather than try to hold onto it, Black would use the time that White would expend in capturing this weak pawn in order to get his forces in order. By this time the series of exchanges had meant that most of the respective armies had already returned to the box. Anand had a queen, a bishop and both rooks against Topalov's forces which were the same except that the Bulgarian had a knight in place of a bishop. Topalov's knight however was quite unambitious and his prospects were not very bright. On the other hand, Anand's bishop was optimally placed on the longest diagonal of the board stretching from the last square of Anand's camp and terminating right at the white king's doorstep. This monarch however had a pawn wall around him, so he was not unduly worried. This set the stage for a fascinating game-within-the-game, a duel between the Knight and Bishop.

Topalov then moved a pawn near his king. His concept was to advance his pawns in a chain and block the bishop. With his movement hampered by the enemy pawns, the bishop's effectiveness would drop sharply. The poor pawn on the c-file was being attacked by White's queen and rook but it bravely took on its role. Anand needed considerable nerves to play in this fashion. Unless Vishy found tactical justifications his position was strategically lost. And both players knew that. For the moment the threatened pawn was kept alive through the threat of reprisals. Topalov would lose one of his own queen-side pawns if he went after the lone soldier.

The first new idea of the game was Anand's 22nd - a bishop move attacking Topalov's rook. Topalov expended considerable thought on where to move his heavy unit. He finally decided to shift the rook to a square just above it on the second rank. Experts after the game concluded that this was a mistake. Topalov wanted to use his rook to protect the pawns on the second rank but the cure turned out to be worse than the disease. By moving his rook, Topalov had left his last rank unguarded. And it was ripe for invasion. Sure enough Anand didn't waste time in doubling his rooks i.e. getting his rooks in front of each other so as to mutually support each other. These heavy units were now seeking to break through and conduct deep operations in the enemy camp. Topalov alarmed at this decided to move another of the bodyguards in the pawn wall surrounding his king. This was to give an escape hatch in event of an invasion.

But by moving the pawns he created further gaps in the ranks, subtle weaknesses which were now spreading his camp. Also while Anand's rooks which were smartly arrayed their opposite numbers, like tanks stuck in the mud, were amidst a welter of own pawns and pieces, unable to coordinate effectively. On the 25th move Anand tacitly offered a draw. Topalov had proclaimed before the match that he would not talk to Anand and neither would he entertain any draw offers from the Indian. So Anand moved his bishop to attack the queen and when the queen retreated, Anand simply moved the bishop back to its original square. Anand was inviting Topalov for a "repetition", when the game is declared drawn if the position is repeated thrice. This was a key psychological moment of the game and indeed the entire match. Topalov had made much noise before the match about his fighting spirit and how he disdained draws. He could hardly be seen to acquiesce meekly to Anand's offer. Therefore he decided on another move, to use his rook to attack this impudent bishop.

Anand reacted with alacrity. He moved the bishop on the long diagonal directly targeting Topalov's king. The menace of this pulpitarian could not longer be ignored. Topalov then proceeded on a smart knight manoeuvre that re-established his hold on the central squares which was growing shaky. Anand responded by moving his king pawn forward making a play of his own for the "commanding heights" of the chess board. Topalov shot back by pushing his pawn forward onto the central square of the board. Anand then offered a sacrifice of his pawn to dislodge the enemy forces.

All this was perfectly normal, the cut and thrust of the pieces and pawns. In military terms it was developing into what is called a "meeting engagement". After a period of manoeuvring the game had suddenly devolved into a contact fight for the central squares. In history, obscure places and names which languished forever in some corner of the map suddenly become the locus of vast forces, an backwater municipality in Belgium becomes the Waterloo, an industrial town on the Volga rings forth through the ages as Stalingrad. And so it was for this square.

Until now the logic of the struggle was impeccable. The normal reaction would be reinforce the pawns duking it out in the centre. Suddenly the temperature of the struggle changed. Topalov, unbelievably took the offered pawn. This meant that the pawns protecting the king were moving out of the path of the bishop. Anand saw his chance - he immediately initiated a central breakthrough, his pawn smashing down the door to Topalov's castle. Incredibly, Topalov took that proffered pawn too.
If on the previous move Topalov was flirting with disaster, with this he went and married her in a church with confetti and a brass band.

In a flash, Anand's queen swung down with the silent speed of a descending guillotine. The pawn fortress around Topalov's king was shredded and he was obliged to actually step out and seek protection. Anand's rook joined the attack - the message these powerful units were delivering was stark and simple - it is checkmate in one move, your majesty. Topalov coolly dropped his knight back to mark the square where the threatened execution was to take place. It was here that Anand played his master move. He yanked the queen all the way back, all the way to the first square of his kingdom. He had seen a dark geometry at work, a geometry of Fate that was to doom Topalov. The queen was now re-routing her strike - again threatening checkmate in a move. It was here that the full extent of the debacle began dawning on Topalov. Watching the video we can see the Bulgarian picking up his pen to write down the move, and then stare, pen in hand, transfixed by the onset of doom. Chess as a spectator sport is deadly dull, except these priceless moments which hint at the inner struggle of the players.
Topalov had only move to stave off instant disaster and he did it - pushing a pawn to block the queen's ingress. Anand launched forth his own to strike at this valiant defender.

The Vietcong when fighting the Americans in Vietnam mastered the art of the ambush. Unable to fight in open terrain, they would catch the unwary Americans in dense jungles, inflict heavy casualties on their unsuspecting foes and then vanish into the depths. The Americans therefore were much exercised by this omnipresent threat. The US Army's Field Manual for Infantry has this to say: "a kill box is usually an area assigned between two easily identifiable landmarks where soldiers will concentrate their fire".

Anand had put in place an excellently constructed kill box around Topalov's king. And there would be no escape.

The fruits of Topalov's folly were now visible on the 36th move, in one of the most bizarre positions ever to grace a world championship match. Topalov's king in an army comprising of a knight, two rooks and a queen was the farthest advanced piece! It was right on the border into Anand's half of the board. It is entirely to Topalov's credit that in this desperate strait he marshaled all his forces and made Anand's job as difficult as possible. But there was no hope for his king, he didn't even have a hap.

As for Anand - I'm a lowly patzer but I make bold the claim that if you ask him he will say that this was the most difficult moment of the match. Winning won games sometimes is the hardest thing to do. It was a real Jekyll & Hyde of a position. Were Anand to make one slip, one microscopic inaccuracy and his advantage would be gone. Topalov on the other hand knew by now that he was a dead man walking. There was little pressure on him comparatively.

Anand's play at this juncture was virtuoso. At one point on the 39th move he had to calculate 11 moves ahead! Topalov had a way of sneaking to a position where ALL the pieces would be exchanged and he would be left with just three pawns to confront the same number. Incredibly, Anand would still win - his king would advance over and slay the pawns on the queen-side. As they say about thermonuclear war, "It's not the blast, it's the fallout". But Anand had to calculate all this and more well in advance.

By the 48th move, Anand had denuded his opponent's army - all Topalov was left with was a rook and knight against Anand's queen. The Bulgarian had a mathematical chance of creating a "fortress" where his rook and knight would support each other and hold off the queen. The world champion's moves however were sheer class. With a queen at his disposal he chose to hop his king about creating a "zugzwang". The word, of German origin, means "Compulsion to move". It is a situation where having the move is actually a disadvantage, for all pieces are in their optimum position - any move will destroy this condition and bring about a loss.

In a final elegant twist, the last moves involved the c-pawn, yes the very same hero who had stood alone in the blast of Topalov's queen and rook. There was no way for Topalov to stop this intrepid fellow from racing to a touchdown. After 56 hard fought moves, Topalov resigned. The match was over. The challenge had ended.

What could account for Topalov's inexplicable rush headlong to disaster? The answers are to be found not in Bulgaria, but in Russia. There in 2006, Topalov had lost his crown to Vladimir Kramnik in similar circumstances - the match was tied and Kramnik beat him in the tie-breakers. Topalov's refusal to draw perhaps stems from that traumatic defeat. Some moves haunt you for the rest of your life. A rush of blood to the head can change a moment of glory to a lifetime of regret.

And Anand? Anand was dignified as ever, always letting his chess do the talking. In the fiercest contest of his long career, to paraphrase Churchill, Anand was defiant in defeat, resolute in the struggle and magnanimous in victory. In the post-match press conference while a stunned Topalov could barely speak, Anand was grace personified. He complimented the organisers - no mention of their churlish refusal to grant a postponement. He praised his fallen rival as a great attacking player. No mention of the rancour that Topalov had injected into the proceedings. And it is this - not his cupboard full of trophies, his sky-high rating, his hundreds of tournament victories - that make Viswanathan Anand a true champion of our times.

(I hope you enjoyed this coverage of this fascinating contest. On a personal note, by the time the game got over in India, it was my birthday, so, well it was the best birthday gift ever :) )

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