CHESS #562

Viswanathan Anand won the world championship match comfortably, defending his title with a game to spare. This was a high quality contest and analysts will be busy for months absorbing some of the new ideas unveiled.

Clearly Team Anand performed the task of working out the opposition better. In most games, the champion got the sort of positions he prefers. If a draw had not been enough, he could have played on to win Game XI where he had a substantial advantage in the final position. Watching from the sidelines, Garry Kasparov pointed out that Anand had managed to bypass the bulk of Kramnik’s prep, and challenge him when playing black. Although Anand’s win unifies the title, the shape of world chess will remain unclear for a couple of years. Topalov is supposed to play Kamsky next year and the winner would have the right to meet Anand.

But that Topalov-Kamsky match may not take place. Negotiations have broken down. Kamksy refuses to play on Topalov’s home ground, and vice-versa. (Topalov considers the former USSR as well as the US enemy territory since Kamsky is an American citizen who was a Soviet citizen.). This makes sponsorship difficult. If it doesn’t happen, a normal cycle of candidates will be in place in 2010.

Other things were happening while Bonn hogged the headlines. Peter Svidler won the Russian championship with a magnificent display against a very strong field. The Euro Cup team championship is in progress.

The Dresden Olympiad is also around the corner. Anand will not be playing there but his second Surya Sekhar Ganguly will. Even without Anand, Team India could have chances in both sections though it will be classified as a bunch of dangerous floaters rather than medal favourites.

The diagram, (Kramnik Vs Anand, Game 3, Bonn 2008) WHITE TO PLAY, was the first time the Bonn Variation was unleashed. White has to give the exchange, swap queens if possible and look for an endgame where his queenside passers give him an edge. The engines suggest 29. Rd1 Bg4 30. Qe3, which may hold the balance.

Instead Kramnik tried 29. Ra3?! Rg1+ 30. Kd2 Qd4+ 31. Kc2 Bg4 32. f3?! Bf5+ 33. Bd3? Bh3(?). White’s best try was to keep running with 33. Kb3 Rc1 though black may have a winning attack anyhow. In time trouble both parties missed the mate with 33. - Bxd3+ 34. Rxd3 Qc4+! But Anand had calculated that Bh3 is a clear win. The game ended with the despairing 34. a5 Rg2 35.a6 Rxe2+ 36. Bxe2 Bf5+ 37. Kb3 Qe3+ 38, Ka2 Qxe2 39. a7 Qc4+ 40. Ka1 Qf1+ 41. Ka2 Bb1+ (0-1). This put Anand ahead in the match for the first time and he never let go. n