With scores equal and a world record to boot, Team Anand is relieved

The smiles were back. On the face of Viswanathan Anand. On the face of Aruna Anand. And on the faces of his friends Hans Walter Schmitt and Eric Van Reem. And, yes on my face, too.

All it took was a present (read blunder) from Boris Gelfand. Anand, ever a gracious guest, who took it with both hands and the match is back to equality 4-4 with four more games to go. If there is still a tie after 12 games, the match goes into Rapid games and further into sudden death and Armageddon (where White has six minutes and black only five, but black only needs to draw to win).

Anand has a slew of records and he added one more with the shortest win in a World Championships in 17 moves. The previous record was apparently 19 moves by Wilhelm Steinitz over Mikhail Chigorin in 1892 – 120 years ago!

Anand’s impassive face, which was trying to hide so much emotion 24 hours earlier after the seventh game loss, was understandably more relaxed and smiling after eighth game. The walk and smiles said it all. When asked how he had slept the previous, he candidly admitted, “It was not my best sleep,” he said.

When Gelfand won the seventh game, his parents came out of the VIP room and greeted Israeli journalists and some Russian friends. There was much bonhomie, back-slapping a few celebratory shouts, too.

In comparison, the Indian champion’s win brought in an air of relief. But then there were just four Indians in the media centre and probably a couple of more in the audience. All, this writer included, looked at each other, gave a quick nod and it was back to work.

Coming into the media room, as he does after every game, Anand was relaxed and shook hands with some.

His wife, the slightly built, Aruna, of course, has been through a lot. Often showing creases of worry on her forehead and looking around for trusted faces which could tell her how Anand is faring on the board, she has been a pillar of strength for him. Anand is the first to give her credit, whether it is about taking care of their one-year-old son, Akhil, or for his ratings soaring after marriage.

Aruna apart, Anand’s big supporters have been Hans Walter Schmitt and Eric Van Reem. Hans-Walter, a German, who has been Anand’s neighbour in Frankfurt ever since he shifted his European base from Spain to Germany, is among his closest friends. Logistics expert, Eric, a Dutchman who works with Lufthansa, has been part of Team Anand for a long time. Hans-Walter was the brains behind ‘Chess Classic of Mainz’ (CCM) which Anand won more than 10 times. In chess circles the buzz was Hans created the tournament specially for Anand, and he in turn obliged by winning it each year. Eric was part of CCM.

They were at his side, when Anand took on Kramnik for the world title in Bonn in 2008. And, then in 2010, they played crucial role in getting Anand across from Spain to Sofia and through a 40-hour bus ride to get him to the venue in time, when all flights had been cancelled due volcanic ash spreading over European skies. The Bulgarian organisers had refused to postpone the match by three days as requested by Anand’s team. They later relented by one day. Arriving only the day before the first game, an exhausted Anand lost the first, but won two of the next three and went onto close the match winning with black in the 12th game. In between he lost one more game, but the title was his 6 ½ to 5 ½.

That, as Eric says, “(It ) brought the team together.” They have stayed like that. The smiling Hans says, “I am 60 and I want to retire. I will only to stay on till Vishy is there.”

***

Eighth game that promised much ends with blunder

The eighth game was promising to be a nail-biting one. Anand played white in a Kings Indian Samisch, variation that Gelfand had used a lot in 1990s.

Asked if the loss had galvanized him, Anand said, “I would like to think I play each game hard. It is true, sometimes it happens like that. The last two games were not same as before; they were emotionally tough. I don’t know if I (knowingly) played aggressively today (eighth game). It was a consequence of this position and I knew I had to fight hard. Finally, if have I played well I am happy.”

Gelfand said, “I planned to sacrifice an exchange.” But then added, “Unfortunately I miscalculated.” On the blunder, he said, “I just did not see the last move Qf2. It seemed very risky and I calculated other variations. So, the whole concept of black’s play was unpleasant.”

By the seventh move, the duo had moved away from the book and begun to think deeply on the board. Anand’s 7. Nec3 indicated he wanted to move away from the normal Samisch, to prevent Gelfand from using his experience of the variation. Gelfand played a novelty on the seventh move, Nh5. Both were also using a lot of time.

Anand’s g4 on 12th got him a decent position. When Gelfand played Qf6 there was an odd feeling around as it trapped black’s queen. Following Anand’s 17 Qf2 Gelfand thought a bit and resigned.

The ninth game will see Gelfand play white on Wednesday.

Moves World Championships Game 8
Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow
May 21, 2012
Viswanathan Anand (India) v Boris Gelfand (Israel)

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.f3 c5 4.d5 d6 5.e4 Bg7 6.Ne2 O-O 7.Nec3 Nh5
8.Bg5 Bf6 9.Bxf6 exf6 10.Qd2 f5 11.exf5 Bxf5 12.g4 Re8+ 13.Kd1 Bxb1 14.Rxb1Qf6 15.gxh5 Qxf3+ 16.Kc2 Qxh1 17.Qf2 1-0 Black resigns

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