Legends and Superstars at the World Chess Championships

If you are the kind of a chess freak, who loves watching or listening to expert views, then Moscow is just the place for you. Doubtless, when see guys like Viswanathan Anand and Boris Gelfand playing for $ 2.55 million dollars and a World Championships to go with it, you can be sure there are a lot of opinions in each game.

For that you need guys (and some girls, too) who can talk chess at that level. Surfing the net, you will come across a lot of Grandmasters discussing the game online, but watching some superstars of chess like Mark Dvoretsky, Evgeny Sveshnikov or Yuri Averbakh is a different kind of experience, almost ethereal in nature.

Dvoretsky is reckoned to be one of the finest minds in chess coaching, and he has been a mentor to many champions and is also an author of many award-winning books on the game. When the big built but very genial man, who speaks in halting English walks into the room, all else stops, in a manner of speaking. People want to know his view of the game in progress.

Then there is Sveshnikov, whose work on the openings in Sicilian defence is almost mandatory for every chess player.

Giving a sense of chess history is someone like Yuri Averbakh, who turned 90 in February this year, and is the oldest living Grandmaster in the world. He has been a player in World Championships Candidates tournament, been an Arbiter at World Championships besides having been a journalist and an author of many chess books, including the famous periodical Shakhmatny Bulletin, a Russian chess magazine, which was once described by Bobby Fischer as the best chess magazine in the world. Interestingly, Averbakh’s daughter, Jane, married Mark Taimanov, another chess legend, who was also very proficient in music.

In addition, there are many other players from the top-20 of the world rankings,

The commentary team is a virtual who’s who. Among those who have already done duty are former World Championship challengers, Nigel Short and Jan Timman, and the former World junior champion, Joel Lautier, a French GM, who has moved from chess to investment banking and made Moscow his home.

In the line are Peter Svidler, a Russian GM, who is a huge fan of Sachin Tendulkar, and former world champion, Vladimir Kramnik.

The opening ceremony, among others saw Mikhail Gorbachev, a slew of Russian billionaires, music legends and former world champion Anatoly Karpov.

On Friday, Garry Kasparov is expected to make an appearance, meet the media, play simultaneous chess games with kids and will also make a brief appearance in the commentary box during the sixth game.

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On Thursday, the fifth game with Anand having white pieces, made a King Pawn opening and it was the first time in the match either player had played anything apart from Queen Pawn opening.

The opening may have changed a little, but the result remained the same. Yet another draw, the fifth in a row and the match stays tied at 2.5-2.5.

Thus far, none of the five games have gone beyond four hours – the first time control with two hours for 40 moves for either player. The longest they have played in terms of moves is 37 moves.

But for Anand, the worry will be that he has used up three of his six whites, which is generally seen as a slight advantage.

One of the highlights of the day was when the game went into the Sveshnikov variation of the Sicilian defence and just then the man, who had made the opening famous and worked a lot on its analysis, Evgeny Sveshnikov, himself walked into the Hall. Naturally, journalists milled around him to ask his view and speaking in he said he would have preferred a more ‘aggressive’ approach.

There has been much talk of surprises from either side, and the King pawn opening may have been one from Anand. But Gelfand was upto it.

Anand, when was asked about whether either player was trying to surprise the other, replied, “I imagine neither of us succeeded (in surprising the other) fully. Anyway, I think when I went for this simplification on Queen side, my first idea was to play Qc4 instead of Bh3. Maybe that was the only interesting moment in the game, Then I noticed Rc8 and after a while white’s initiative disappears. That is more or less what happened.”

World Championships Game 5 Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow
May 17, 2012
Viswanathan Anand (India) v Boris Gelfand (Israel)

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e5 6.Ndb5 d6 7.Bg5 a6 8.Na3 b5 9.Nd5 Be7 10.Bxf6 Bxf6 11.c4 b4 12.Nc2 O-O 13.g3 a5 14.Bg2 Bg5 15.O-O Be6 16.Qd3 Bxd5 17.cxd5 Nb8 18.a3 Na6 19.axb4 Nxb4 20.Nxb4 axb4 21.h4 Bh6 22.Bh3 Qb6 23.Bd7 b3 24.Bc6 Ra2 25.Rxa2 bxa2 26. Qa3 Rb8 27.Qxa2 Draw

The thoughts and opinions shared here are of the author.