I grew up playing chess which continued throughout school and college. At the intercollege competition, I faced my toughest challenge yet, Jayant Gokhale, who later became an International Master (IM). Needless to say, he destroyed me in no time. This made me realise that higher level chess is a serious business which requires working very hard for long hours. I stopped playing in competitions after that but the love of chess still remained. And as Vishy Anand conquered one title after another, I joined millions of Indians in celebrating his victories.
Like most chess fans, I love tactical chess much more than positional chess. Positional chess requires a much deeper understanding of the underlying theory. An average chess fan has neither the time nor the inclination for it. In tactical chess, sometimes you witness a game so beautiful, it’s like a work of art. It’s like witnessing a straight drive from Sachin Tendulkar or a bicycle kick from Ronaldo.
Two games come to mind that fit in this category. I am sure there are many others. First is Levon Aronian be Vishy Anand in the 2013 Wijk aan Zee tournament. After 12…c5! Vishy was unstoppable, winning the game in 23 moves. His two bishops on b7 and c5 dominated the diagonal like twin machine guns.
Second game is also against Aronian by Vladimir Kramnik in the Candidates tournament this year. Vlad produced a brilliant novelty in Berlin Defence with 7…Rg8! Trust Kramnik to find a novelty in Berlin!! He practically reinvented the Berlin Defence and used it successfully in the World Championship match against Garry Kasparov in 2004. Watching such games is like listening to a Mozart symphony.
Of course such brilliant games come once in while but a chess fan does not mind as long as he gets to see good chess. In World championships, the stakes are the highest and one expects to see long, extended battles.
The World Chess Championship between world champion Magnus Carlsen and challenger Fabiano Caruana was an event that the chess world was eagerly waiting for. Only 3 points separated the two players in the Elo ratings. It is very difficult to follow the game at the highest level without help from expert commentators. I tuned in to chess24.com where Peter Svidler, Anish Giri, Sopiko Guramishvili and Alexander Grischuk provided some very high level commentary along with insights into the nuances of professional chess.
Even as a spectator watching the 12 games was mentally exhausting. One can only imagine how excruciatingly difficult it must be for the players. I was not rooting for any particular player, I just wanted to see some good chess. The games were well fought, both players missing some chances, another indication of the tremendous pressure.
And then game 12 happened.
The scores were tied. This was the last chance for Caruana who was playing with white. According to all commentators consisting mostly Super GMs, the position was promising for black. Caruana was in serious time trouble which meant that his chances of making a blunder were very high. At this point, on move 31, Carlsen offered draw and after some thinking Caruana accepted.
Much has been said about this game by experts. Popular opinion is Magnus wanted to draw at all costs so that the match will go on to tie-breaks where he had a clear advantage. Another theory is Magnus cracked under nerves. His statement that he was in no mood to calculate the positions may support this theory. Now Magnus is well within his rights to play this way. However, I wonder how much danger he would have been in if he had at least waited till move 40 to see how Caruana handles the time trouble. Watching this game felt like a final match between Brazil and Argentina where both teams spend the second half passing the ball between themselves without attacking.
The match went on to tie-breaks where Magnus destroyed his challenger in 3 straight games of Rapid Chess and kept the title. Normally, when both players fight hard without a result, it feels somewhat satisfactory to watch the tie-breaks. When it became clear that Magnus was not interested in winning the classical games, this left many fans with a somewhat uncomfortable feeling that the system was being taken advantage of. And two years from now, Magnus will be very happy to draw all 12 games and go into the tie-breaks.
It is clear that World Chess Championship format needs an overhaul. Till that happens we have a somewhat amusing situation on our hands. It goes like this.
Calsen’s rating at 2835 will be overtaken very soon by Caruana who is at 2832. So we will have a World Champion who is not World No 1. Carlsen won the World Championship because of his skills in Rapid Chess but the current World Rapid Champion is Vishy Anand. And finally, World No 1 in Rapid is again Magnus Carlsen.
Chess is complicated even away from the board.
