At Khanty Mansyisk
of Russia, Viswanathan Anand won the candidates Chess tournament. The
tournament featured 8 top players of the world. The tournament victory gave him
cheque of 135,000 Euros (equivalent to approximately 1 crore rupees).
The cup
victory carries extra significance for him. With it, he now becomes eligible to
play against current world champion Magnus Carlsen of Norway in the final of
World championship for second year in a row. It will be the first time in more
than two decades when same opponents will play for the World title in two
successive years. Last time it happened was in the era of two K’s
(Kasparov-Karpov). They faced each other in successive finals in 1990.
When he
lost to the Norwegian Carlsen at Chennai the previous year, noise grew for his
retirement. Indian Grandmaster was nervy. He couldn’t manage a win in entire
series of games. He seemed to have lost the elan after that humiliation.
After
the win in the current tournament, he confessed candidly that he was in no mood
to participate in the championship. His conversation with Vladimir Kramnik
changed everything. On his insistence, he mustered courage for the tournament.
Friday was
rest day for him. On Saturday he came with fresh ideas for the chess
board. He played marathon round for more than 6 hours against Karjakin. After
91 moves, both the players agreed for the stalemate. Andreikin beat
Aronian and his crown was certain.
In the
tournament, he got a good strong start in the beginning. It uplifted his
morale. It is very like his performance at Mexico in 2007, at Linares in 2007
and in 2008. There he won with margin of +3 in 14 rounds. In the entire
tournament, he made no mistake in the moves. He faced bizarre opening of
Aronian with grace. Against Manedyarov, he played superbly. Throughout the
tournament, he opened brilliantly and side by side guarded his citadel well.
Other
competitors continued to fall which made the life of Indian GM easier. Interestingly,
at the end of round 13, he was the only player with plus (it means difference
in no. of wins and losses) record. In previous edition, there were four players
in the positives (two at +4 and two at +2).
He came
to Russian town for the tournament as an underdog. He proved every critic wrong
and won the tournament with one round to spare. Round 13 proved very lucky to
him. Indian son is ready to face the midnight su(o)n.
