|
Experience Matters, Anand Keeps
Title
By Arvind Aaron
Game twelve was probably as satisfying or more satisfying than
Anand's road journey to Sofia. Viswanathan Anand has won the
World Chess title for the fourth time.
Anand won games 2, 4 and 12. Topalov won games 1 and 8. Games 3,
5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11 were drawn.
The course was interesting. Anand lost game one and bounced back
to win the next game and the fourth game to take a 2.5-1.5 lead.
After eight games, Topalov managed to level scores. After
Anand's missed chances in game nine, draws came and in Topalov's
white game, Anand won with the black pieces for the fourth world
chess title.
Anand first won the crown in 2000 at Tehran under knock out
format, then won it back in 2007 in Mexico in tournament format.
In 2008, he defeated Kramnik in match format and now at Sofia he
beat Topalov 6.5-5.5 to retain his title in the match format.
This match was well fought and lifted the fighting spirit of
both players to new levels.
It was a big gain for Anand, as he takes home 1,200,000 Euros
which is about Rs.7 Crores. Topalov receives 800,000 Euros.
Besides keeping the title, Anand also gains Elo rating from this
match which will take him well over the 2800 mark once again.
The next generation world championship challenge for Anand can
come from stars like Magnus Carlsen of Norway.
Anand, 40, proved that experience matters when the scores
between two players are level or close. Topalov, 35, had a plus
one head-to-head score but that was from 44 encounters. Anand
has closed that deficit now with this victory.
The all important game 12 followed a queen's gambit declined.
Anand chose to go for the declined line of Topalov's queen's
gambit. In the previous games, Anand had defended with the
Grunfeld defence and the Slav defence.
After 18 moves in a Lasker defence, Anand was left with an
isolated queen bishop pawn and that was white's only target to
play for.
From move 29 onwards, Anand smelt a big attack and pressed hard
and won a queen for rook and minor piece. Anand's bishop led the
way and it featured two pawn sacrifices. Topalov had to walk a
tight rope to avoid being mated. Thereafter, Anand only had to
make sure that he did not repeat what he did in game nine. Anand
missed plenty of chances to press home in that game.
After 56 moves, Topalov resigned when his knight was poorly
placed and had to lose more material. The road ride to Sofia
took time but was certainly a memorable visit and win for Anand.
http://www.anand-topalov.com/en/results.html
More
News
Home
Published
on May 11th 2010
|
Caution
