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The entire Master Class, courtesy of the Tradewide Gibraltar organizers, can be viewed clicking here.
Today there was a Master Class by Anand which was enjoyed by one and all! The hall was packed and some had to sit out in the lobby where there was a huge screen so they could watch everything. Luckily I had occupied the seat in the hall well on time and I could enjoy the Master Class face to face!
An eager audience awaits the arrival of the legend. The demand was large, and most ended
up watching it transmitted on a large screen in the lobby outside (photo by Nisha Mohota)
Anand arrives and gets settled (photo by Nisha Mohota)
Anand showed his game against Evgeny Bareev from Wijk Aan Zee in 2004, and while the game was certainly interesting, the analysis of the game was the real show. Justifying his choice, the five-time World Champion shared some amazing lines that just left one gobsmacked.
See for example this amazing position which could have been reached in the game:
Anand - Bareev, Wijk Aan Zee 2004
Black’s last move (in the analysis ) was 33...Bg7+. Here, if White plays
34.Re5+ Kd4 35. Re4+ and then 35...Kd3 counter check! Basically every
check is countered by a check of its own.
Even GM Conquest, co-hosting, seemed mesmerized as Anand showed the many wild lines.
In
the spirit of the title 'Master Class', the champion would pause every now and then, and
engage
the audience by asking them to try their hand at finding a move. No engines to save
them here! (photo by John Saunders)
After the game Anand answered the questions of the audience on various subjects- he told the story of his meeting with Fischer, the one player he would want to play with - Morphy, his reason for coming back to open tournaments after so long (There are a couple of good ones these days) etc.
On the way back to the room, he meets his friend and long-time second
Surya Shekhar Ganguly (photo by Nisha Mohota)
A huge thanks to Stuart Conquest and his team at the Gibraltar Chess for making such high quality learning content available to all the chess lovers!
