Throwback Thursday: Vishy Anand wins World Rapid Championship at 48

Fighting until the very end

Master Class Vol. 12: Viswanathan Anand

This DVD allows you to learn from the example of one of the best players in the history of chess and from the explanations of the authors how to successfully organise your games strategically, consequently how to keep your opponent permanently under press

The August 2022 official FIDE ratings list has 52-year-old Indian legend Vishy Anand in twelfth place with a 2756 Elo rating. Year after year, Anand continues to find ways to remain as part of the world elite while facing much younger and motivated opponents. His work ethic and plain talent have kept him succeeding even at the toughest of competition.

At 47, the Tiger from Madras showcased his legendary intuitive play in rapid chess to win the World Rapid Championship in Riyadh. Anand entered the tournament as the twelfth highest-rated player, with the likes of Levon Aronian, Alexander Grischuk and, of course, Magnus Carlsen ahead of him in the starting rank.

Not for nothing, he was known as ‘the lightning kid’ as he honed his skills in the 1980s. Venkatachalam Saravanan got to know the young Anand in India, and he thus described the then-rising star in a conversation with Sagar Shah:

My first national junior was his next-to-last one, at Nagpur in 1985. At that point, he was already a star. You know, in those days we used to play with Analog clocks, and the time control would be two and a half hours for 40 moves followed by adjournment. Anand would typically take about 5 to 10 minutes for each game, the opponent would take all 2 hours and 30 minutes. We have all heard epithets like this, but Anand’s play at those times actually invited these nicknames [lightning kid and others] for him.

In Riyadh, Anand went through the 15 rounds of the Swiss open undefeated, scoring six wins and nine draws. In round 10, he defeated Magnus Carlsen, who as ever was the clear favourite to take the title. GM Alex Yermolinsky analysed the game.

As it has become the norm in the world rapid championships, the 15 rounds of play take place along three days. Going into the third and final day of competition, Anand stood in shared second place, a half point behind Vladimir Fedoseev.

A win in round 13 was key for the Indian to finish tied for first place. Below we present excerpts from our final-day report with game analyses and a recap of how the fight for first place developed in the capital of Saudi Arabia.

See all ChessBase reports from the 2017 World Rapid & Blitz Championships

Entering the last day of competition, the sole leaders in both the men and women’s events were Vladimir Fedoseev and Ju Wenjun respectively. Whereas Ju Wenjun had completely dominated her rivals from beginning to end in a breathtaking performance that left her untouched and only barely challenged from a distance, the men’s section was much more volatile, and by consequence exciting.

Vladimir Fedoseev had been the unexpected frontrunner throughout the tournament | riyadh2017.fide.com

Within two rounds, it really looked like the tide had irrevocably shifted and that Magnus Carlsen, whose dominance of Rapid and Blitz throughout the year had been peerless, would now be crowned with the ultimate title and prize. The immensely rich prize fund is well documented, but look at the gorgeous trophies designed and created by luxury brand Asprey, based in London:

The well made short on the creation of the trophies really helps one appreciate how much work went into most details of the tournament

In round 11 most of the top boards drew, while Magnus Carlsen continued his comeback with a clean win over Levan Pantsulaia from Georgia. That now placed the Norwegian within a half-point of the leader, and it was time for them to meet, and encounter many had been looking forward to.

There was no need to crown the podium, with large displays showing the action | riyadh2017.fide.com

Vladimir Fedoseev 0-1 Magnus Carlsen

A serious body-blow to Vladimir Fedoseev, who had played a superb tournament so far, and with this loss he relinquished the top spot to Magnus Carlsen. Although Magnus could still be challenged, as he only held a half-point lead over Fedoseev, Anand, Svidler, and Wang Hao, it is probably not unreasonable to say that nearly everyone following it felt that the event was now Carlsen’s, and the real fight over the final three rounds would be for the other podium spots.

After his win in round 12, taking over the lead, the title seemed all but spoken for by Magnus Carlsen | riyadh2017.fide.com

Round 13 saw further draws on the top boards, which meant that while Carlsen still led alone with 9½/13, the pack right behind with 9.0/13 had grown to eight players. Fedoseev nearly righted the ship in this very next round, when he baited Yu Yangyi which nearly yielded him the victory. He missed his chance though, and the game was drawn.

Vladimir Fedoseev 1/2-1/2 Yu Yangyi

Joining the others were now Bu Xiangzhi, Grischuk, Nepomniachtchi and Artemiev.

Round 14 was where the foundations were shaken somewhat, to the surprise of not a few. The young Russian Vladislav Artemiev held Magnus Carlsen to a draw with white, and other players within striking distance all drew their respective games, but Vishy Anand pulled off a huge win over Alexander Grischuk.

Vishy Anand's round 14 win over Grischuk was huge in every sense. | Photo: riyadh2017.fide.com

Vishy Anand 1-0 Alexander Grischuk

Suddenly Magnus Carlsen’s victory was not at all clear, and both he and Anand now shared first with 10.0/14, but to muddy the waters even more six more players trailed by half a point. Suddenly the matter of tiebreaks and playoffs were the subject of discussion. The regulations were quite clear and they stated that in the event of a tie for first by two or more players, the two with the best tiebreak (if more than two) would face each other in a blitz playoff. This presented a very serious problem for Magnus Carlsen. Let’s see why:

Suppose both Carlsen and Anand drew their final round games, but are joined by Peter Svidler, who wins his last game. Since the first tiebreak criteria is direct encounter, Carlsen would be out, having lost to Anand, while both Svidler and Anand had not lost a game between the three of them. Thus the playoff would be between Peter Svidler and Anand in such a scenario. Still, this entire situation could be solved easily should Carlsen win his final game. Perfectly possible it needs to be said.

15-year-old FM Andrey Esipenko (2564 FIDE) finished with 7.5/15 and was no doubt the author of the shot of the tournament, if not the year | riyadh2017.fide.com

Here are the pairings for the final round among those with a chance at gold.

Round 15 pairings

If you were expecting a slew of safe draws at the top, think again. Among the five top boards, the only draw was the quick handshake between Bu Xiangzhi and Vishy Anand, while four ended in a decisive result, though none so decisive as the top board.

Magnus Carlsen 0-1 Alexander Grischuk

To say this result was unexpected or a shock is to put it mildly. Even when things were going badly for the world no.1, many expected him to somehow weasel himself out of trouble and save the half-point. It was really only after 34…Rxc4 that it became clear there would be no miracles to save him.

Peter Svidler, who could hope for a chance himself, instead went down badly to Boris Savchenko and was left out, while both Nepomniachtchi and Vladimir Fedoseev won their respective games against Wang Hao and Vladislav Artemiev, leading to a three-way draw.

It was a brilliant effort by Ian Nepomniachtchi, who caught up with the leaders in the very last round | Photo: riyadh2017.fide.com

Since direct encounters were all draw between the three of them, the next criteria was the average rating of their opponents. This left Nepo out since although he had done wonderfully to reach this point, he had only managed to do so by the very end, while Anand and Fedoseev had led more or less throughout and as a result had faced the toughest players.

The regulations foresaw a tiebreak of two blitz games played at 3 minutes plus two seconds increment, and if that didn’t solve it a final Armageddon game would decide the title.

The final result was a magnificent win by Vishy Anand, winning the first blitz, and acceding a draw in the second despite dominating it. This easily redeemed a spotty result in the latter half of the year, notably a last place in the London Classic, with an emphatic win at the World Rapid, and another world title. It is safe to say that few if any had expected the 48-year-old to still win world titles at this juncture, especially in the fastest time controls, usually the province of the younger players. Bravo!

Vishy Anand shares his delight at becoming the 2017 World Rapid Champion | Source: ChessCast

Links

• Throwback Thursdays:
  • Kasparov wins Linares, retires
  • Armenia’s back-to-back Olympic golds
  • Carlsen’s first title in Wijk aan Zee