World Chess Championship: Anand - Carlsen: Game-4


A game which had lots of moments but no momentum yet!

A draw... true, but it was not yet another draw!

Both the players strolled jointly in a park in Afganistan - and that they managed to emerge unscathed not stumbling upon the innumerable land mines itself was a miracle!

If Vishy was inventive and daring in his pawn sacrifices; Magnus was equally inventive and daring in its acceptance and returning back to the base station without an injury!

As the nature hides and reserves some of its best secrets from ordinary human perception, so does chess: many of its beautiful variations lay hidden in the moves that are brushed aside! It is like "well left" in cricket, where a batsman leaves a dangerous ball to go past his bat to the wicket keeper!

Come some other day to me, we shall masticate this game in solitude. Perhaps, I may reveal and revel in variations, in the true spirit of a chess player. But my friend, you need to bite the forbidden apple to know that beauty lies in hiding and not in exposure!

There was a beauty in the way Vishy regrouped his knights commencing with 16) Ne1! culminating with a pawn sacrifice and driving black bishop to the square from where it started! There was grace in the way he parted with material and there was grace in the way he sidestepped the land mines! There was a grace in the way he confessed in the press conference!

Similarly, there was a beauty in the way Magnus accepted the offerings; there was beauty in the way he retreated and there was grace in the way he defied expected moves to wring every ounce out of the position. He may have missed some chances, but that is Chess - it is not about perfection, not about machine cut moves, but rather it is a hand made craft!

Anand, in return for the pawn, got superior mobility for his pieces and managed to create a nagging passed pawn on 'e6'. He sacrificed one more pawn and managed to drive black's rook to the last rank, whilst bringing his king to the centre.

By 40th move, Anand regained one of his two sacrificed pawn, but Magnus managed to wriggle his pieces out from strangulation and even started posing some threats; there were many one move mates which would have thrilled an amateur - I have pictured three of them down!



But the ingenuity of both the players ensured no debacle and with precise moves played by both of them, a draw resulted - but one could easily say it was more than a draw!

Amidst all the chaos, sure there must have some close shaves and near misses and the next edition of chess magazines in world would carry huge chunk of variations both analysed by human minds and that which are vomited by the chess engines.

"A novel is a mirror. Everyone says so. But what is it to read a novel? I believe that it is to jump into the mirror. Suddenly, you find yourself through the looking glass, among people and objects that seem familiar. But this is simply an appearance; in fact we have never seen them before!" - Jean Paul Sartre

In this game, I had a feeling of jumping into the mirror and finding many variations, that were not to be! In that familiarity lies the illusion; only the illusionists know what they saw and what they underwent!

The flower is blossoming, and I start seeing some colours!

Rest day tomorrow, will Thursday be another best day!?

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