World Chess Championship: Anand - Carlsen: Game - 5
Game - 5: "The Sun has started rising"
'h4' and the clock was stopped by Vishy, marking the first decisive result of this historic match.
Don't get cynical, don't rush back to your drawing boards. It is only one wrong stroke on the canvas. The picture has started emerging, today it was one colour, tomorrow it may be another, probably the one that you would love to see! It is all about hope, hope not of a favourable result, but hope of playing a fighting and aggressive game by both sides, which would be aesthetically satisfying.
Wait and behold the breath, my friend;' the sun has started rising' and beating down upon the flower, to break its slumber.
After all, it is said, that, greatness is all about raising after every fall! Let us hope, Vishy will rise, strong and colourful. At times the first jolt may liberate the mind and open the river of ideas from confinement.
Coming to the game, let us rewind and move backwards to see, not what went wrong, but what went on! It is never wrong or right, rather it is why and how!
If cricket is a game where one counts victory in sessions on a given day for a team; in chess it is phases - the only difference is that a solitary significant mistake in chess would destroy the hopes in all the remaining phase, unlike other games where a player or the team would be allowed a second chance!
Chess is unforgiving at times and even the best of the minds suffer!
The phase of ending between 35 to 58; was despondent for Vishy, the struggle was tough even for this greatest resourceful defender of modern day chess.
We shall see why?
It is not just about the material, but, it is all about how you are able to marshal your pieces resourcefully; so as to position them at right piece at right square at right time. They should spring to action when called for.
This is what I refer to as 'harmony'. As in symphony where one note wrongly played would mar the melody, so does in chess. One move wrongly played would impair proper coordination between the pieces. It may not spell doom, but will make you labour hard.
Diagram - 1 (position after 41….Bxb3)
In this position, the black rook on 'd4' and bishop on 'b3' camouflage their impotency. The pseudo activity is misleading, for black loses not only his 'h' pawn after 42) Rxe5+ Kd6; 43) Rh5; but white has a forced sequence of moves, enabled by the wrong positioning of black pieces, which would culminate in the grab of the 'a'-pawn too!
Whites rook and bishop synchronise to drive king back and after the exchange of the bishops, the rook and pawn ending is lost as 54) Rh7 cuts off the black king from the vital 'a8' square.
Now what made Vishy get into this muddle? To analyse this, we need to travel back further.
Diagram - 2 (Position after 27. Bc2)
Here Vishy played 27)….Rc5. Let me not attach any mark to this, not admonish it, but certainly we need to question why this move? Is this the right square for the rook and what purpose does this yield?
Probably, 27)….h4 straight away would have been better. The chief problem here for black is that, apart from activating his bishop through Bh5 - d1, black does not have any clear objectives to achieve.
And chess is all about setting objectives and achieving them at various phases! Without any clear objectives, a player would stand like a scare-crow: in these days even the crows have become intelligent and would not be scared! And Magnus Carlsen is a young and hungry tiger!
There is a fundamental defect in black's position - the number of pawn islands; 4:3, in itself is a poor indicator in the endgame. It makes the defence all the more difficult as much as it is easy for the opponent to attack the scattered pawns!
Vishy muddied the water further with 34)….Rd4 (which he confessed in the press conference) which was again the result of the lack of clear objectives for his pieces, especially the rooks; forget the bishop, barring its journey from e8 to b3 (via h5), it would be destined to remain a spectator from 41st move.
On the contrary, white rooks combined beautifully and were placed on squares in the rank and file from where they could further maximise their potential! Therefore, they were able to pounce on the weakness incisively, while black's pieces were gasping for oxygen, despite their positioning in open lines - because their objectives were obscure.
After Rd4, Vishy was forced to advance his c6 and e5 pawns, to generate some play, but the pawn islands become weaker and exposed when they are forced to advance and the subsequent pawn tradeoffs were not favourable for black.
Endgames, especially the rook endings are never easy!
Diagram - 3 (Position after 12) O-O-O)
The opening phase from 12) O-O-O to 24) Rf4 marks the direction of the play. The rooks generally are well placed on the fourth ranks, when the endgame is approaching. Strange that the black rook on the fourth rank was stable and cannot be dislodged, but still was not a dominating force as it lacked targets. Generally, black pieces were slightly discordant in this game after the exchange of queens and white's rooks and bishop seemed to have ready made targets.
Carlsen plays at his best in such type of positions where he has a slight (and seemingly imperceptible) advantage; and where he has to labour hard to collect minute advantages - he doesn't seem to mind that!
"At night, deep in the mountains,
I sit in meditation.
The affairs of men never reach here:
Everything is quiet and empty,
All the incense has been swallowed up by the endless night.
My robe has become a garment of dew.
Unable to sleep, I walk out into the woods -
Suddenly, above the highest peak, the full moon appears."
-Ryokan (Zen monk who lived in 1700's)
Hmm, I have started smelling the flower, with the unfurling of the first petal. Now, come on Vishy, it is your turn. I need to see some lovely and lasting colours!
'h4' and the clock was stopped by Vishy, marking the first decisive result of this historic match.
Don't get cynical, don't rush back to your drawing boards. It is only one wrong stroke on the canvas. The picture has started emerging, today it was one colour, tomorrow it may be another, probably the one that you would love to see! It is all about hope, hope not of a favourable result, but hope of playing a fighting and aggressive game by both sides, which would be aesthetically satisfying.
Wait and behold the breath, my friend;' the sun has started rising' and beating down upon the flower, to break its slumber.
After all, it is said, that, greatness is all about raising after every fall! Let us hope, Vishy will rise, strong and colourful. At times the first jolt may liberate the mind and open the river of ideas from confinement.
Coming to the game, let us rewind and move backwards to see, not what went wrong, but what went on! It is never wrong or right, rather it is why and how!
If cricket is a game where one counts victory in sessions on a given day for a team; in chess it is phases - the only difference is that a solitary significant mistake in chess would destroy the hopes in all the remaining phase, unlike other games where a player or the team would be allowed a second chance!
Chess is unforgiving at times and even the best of the minds suffer!
The phase of ending between 35 to 58; was despondent for Vishy, the struggle was tough even for this greatest resourceful defender of modern day chess.
We shall see why?
It is not just about the material, but, it is all about how you are able to marshal your pieces resourcefully; so as to position them at right piece at right square at right time. They should spring to action when called for.
This is what I refer to as 'harmony'. As in symphony where one note wrongly played would mar the melody, so does in chess. One move wrongly played would impair proper coordination between the pieces. It may not spell doom, but will make you labour hard.
Diagram - 1 (position after 41….Bxb3)
In this position, the black rook on 'd4' and bishop on 'b3' camouflage their impotency. The pseudo activity is misleading, for black loses not only his 'h' pawn after 42) Rxe5+ Kd6; 43) Rh5; but white has a forced sequence of moves, enabled by the wrong positioning of black pieces, which would culminate in the grab of the 'a'-pawn too!
Whites rook and bishop synchronise to drive king back and after the exchange of the bishops, the rook and pawn ending is lost as 54) Rh7 cuts off the black king from the vital 'a8' square.
Now what made Vishy get into this muddle? To analyse this, we need to travel back further.
Diagram - 2 (Position after 27. Bc2)
Here Vishy played 27)….Rc5. Let me not attach any mark to this, not admonish it, but certainly we need to question why this move? Is this the right square for the rook and what purpose does this yield?
Probably, 27)….h4 straight away would have been better. The chief problem here for black is that, apart from activating his bishop through Bh5 - d1, black does not have any clear objectives to achieve.
And chess is all about setting objectives and achieving them at various phases! Without any clear objectives, a player would stand like a scare-crow: in these days even the crows have become intelligent and would not be scared! And Magnus Carlsen is a young and hungry tiger!
There is a fundamental defect in black's position - the number of pawn islands; 4:3, in itself is a poor indicator in the endgame. It makes the defence all the more difficult as much as it is easy for the opponent to attack the scattered pawns!
Vishy muddied the water further with 34)….Rd4 (which he confessed in the press conference) which was again the result of the lack of clear objectives for his pieces, especially the rooks; forget the bishop, barring its journey from e8 to b3 (via h5), it would be destined to remain a spectator from 41st move.
On the contrary, white rooks combined beautifully and were placed on squares in the rank and file from where they could further maximise their potential! Therefore, they were able to pounce on the weakness incisively, while black's pieces were gasping for oxygen, despite their positioning in open lines - because their objectives were obscure.
After Rd4, Vishy was forced to advance his c6 and e5 pawns, to generate some play, but the pawn islands become weaker and exposed when they are forced to advance and the subsequent pawn tradeoffs were not favourable for black.
Endgames, especially the rook endings are never easy!
Diagram - 3 (Position after 12) O-O-O)
The opening phase from 12) O-O-O to 24) Rf4 marks the direction of the play. The rooks generally are well placed on the fourth ranks, when the endgame is approaching. Strange that the black rook on the fourth rank was stable and cannot be dislodged, but still was not a dominating force as it lacked targets. Generally, black pieces were slightly discordant in this game after the exchange of queens and white's rooks and bishop seemed to have ready made targets.
Carlsen plays at his best in such type of positions where he has a slight (and seemingly imperceptible) advantage; and where he has to labour hard to collect minute advantages - he doesn't seem to mind that!
"At night, deep in the mountains,
I sit in meditation.
The affairs of men never reach here:
Everything is quiet and empty,
All the incense has been swallowed up by the endless night.
My robe has become a garment of dew.
Unable to sleep, I walk out into the woods -
Suddenly, above the highest peak, the full moon appears."
-Ryokan (Zen monk who lived in 1700's)
Hmm, I have started smelling the flower, with the unfurling of the first petal. Now, come on Vishy, it is your turn. I need to see some lovely and lasting colours!
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