World Chess Championship in India: Anand - Carlsen - Game 2

1) e4 c6; 2) d4 d5; 3) Nc3 dxe4; 4) Nxe4 Bf5; 5) Ng3 Bg6; 6) h4 h5; 7) Nf3 e6; 8) Ne5 Bh7;

This position is 110 years old! That is chess for you! It evolves, re-evolves, sometimes certain lines get abandoned and gets buried, someone at a latter date may dust it out from the grave and give it a fresh lease of life!

9) Bd3 Bxd3; 10) Qxd3 Nd7; 11) f4 

We need to travel a century to reach 11. f4 - it took 100 years for someone to think that this move is playable! Sports history records that it took 56 years for man to break the 10 seconds barrier in 100 meters sprint.

Because, man always longs for becoming, the "being" gets obscured and grossly limited. Always men are grossly limited in their thinking in the current, they are trained to look for comparison with the past and a hope for the future! The moon was found only in poetry till half a decade back!

Proust said, "Nothing really happens as we hope it will, nor as we fear it will!"

When something happens, it is easy to see what has happened! When the solution is revealed, the problem loses its intricacy and is reduced to ordinary. Rudolf Arnheim, the Professor Emeritus of the Psychology of Art, wrote, "Seeing means grasping some outstanding features of objects - the blueness of the sky, the curve of the swan's neck, the rectangularity of the book the sheen of a piece of metal, the straightness of the cigarette."

I shall add...'the placements of chess pieces', from the chess players point of view, along with the would be's and would have been's (not ifs and buts)!

We are still in the context of the game! Both the players tread the known path for another 4 moves and on the 16th move, Magnus deferred from what was played earlier - a novelty(!)

11)....Bb4+; 12) c3 Be7; 13) Bd2 Ngf6; 14) O-O-O O-O; 15) Ne4 Nxe4; 16) Qxe4 Ne5

Probably the minds in the past had some ghost fears of open lines on the king-side, the dark bishop targeting h6, readymade Rh1 which looms as a monster before being born (at least in the minds gripped with fears!). Harmonious positioning of white pieces...!

Harmony, I cannot help but returning back to this - after all, chess in my view is all about harmony; the moves are the extension or the physical manifestation of our thinking minds, the pieces talk and dance, if we handle them with care, not breaking their harmony!

17) fxe5 Qd5; 18) Qxd5

Here, 18) Qg4 is akin to a bump ball or the spectator's catch in Cricket - the crowd erupt and subdue in seconds! The untrained eyes will see targets in "h6", revel in the lines on the kingside etc. Man, we need pieces for attack - to borrow the phrase from Bronstein, "desire alone will not tip the scales"!

18)....cxd5; 19) h5 b5; 20) Rh3 a5; 21) Rf1 Rac8; 22) Rg3 Kh7; 23) Rgf3 Kg8; 24) Rg3 Kh7; 25) Rgf3 Kg8 =

Yes, the opponent too can play harmoniously and as and when he does, or as long as both the parties respect their pieces and their desire for harmonious placement, no shame in shaking hands in truce, colours no bar!

This time around the hide and seek was played on the other corner of the board by different actors, the white rook and the black king!

The flower is slowly unfurling! Let us wait for some colours and fragrance!