World Chess Championship: Anand - Carlsen: Rest day - 2 : "Suspended moments"!
A rest day here, and the rest of the world, elsewhere, is assembled in a ground or glued to their television sets, to see a tiny man walking with his bat for the last time…perhaps!
History beckons India on two counts: one, a significant closure - where a supreme artist and his art departs; and the other, a significant disclosure - where the artists and their art is lifting the game to another level!
Today, we shall see some defining moments in chess.
Before that, let us ask ourselves a couple of fundamental questions:
What is art?
and
Is art created for ’now’ or for posterity?
For me, the act of creation is always in present, but, the life that is infused into creation by the artist, outlive the artist and transcend time! The art will be loved and appreciated, hundreds why even thousands of years after.
There is a primary responsibility for art and artist: that is to enshrine the uniqueness of its/his time for appreciation in posterity. This imposes certain responsibility to the artist and to live up-to this responsibility. For this, the artist has to transcend ’self’ first!
“...the word, which tears the writer of prose away from himself and throws him out into the world” said Jean Paul Sartre. It is no longer about self achievements; rather the focus needs to be anchored on the creation and remove the obstructing and imposing self to let the act of creation ’happen’!
And we, have a responsibility to be present, a mere presence at the creation; else we will miss the profound! Nature reveals art every moment, in every little thing. A knock at the heart by the creation when we are just present opens the mind and the beauty drips in; on the contrary, if we remain self conscious and imposing, it causes heArt attack!
Moments are frozen time, embalming the secrets of creation; already there are already few such moments in this match so far!
We shall see few such positions, scanning the history of chess:
Diagram - 1: Rubinstein - Capablanca; 1911
Polish grandmaster just played 17.Qc1!! a brilliantly simple move, which sowed the seeds for the birth of "hypermodern chess".
From then on, subtlety found its way into chess, where players started looking for tiny advantages. This marked the dusk of flashing chess played in the classical era, where a sacrifice was met with a counter sacrifice and acceptance of sacrifice was considered a shame!
The perception of chess underwent an irreversible change, evolution encouraged competition and this meant that the fittest were fighting on level play field and therefore necessitated to think differently to outsmart the equally equipped opponent!
Diagram - 2: Botvinnik - Capablanca; 1938
The last move by white, 30) Ba3!! announced the arrival of "the father of modern chess" - Mikhale Botvinnik to the world!
Botvinnik redefined preparation techniques and laid the road on which the future generations thrived - his method stands good even today!
Diagram - 3: Karpov - Kasparov; 1985
Black just played the incredible, eye popping 8)….d5!!? The baits no longer looked for immediate compensation, he showed the way to players on how to look for long term prospects in consideration for such sacrifices - certainly not for the weak hearts!
Steeped in Botvinnik school of thoughts, Kasparov lifted the home preparation to a different level. And combined with his fierce on board presence, play and inventiveness, he lifted the game to dizzy heights! He upped his antenna to such heights that it took a long time for players to catch the signals!
Diagram - 4: Anand - Carlsen; 2013
Anand's 35) Ne4!! is a future move! This is the modern height of 'chess perception'. We are now in an era where we surpassed superconductivity. In this era time and space are fuzzily interconnected and the emphasis is on supreme mobility.
This are my offerings to you today, my friend. You may wish to dissect the flower, or just pluck and wear it, attach attributes to it, admonish it...at times confine it to dust. But, I would prefer to stand besides and wait, wait, wait…The blossoming would fail in its effort to test my patience, for I am well aware of my impotency!
I am not going to rush with variations, switch on my engine, I would not even rely on my head and heart, but wait with my bowl…wait for the morsels to fall, which would give delight and promise me a celestial sojourn! I am a rebel, and would speak an alien language!
"Game five
The bees in the hive,
It is time for honey collection"!
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