Game - 6: Thanksgiving day gift...

"Our blindness changes not a whit the course of inner realities. Of us it is as true as it is of the seeing that the most beautiful world is always entered through the imagination." 

                                                                                                                  - Helen Keller

The thanksgiving day arrived early...!

Carlsen is the culprit....he blundered and blinded Vishy, breached the trust that he had...and this can mean two things: that Carlsen managed to upset the psyche of Anand to make him play below par from now on...or set him ablaze and feel the heat....

Assuming Vishy did not miss ...Ne5 and assuming all the remaining games end in draw, crowning Anand again....I am sure neither him nor us will feel proud.

It is not the first time he will become a World Champion...if he manages to win.  And the title will taste sweeter only if it is won legitimately, by which word I mean playing emphatically and overpowering your opponent.  And not getting it gifted....

It was strange for me to see the gloom in Vishy's face and the world sympathising him.  After all, it was one move, one game, one match....and not life shattering one.  He will be a real loser only if he allows this accident to spoil his psyche and play the remainder of the match miserably; as he did after ...Ne5.

On the other side, Carlsen is savouring the moment of relief and his smiling at the agony of Vishy.

Yes it would have been a huge day if he had accepted the gift and who knows, that would probably have pumped up Carlsen enabling him to explode at a different dimension altogether...

Helen Keller said something very beautiful, "We differ, blind and seeing, one from another, not in our senses, but in the use we make of them, in the imagination and courage with which we seek wisdom beyond our senses... It is more difficult to teach ignorance to think than to teach an intelligent blind man to see the grandeur of Niagara.  I have waked with people whose eyes are full of light, but who see nothing in wood, sea, or sky, nothing in city streets, nothing in books. What a witless masquerade is this seeing! It is far better to sail forever in the night of blindness, with sense and feeling and mind, than to be thus content with the mere act of seeing. They have the sunset, the morning skies, the purple of distant hills, yet their souls voyage through this enchanted world with a barren state."

Missing Ne5 is not a blindness, but letting it affect is!

1) e4 c5; 2) Nf3 e6; 3) d4 cd4; 4) Nd4 a6; 5) c4 Nf6; 6) Nc3 Bb4; 

The Kan variation of Sicilian and here white has many choices; chief among them are; 7) Bd3; 7) Qc2; 7) e5 and Carlsen chooses...

7) Qd3 Nc6; 8) Nc6 dc6; 9) Qd8 Kd8; 10) e5 Nd7; 11) Bf4 Bc3; 12) bc3

Time to take stock of the position:

• White has double bishops
• A thorn in the form of e5 pawn
• A fractured queenside pawns with a doubled pawn 
• Has access to and controls huge space; in the center and elsewhere
• Rooks will have great freedom

• Black has two compact pawn islands as compared to whites three
• The knight on d7 attacks the e5 thorn which ties-up one bishop temporarily 
• The lone bishop lacks freedom of movement
• The rooks lack open files

The problem with black is beyond the above considerations...in devising an active plan.  He voluntarily subjects himself to defending with the hope that White might get frustrated in finding a plan which would secure the positional advantages that he has.

And in fact, Vishy succeeded in frustrating Magnus and which is the primary cause for the stupid Kd2: Anand never in his wildest imagination would expect Carlsen to blunder in beginner fashion!

12) ....Kc7; 13) h4! b6; 14) h5 h6

The alternative is to allow the pawn to move to h6 and play g6; creating dark square weakness.  Both have their merits and demerits.  After 15) h6 g6; the position would still be ok because White does not have a knight to exploit the fixed weakness on Black's kingside.  The game would have just assumed a different flavour and direction.

15) OOO Bb7; 16) Rd3! c5; 17) Rg3 Rag8; 18) Bd3 Nf8; 19) Be3

A prophylactic move to ensure that the bishop is not hanging in some variation after black pushes g5 and taking the pawn en passant.  But the problem with this move is that it leaves the e5 pawn unprotected.  But Magnus continues with machine like precision.

19) .....g6

Anand commit himself early.  He could have waited with 19) .....Bc6 which would have made White to make one waiting move.  But it is not that significant in this position as the game hasn't reached a stage where one move makes a difference.

20) hg6 Ng6; 21) Rh5! Bc6!

Both the players played the best possible moves to optimise their position and pieces.

White achieves his first objective; disrupted the Black's kingside pawn structure and isolated h6 into a weakness.

Now he has to optimise his piece position to not let Black escape from his grip and then gobble the weak pawns.

Meanwhile, Black is not resourceless; there are tactical motifs hidden in this position once the knight is let loose and there weakness of White's queenside would appear conspicuous.  Also, the resulting position after White captures the h6 pawn would swap a couple of pieces and might lead to an opposite colored bishop ending, where Black will find more ease. 

Carlsen played...

22) Bc2!

A fine move in the spirit of the position.  He preempts certain tactical motifs where the bishop gets captured with check - in some pin and unpin situation arising after he captures the h6 pawn. Also, this move denies the a4 square for Black's bishop.

22) .....Kb7; 23) Rg4

This for me is the moment and not the actual blundering moment!

The move is played more out of confusion than conviction.  Carlsen was concerned about the g2 pawn which is vital in securing an advantage.  And he hit upon the idea of making his King travel to protect it, few moves later....and...

And it was now that he should have travelled starting with 23) Kd2! as the Rook is not left hanging!!

23) .....a5; 24) Bd1 Rd8; 25) Bc2 Rdg8; 26) Kd2?? a5??

And I do not wish to continue any further....not because I feel as Vishy feels or others feel...but purely because Vishy played as if the world fell over him and everyone around the world reacted as if the world caved in below their legs...

The game was fine up to move 25 and what happened after was played between one man who was hugely relieved for obvious reasons as he could have squandered a win and the other hugely grieved as he did not anticipated it and accepted the gift.

I don't like something that comes as gift, when it comes to the stage where you need to exhibit your might, your prowess, your greatness.

I leave you today with the fine words of Franz Kafka: "Accident is the name one gives to the coincidence of events, of which one does not know the causation. But there is no world without causation. Therefore in the world there are no accidents, but only here....accidents only exist in our heads, in our limited perceptions.  They are the reflection of the limits of our knowledge...the struggle against chance is always a struggle against ourselves, which we can never entirely win..."

Hope Vishy realises that he is a great player and such incidences are trivial and not as monstrous as the world portrays it.  He needs to empty his mind of this SHIT....

There is still a match to play...greatness to reveal....