Off-day for drudgery....let me overstate!!

"The unknown cannot be distorted or misrepresented" 

                                                                         - Arthur Koestler (in 'The Act of Creation)

Wow! Both Vishy and Magnus took us for a ride in "jatka" - that most pleasurable ride on horse driven cart - the modern day fleeting flight in supersonic jet "engines" is no match for it!!  The hand carved masterpieces, replete with old world sheen, has a place which the machine cut creations can never belong!

White: Vishy Anand - Black: Wesley So

So just played 9) ....Nb8 and here Vishy surprised everyone with...

10) Ng5!?!

A move just to brush aside all "why's" and "what-if's" and pose a counter question, "why-not"!? In Chess, unless it is an outright blunder, any move is playable.  When Black Knight can keep jumping back and forth on c6 and b8 square, his counterpart can also jump into thin air and be ready to vanish!

10) .....Nc6

Like 10) .....h6 or any other move, this is also a move.

11) Ba2 Nd4; 12) Ne2 Ne2; 

So, what was going on in his mind? Perhaps, Vishy's Knight move induced a different chemical reaction is So's mind: a weird Knight sortie provoked a more weird Knight movement and yet, nothing significant has happened!

13) Qe2 h6; 14) f4!!

Played in the true spirit of 19th Century - never retreat, even if it has to be correct!

I love it!!

When you can paint rainbow in the sky, why bother about those meaningless =/+; +/=; -/+; +/- .....hell with them!

14) ....hg5?! 

Again in the spirit of 19th Century, you are duty bound to accept the sacrifice and to refuse is considered cowardice!

15) fg5 Ng4; 16) g6 Bg5; 17) h3 Bc1; 18) Rac1 Nh6; 19) Qh5!

Pardon me for too many diagrams, they are visual delights!

A raving light squared diagonal, the half open f-file, a very obscurely place Black Knight, a serious thorn "g6" in the flesh of Black king....what more do you want: the Knight did not die for nothing!

19) .....Be6; 20) Be6 fe6; 21) g4! c6

The problem with this doubled pawn is that, it can never get straightened unless the other side cooperates! It may be good in the middlegame as it controls more squares around it, but a serious weakness in the endgame which this game is drifting into, now.

22) Rf8 Qf8; 23) Rf1 Qe7; 24) g5 Rf8; 25) gh6 Rf1; 26) Kf1Qf8; 27) Ke2 gh6

Everybody left the board, leaving the aging Queens and the Kings and of course the 'thorn on g6', the fruit for the exquisite old world play by Vishy!

Vishy finishes the game in style with geometric precision. The chief problem for Black in this Queen ending is not that protected passed pawn on g6, but the vital "f7" & "h7" squares that it controls and thereby crippling both Black Queen and the King.

28) Qg4 Qf6; 29) h4 d5; 30) h5 d4; 31) b4 Kg7; 32) Qf3 Qe7; 33) Kd1 Kg8; 34) Qf2! Kg7; 35) c3! dc3; 36) Kc2 Qc7; 37) Qc5 Kg8; 38) Qe3 

Always it is sensible to gain moves to reach the time control!

38) .....a5; 39) Qh3 ab4; 40) Qe6 Kf8; 41) ab4 Qa7; 42) Kc3 Qa3; 43) Kc2 Qa4; 44) Qb3 Qa7; 45) d4!

Opens the floodgates, So....Resigned!

When Vishy played from his mind, the pieces had to be 'pushed'; and the moment he let his heart takeover, see how they danced!!

White: Magnus Carlsen - Black: Maxime Vachier Lagrave

1) Nf3 Nf6; 2) g3 b5!!

Inebriated! 

"The French people drink Wine all the time".... whether Maxime drank Wine or not, to play such a move against the World Champion, you need great wits, if not guts!

Sure it would have evoked "oos" and "oops" in the spectators and commentators arena!

3) Bg2 Bg7; 4) Na3 a6; 5) c4 b4; 6) Nc2

A very unusual square for the Knight, probably it should be loving it, instead of the mundane squares he is used to jump into, under the dictatorship of the books...engines...

6) .....e6; 7) d4 a5; 8) OO Be7; 9) d5 Na6; 10) Nfd4 Nc5; 11) Re1 OO; 12) e4 e5

Not sure if it is wise to give the f5 square to White's Knight, especially when the other Knight can join in support, if needed.

13) Nf5 d6; 14) Bg5!?

The bait!

14) .....Nd5?!

Bitten!

15) Bh6! gh6; 16) Qg4 Bg5; 17) cd5 Kh8; 18) h4 Bf6; 19) Nce3 Bc8; 20) Qf3 Bg7; 21) Bh3!

Carlsen always finds a simple and straightforward route to his pieces! This Bishop is heading to h5 to eye on f7.

21) ....Rg8; 22) Bg4 Qf6; 23) Bh5 Bf5; 24) Nf5 c6

The problem with Chess is that it is very difficult to sit quiet!  But there are times when you need to and await or allow your opponent to do...

The move gives White target and direction for proceeding further.

25) dc6 Rac8; 26) Qd1 Rc6; 27) Qd5 Rgc8; 28) Rad1 Bf8; 29) Qf7 Qf7; 30) Bf7 Na4; 

31) Re2!

As you are approaching the endgame, you need to know what to retain, what to discard, how to regroup, how to sit tight, what to allow and what not to allow.

The move played allows Black to exchange a pair of Rooks, while defending his second rank, pawn on b2 and planning a future assault on the 'd6' pawn!

31) .....Rc1; 32) Rc1 Rc1; 33) Kg2 Nc5; 34) b3! Rc3; 35) Kh3 Nd7; 36) Be6 Nc5; 37) Bd5 Nd7; 38) Ne3 Nf6; 39) Be6 Rc5; 40) Nc4 Kg7; 41) f3 Ne8; 42) Rd2 Nc7; 43) Bg4 a4; 44) Nd6 Bd6; 45) Rd6 a3; 46) Bd7 Rc2; 47) Bc6!

Please fasten your seatbelts, the flight is beginning its descent for a smooth landing!

'Why no comments or variations for the past 15 moves', you might ask.  There are multiple ways to play this phase of the game and and I am a firm believer that each one has the right to explore the possibilities and not to consider the laden the options with attributes.  I also do not believe in right or wrong; but rather interested in what worked and what did not! Each move,...scheme has its merits and demerits and what occurs to a player in the heat of the battle, sitting across a live opponent, he plays. And an astute player is the one who doesn't complicate it by asking too many questions to many "what-if's" and induce his opponent to ask such questions!

Magnus was in a cruising altitude and was reveling! 

47) ....Ra2; 48) Rd7 Kf6; 49) Rc7 Rc2; 50) Rh7! Kg6; 51) Rc7 Kf6; 52) h5! Rc1; 53) Rh7 a2; 54) Bd5!! 

Not everyday, you get to see mate on the board- Black King gets mated on the 'g5-square'!  What makes the game interesting is the economy of its execution!

In both these games, something happened on the a2-g8 diagonal and the "g6" square!  Both the games were poetic and therefore anything that you attempt to say in excess would only marr the beauty of the poem!

"Come on guys", we need more of such vintage stuff!