The Blue Gene slayer goes to war at Moscow!

The intrigue for a `civilian’ starts when he looks up the Venue for The Match – situated at the Lavrushinsky Lane of Moscow city, The Tretyakov State Gallery.

The… What?! `You heard it right - a State Museum situated in the heart of Moscow, where Viswanathan Anand is to play against Boris Gelfand in a `short’ match of 12 games, spread over 20 days, from 11th May 2012, for the title of the World Chess Champion’.

These two guys are going to play Chess at a M.U.S.E.U.M? `A brilliant idea. Chess, in itself is art, you see’.

And, 20 days and short, did you say? `Correct. In a country where a Cricket World Cup, the Mother of All, is done away in a month’s time, it may be difficult to understand when a Chessie says he thinks 12 games are too short for a World Chess Championship. But it is quite short – you see, in a conspiracy hatched over a period of 22 years, it has been brought down from the glorious 24 games, to a quickie 12. By Kasparov, Short, Kramnik, Danailov…’

Who are all these people?! But no, forget that. Who is Gelfand? `Yes, Boris Gelfand, born in Soviet Belarus to Engineer parents, emigrated to Israel in 1998, defeated Mamedyarov (Azerbaijani), Kamsky (Russian / American) and Girschuk (Russian) in 2011 to emerge as the challenger'.

Wow! This guy must be having the time of his life. `Absolutely. After all, `Borya' has been riding the `Second Wind’ since 2006 from the age of 38, and at the age of 44, is going to challenge the 42 year old Vishy, who has been the World Champion since the age of 38’.

38. 42! 38. 44!? You sure it is going to be exciting? `Okay wise guy – time to educate you. No more kid gloves now. Do you know the Eyjafjallajökull eruption in 2010?’

Same to you! `Well, that Icelandic Volcano eruption was the start of Anand’s troubles in 2010, grounding all flights in Europe late April. Instead of flying into Sofia, Bulgaria, on 16th April, he could drive into the place only on 20th April, after a 40 hour road journey through Germany, Austria, Romania and Bulgaria’.

Sounds Strenuous. `Indeed’.

Anand’s fans must have been a worried lot. `We were concerned. And his request for a postponement of the First game by 3 days was definitely refused by the thorough gentleman Danailov – Topalov’s second / manager / whatever’.

Who a…r…e these people? `Well, Topy was the one who was challenging Anand for the supreme title of the World Chess Champion in 2010, in his own territory, Bulgaria. Later we all came to know that, not mentioning the psychological pressure throughout,  Topalov and his team were using a 112 core computer cluster, rumoured to be known as Blue Gene, to prepare for this match’.

Wow! Designing rockets for Mars, or what?! `No – simply trying to outprepare Anand. Which they couldn’t’.

So Anand had these Gene, Core, Blue thingies too? `He just had his brains. And his `seconds’ – Chess players who prepare him to make it to the World Championship in top shape. Peter Heine Nielsen of Denmark, Rustam Kasimdzhanov of Uzbekistan, Radek Wojtaszek of Poland and Surya Sekhar Ganguly of India…’

Lol! He definitely must have found them all at a single place! `Sshh. Now, Anand arrived on Apr 20, tired, caught his breath, and sat down to play the First game on Apr 24, 2010’.

So, finally, it was down to the hard fight. `Yes, and No. He played the game as per home preparation till move 23, made a big mistake, and was punished almost immediately. Topalov played precise, and the game ended in his favour a few moves afterwards.’

Gosh! Anand must have been devastated. `Of course not. Ganguly tells later that, he arrives back at the hotel after the game, says – “Okay guys, it was an accident. Let’s get on with the Second game now” '.

And he immediately started a painful and difficult recovery into the match? `Definitely not. You see, he won the very next game, drew the 3rd game, won the 4th game again, and shot into the lead, and was the winner at the end of it all’.

Wait-a-minute! You say, Anand works-his-butt away months preparing for the event of his life, drives through hell wasting days, arrives at hostile territory tired and breathless, starts the match, loses the first game before you say `Mickey’, coolly wins 2 out of the next 3 games, and becomes the World Champion at the end? `Elementary. We Chess players in India don’t have adjectives left for him anymore’.

I am speechless. `When it comes to observing that brilliant art and war called Chess, most are. Now, you were talking about those 30+ and 40+ numbers…’

Bunk it! I can’t wait for Anand – Gelfand to start! `I am tired of under-acting by now. It will be one hell bloody interesting! I will be at the front row for all the games at Moscow whistling crazy! Watch this burning space!’

(Originally published at blog.chesstrainer.com)