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Did you see the tie-breaks as a completely different match?
I think you cannot separate the two, because it’s clear, the openings
are continuing and even after game 12 we knew that we would probably continue
a lot of the discussion and preparation for the match, but just at a faster
tempo that’s all
You mentioned before the tie-breaks that the rhythm of the contest would now
change. Did you do anything to get into this new tempo? Well, I tried to play
a few practice games with Rustam. But in general I found this was tiring me
more, so in the end I didn’t bother. I thought, I’ll go there, sit
there and feel it again. We played some blitz games but again blitz is not rapid.
If you start playing fast in rapid – a rapid is many blitz games in itself.
And if you think about it, if my opponent gave me a winning position in a blitz
game, I would take it and try to win it. So even if my opponent used up 20 minutes
to get a winning position, he still has a blitz game left with a winning position.
That’s what it is. It’s not a rapid game with less time. And there
are many other games contained in it as well. There is the ten minute game,
the 15 minute game, all are contained within the rapid game.
So it’s a big mistake to think, well it’s a rapid game, so all hell breaks loose. It doesn’t work like that. And still the players have to retain some degree of control. But compared to the classical, it is of course much less. So the main thing is to try and remember in a rapid game, that you still have to play a good game of chess, you have to focus and that even opening preparation is still important, you have to get in good ideas, know your stuff and then wait for your chances. The only thing I could relate to was, let’s say Monaco or Corsica or Botvinnik and so on and try to think like that. I think, by the time you get into blitz, it’s just pure nerves. But not earlier.
As you said, it all comes down to nerves. Was there anything you did to keep yourself calm? [These questions were asked just after tie-breaks concluded.]
No, in fact when I woke up today I just felt, it could go either way and strangely enough I found that thought very calming. The idea was, it’s really not in my hands, but I’m going to give it my best shot, which is actually very negative, if you think you might lose or something. But somehow I managed to recover.
What did you do during the breaks between the tie-break games? GMs Nielsen and Kasimdzhanov were allowed to confer with you.
Peter would keep some summary ready of what I was supposed to do and I would quite quickly try to absorb this. There is only so much you can absorb in ten minutes, basically if you find yourself in a very complicated situation that we have looked at, then at least I should know some key moves.
In rapid game one, he played b3, Bb2 and you played Qf6 very quickly. In those kinds of positions you seemed much more at home. There were wild tactics, but you seemed to be comfortable.
Full analysis of the game is available here.
Anand playing 6.Nxe5 in game two of the tiebreak
Boris Gelfand about to play Pd7-d6 on his seventh move...
... and pondering his tenth move, Bc8-b7, in this decisive game
Perhaps but I would still say, that was typical. It was a very complex position and there were a lot of subtleties. And I am familiar with the subtleties, but still at the board you just can’t play it fast. These things are so subtle that with every white move it is a different response, and you have to keep on remembering what, and you have to remember the key principles at work, let’s say when he does this, this is the reason I do this move, when he does this, this is the reason I do this move. So there were a lot of subtleties there. He went Bb2 so I had to go Qb6 and the bishop comes to e5 and then the bishop goes to b7. And I have many plans. One is Qf6, the other plan is Qd6 and the third one is attacking the b4 pawn. Not to make it sound ridiculously difficult but it is still like a classical game in many ways. Rapid is closer to classical than it is to blitz.
After game one did you ask your seconds whether you could have won?
A little bit. I mean, I asked them. They said, actually the position was very difficult and neither of us had missed anything big. So he had not missed anything in the defence and I had not missed anything better or nothing very crystal clear and we started to revise what I was supposed to do for game two.
And then came game two with the opening surprise...
Full analysis of the game is available here.
This was Surya’s big idea. He had found some great ideas there. So we prepared the Rossolimo well and that was our big upside. We were waiting for that. But even there Boris managed to surprise me. He played something we hadn’t predicted, I think, …Bd6 and then he veered off. So I won this c5 pawn as planned. But then he played …Re8, Ng4 and especially Bc8 was a brilliant move. Because that bishop is doing nothing here I had missed the move. It goes all the way back and then basically he is trying to play f5, g5. f4 and try and kick the king around. When that happened, the preparation advantage I had was over. But I was a pawn up, and there was a lot of stuff going on. When the dust cleared, I thought I had winning chances with my rook on c3 and this other rook on the h-file. But in fact I found I was forced to swap one rook and we reached an ending which can be drawn or won. It is very close. I think, it’s pretty nice that I managed to keep some play in that position. I slowly walked out with my king, put my knight on c5, won the a-pawn. And then, when we got to this b-pawn and knight versus rook and bishop, I thought I still have chances. Because he is short of time and it is a very unpleasant position to play over the board. First of all, there are a lot of combinations – the king can go to a5 and the knight can come to c5. The king is immune from checks and Black is getting pushed back. Or the other combination, the king is on c5 and knight on c4. So there are lots of ways to block the rook and keep pushing back. It is not easy for Black, and as it happened he walked into this fork. When I saw it I was very happy. I go Ne6-d4, take the thing and just win the endgame.
You were comfortably placed, before he got back into the game. Did you feel upset that you weren’t doing as well?
I was, but I had the feeling that he had reacted well, for instance I simply missed Bc8, that’s an amazing move, because suddenly f5, g5, e4 happen. But I thought, there I reacted well… Rh4, Rh1 I thought, that bit I did well. Having said that, I am not sure, I spoilt a bigger advantage somewhere. But you know, in this rapid game to invest that much of time to control everything simply means you’ll have less of it for something else. So I don’t regret it too much.
At one point he was down to two seconds. Were you watching the clock?
Very much. Normally I don’t pay attention to that because even when people have one or two minutes – the thing about a 25 minute game, it is many, many time controls in one. If you think about it, the 15 minute time-control fits into the 25, then the 10 minute one, then the 5-minute one, then bullet. All of them fit into the 25, so in a 25-minute game it’s a big mistake to start playing fast as if its blitz. Because it isn’t. Even if he runs down to five minutes, but he has a better position, he has just got a better position in a blitz game. You really have to be conscious of that. But when your opponent gets below 15 seconds then it is impossible not to be mesmerized by it.
Was that a motivation to play on?
Of course, I understood, the position is very unpleasant to play. I didn’t think his task was trivial at all, and of course he needs much more time to defend that, so I thought I had very good chances and when this fork worked it was brilliant.
After all the tension, were you surprised how it came about?
Well, in this match any win seems to come as a surprise (laughs). It was just so difficult to get anything.
Would you say his clock handling was the critical factor?
Yes, but I don’t know if it was so much handling as the fact that Boris actually had to fight my preparation. So that is where he used up his time – trying to fight my preparation – and that gave me an advantage in time, even if it may not have got me an advantage on the board. Even the second game I wouldn’t say was decisive. Because game three still could have changed things.
Full analysis of the game is available here.
Full analysis of the game is available here.
Game four could have still changed things. This was a match which just never ended till it ended. I mean, it was only after I put the rook on e6 in game four that I really knew it was over. I thought: this one I can’t mess up. I mean, I’m going to play the king on b2 for eternity. I don’t even have to think anymore and that clinched it for me.
Photos by Anastasiya Karlovich and Alexei Yushenkov
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Anand on the World Championship in Moscow (Part two) 18.07.2012 – Immediately after his successful match defence against challenger Boris Gelfand, World Champion Viswanathan Anand spoke to his old friend Jaideep Unudurti. The Indian journalist conducted an interview that was too long and detailed for the newspaper Indian Express, which published only parts of it. Jaideep has given it to us in its entirety. Today we bring you part two. |
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Anand on the World Championship in Moscow (Part 1)
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The Delhi Interview with Viswanathan Anand – Part two 11.06.2010 – In December 2009 Jaideep Unudurti conducted an indepth interview with Viswanathan Anand. Some of it was published in Mint – a collaboration between the Hindustan Times and the Wall Street Journal – but a lot fell on the cutting room floor. Thankfully Jaideep saved the entire interview, which provides deep insights into the personality of the current World Champion. Here's part two. |
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The Delhi Interview with Viswanathan Anand – Part one 08.06.2010 – Back in December 2009 Mint – a collaboration between the Hindustan Times and the Wall Street Journal – commissioned their journalist Jaideep Unudurti to do an indepth interview with World Champion Vishy Anand. The discussion lasted for an hour, and only a small section landed in the journal. Jaideep has thankfully transcribed the entire contents, which we will publish in three sections. |
