KOCHI, January 10: American Grandmaster Larry Christiansen candidly equated the struggle of the champion in the World Chess cycle with that of crossing the Amazon and climbing Mount Everest. Curiously, it was in the context of the traditional World Championship format in which the Challenger emerged in three years through a long-winding stair that sapped his energy at stages and still gave the advantage to the champion who could keep the title in the event of a tie in the title match, that the American Grandmaster mocked at the system.Viswanathan Anand, who had experienced the struggle two years ago in the Professional Chess Association (PCA) cycle, might now feel that he swam half way through the current of Amazon and then scaled half of Everest, though the old system was not in operation anymore.In the new format of knockout World Championship, Anand was supposed to be the favourite as he was a master in speed play. But it was in this form that Karpov has dealt the killer-punch to the Indian. Of course, the Indian had to go through the same grind of qualifying from stage after stage in an edited time frame of two weeks, which squeezed him physically and mentally. In another three days, he was thrown to the wolf sitting in his den and hungry for his prey, with all the rest that he required for yet another world title match.Anatoly Karpov, the man who ruled the world without any challenge for ten years and then for four years in a divided world, had come through fire when he met the Indian for the first time in a World Championship contest in Brussels and stated at the end of it. "I met a new and much stronger Anand.Probably this was his best performance in the last few years." Then he went on to add, "I was surprised by the way he played. Even positionally he was not so bad. He wasn't afraid to play positional manoeuvring games with me. I thought in this I was much stronger. But this was not really the case and he has shown that he understands chess."This was six years ago when Anand was about to serve notice on the world that he was on his way to conquer it. Today, Anand, with a plus score in regular games against Karpov, should have been in a position to return the compliment by saying that he faced a completely new Karpov, who was willing to attack in much the same way the Indian would have done when he was raw. Unfortunately, it's again Karpov, who had the say and he would have been compelled to comment that he saw a much weaker Anand now.In many ways, Anand's fall in this tie-breaker series reminds one of his defeat at the hands of Gata Kamsky (United States) in a similar situation in Sanghinagar three years ago. There, too, the fans rooted for Anand. There also the rapid games were in operation in tie-breaker. And there again, he surrendered meekly losing both the games.During the fourth game of this series, it seemed as though Anand had fallen on bad ways again, like his psychological breakdowns he had suffered against Kamsky and Garry Kasparov (Russia). He got into a mess with white at a crucial juncture and then lost the game, provoking a general response that Indians have always lacked killer-instinct.Against Karpov he had broken down in the World Championship Candidates match six years ago by missing chances and was perhaps happy at the possibility of what might have been because he was a rank outsider then.Kamsky surprised Anand with his variety of openings and Kasparov almost used the intimidatory tactics in the PCA title match in New York to the point of upsetting the straight-forward Indian.At a Press conference in Lausanne after Game Four, in which the loser (Anand) was also requested to attend (which is quite against tradition and custom), a few journalists asked Karpov (winner) when he was going to play Kasparov next, as though Anand was already beaten in this series, it was refreshing to see the Indian staging a walkout in protest. Did it take its toll on his nerves?The Sixth Game proved it did not as a motivated Anand found his feet in the whirlpool of professional sport. In the world of chess, Anand was a transparent character with all his opponents knowing what to expect from him. His first move, King-pawn to the fourth rank, and some of the systems he adopts are also predictable. The surprise of all surprises was Anand's Queen-pawn move and his selection of a rare opening in Game Six which must have rattled Karpov, who as usual, played like a saint for some 20 moves and then courted disaster in the face of an irresistible attack.By winning that crucial game, Anand had virtually buried all his bad memories. However, the tie-breaker was again the hurdle that he could not cross. His consolation now may be that this championship will come every year.
