Tie-break, heart-break for Anand

The Reti Opening, which defied finer classification, Anand was sitting pretty as he had 23 minutes left after the 16th move to Karpov’s 12 and then after 24 moves 18 against six.

Karpov broke through the Queen-bishop file with his rooks and tok control of the seventh rank by move 38. Anand had a passed pawn in the Queen-rook file while Karpovhad potential passers on the other side.

In a tactical skirmish, Karpov exchanged the Queen and won a pawn on move 45. Three moves later, he won another pawn. Realising that he could afford to sacrifice his bishop now, Karpov grabbed Anand’s passed pawn by move 52.

In a rook versus rookand knight ending, Karpov promoted his King-rook pawn on move 59 and won the game soon.

In an irregular Queen-pawn opening in the second game, Anand attacked from the start and tried to break through the Queenside on move 12. He brought his rooks out but the wily Karpov defended accurately.

In a desperate move, Anand sacrificed his knight on move 23 to get some attack on the Kingside. Karpov brought his rook and Queen to the Kingside and squeezed white’s position.

This World Championships title-match against Karpov is going to be hard to forget for Anand. Memories of this match are likely to be even more difficult than the one he lost against Garry Kasparov in New York more than two years ago. After wading through a host of players, each hoping to scalp him, he kept his reputation and ranking intact by making the final. Karpov was seen as a player on the wane, but Anand was tired after three weeks of non-stop chess.

Twice in the six-game final here, Anand (18 years younger than his Russian opponent) fell behind. But both times he found the way out. He won the second game to avenge his first game defeat and then scored a stunning win in the sixth to get back the point the he ceded in the fourth game.

But after losing the first game of the tie-breaker, which he looked like winning at one time — what with Karpov in severe time trouble and also positionally weak — Anand just crumbled in the second with white pieces and there ended his second attempt at a world title. It was the PCA final he lost in 95 and now it was under FIDE umbrella.

Maybe the next championships when all players start on an even keel and begin from the same round, Anand will have a better chance. But for now Karpov, fresher, and playing far more aggressively than he ever did in his life, proved better. And so the FIDE world title stays with Karpov.

Anand’s hopes of becoming the first non-Russian world champion since 1972 thus stay unfulfilled.

Moves

Karpov-Anand (Game-1 tie-breaker)

1. Nf3 d5 2. g3 Nf6 3. Bg2 c6 4. O-O Bg4 5. d3 Nbd7 6. Nbd2 e6 7. e4 Be7 8. Qe2 O-O 9. h3 Bh5 10. Re1 dxe4 11. dxe4 e5 12. b3 Qc7 13. Bb2 Rfe8 14. Qf1 Rad8 15. a3 b5 16. Bc3 Bf8 17. Nh4 Nc5 18. Bf3 Bg6 19. Nxg6 hxg6 20. Bg2 a6 21. Qe2 Ne6 22. Nf3 Nd7 23. a4 b4 24. Bb2 a5 25. c3 bxc3 26. Bxc3 Rb8 27. Rab1 Bb4 28. Rec1 Bxc3 29. Rxc3 c5 30. Qe3 Qd6 31. h4 Nd4 32. Bh3 Nb6 33. Rbc1 c4 34. bxc4 Nxa4 35. c5 Qe7 36. Ra3 Nxc5 37. Rac3 Ncb3 38. Rc7 Qf6 39. R1c3 Nxf3 40. Qxf3 a4 41. Qxf6 gxf6 42. Bd7 Nd4 43. Bxe8 Ne2 44. Kg2 Nxc3 45. Bxf7 Kf8 46. Bxg6 Nb5 47. Rf7 Kg8 48. Rxf6 Ra8 49. h5 a3 50. h6 a2 51. Bf7 Kh7 52. Bxa2 Rxa2 53. g4 Nc3 54. g5 Nxe4 55. Rf7 Kg6 56. Rg7 Kf5 57. h7 Rxf2 58. Kg1 Kg4 59. h8=Q Kg3 60. Re7 Rg2 61. Kf1 Nd2 62. Ke1 1-0

Anand-Karpov(Game 2 tie-breaker)

1. d4 d5 2. Bg5 h6 3. Bh4 c6 4. Nf3 Qb6 5. b3 Bf5 6. e3 Nd7 7. Bd3 Bxd3 8. Qxd3 e6 9. c4 Ne7 10. c5 Qa5 11. Nc3 b6 12. b4 Qxb4 13. O-O Nf5 14. Rfc1 bxc5 15. Rab1 c4 16. Qc2 Qa5 17. Rb7 Qa6 18. Rcb1 Bd6 19. e4 Nxh4 20. Nxh4 Rb8 21. Rxb8 Bxb8 22. exd5 cxd5 23. Ng6 fxg6 24. Qxg6 Kd8 25. Qxg7 Re8 26. Qxh6 Qa5 27. Qg5 Kc8 28. Qg6 Rf8 29. Rc1 Qb6 30. Ne2 e5 31. Qh5 Qf6 32. Rf1 Rh8 0-1