From relegation to chess dustbin, the Robber of Last-Round Suspense emerges as phoenix

The Pioneer writes:

Those who had written off Viswanathan Anand after he lost the World Chess Championship title in November last year had clearly underestimated the Indian grandmaster.

Mr Anand has bounced back in the reckoning by comprehensively winning the Candidates tournament and qualifying to re-challenge world champion Magnus Carlsen later this year.

He did not lose a single game in the tournament that was studded with the world's best players. In fact, he clinched the title (and the right to meet Mr Carlsen) in the penultimate round itself, leading the legendary Garry Kasparov to remark that Mr Anand had robbed the tournament of its last-round suspense!

Interestingly, this grudging compliment comes from the very person who had pooh-poohed the Indian grandmaster's ability to break new ground and virtually suggested that Mr Anand hang his boots. Perhaps a lot of other experts may have shared that opinion. After all, Mr Anand had been completely outplayed in the world championship, held, incidentally, in his home town of Chennai.

There had been none of the spark and the aggression that has characterised his game and catapulted him among the all-time greats. The unflappable Indian had been clearly rattled by the decimation, and when he said that he would need to take stock of what went wrong, many had believed it was a routine response.

There had also been speculation that he would skip the 2014 Candidates tournament itself. In retrospect, Mr Anand did well not to allow the deep sense of disappointment to come in his way.

If reports are to be believed, Russian grandmaster Vladimir Kramnik encouraged him to participate and win back his confidence.  Obviously, Mr Kramnik, who was the Classical World Chess champion from 2000 to 2006, and the World Chess champion in 2006-2007, had more faith in Mr Anand's abilities than some others.

The way Mr Anand played the just concluded Candidates tournament in the Russian town of Khanty Mansiysk, was amazing. As he admitted later, he was “surprised how well everything worked out for me”. Compliments are flowing thick and fast for the Indian grandmaster, and it is difficult to believe that just months ago he had been relegated to the dustbin of chess history. The FIDE president remarked that Mr Anand is “one of the strongest and greatest players of modern times”.

Various experts have been saying that the Indian grandmaster must return to the style of play which helped him break the glass ceiling. The rapidity of moves and his strength in the middle games were sadly not much on display in the 2013 world championship. He dawdled during the opening moves and seemed unsure most of the time. Since Mr Carlsen is not a pushover even when he is confronted with a formidable game, the weakness that the Indian demonstrated during the world championship allowed his challenger to walk all over him.

In the euphoria of the moment, let's not forget that Mr Anand has won only half the battle. His face-off with Mr Carlsen, likely in November this year, will not be the near-cakewalk that he has had in the Candidates tournament. At the same time, since Mr Anand will not want to repeat the 2013 ignominy, we can expect some scintillating performances.