Imagine the scenario that was prevalent around the mid 20th century: A mighty soviet empire churning one chess champion after another. The players from the Soviet Union were so good that no one else stood a chance against them. There was magician from Riga called Mikhail Tal, the Patriarch who brought methodology in chess called Botvinnik, the man who produced symphony on the chess board: Smyslov, the most amazing positional player ever: Petrosian and the most universal player of all times:Spassky. One world Champion after another. But then came a man who single handedly broke the Soviet Unions dominance in chess. The great Bobby Fischer! He beat Spassky in the most famous world championship match of 1972. The world received a world champion outside the Soviet Union after a long time! Bobby single handedly took on the best minds in the world. But soon after becoming the world champion, he disappeared. Once again the Russian dominance started to engulf the chess world. The boa constrictor Karpov took over and was followed by most brilliant attacking player ever: Garry Kasparov. Kramnik who became the world champion in 2000 by beating Kasparov was also from Russia! The world waited to see a champion like Bobby Fischer rising up once again. But how was it possible? The Russians had a rich tradition of chess. The game was played in every nook and corner of the country and every childs grandfather would be a very strong chess player! Almost every child was taught the game of chess within a few years of being born and then the most talented would be trained by the best coaches in the world. If anyone wanted to challenge the Russians, he had to be one of the greatest minds. The world of chess needed a personality who would be so brilliant and talented that he could take on the best players of the world without any backing or facilities. And sure enough the messiah was born on the 11th of December 1969, in the town of Mayiladuthurai in Tamil Nadu. No marks for guessing who he was! The great Viswanathan Anand! He played the game like no one else! He was so quick that he would win games with almost the entire time left on his clock as his opponents twice or thrice his age were left sweating! This gifted player broke the Russian dominance in the sport! He became the world champion for a mind numbing five times! Beating Shirov in 2000, winning the Mexico tournament in 2007, Kramnik in 2008, Topalov in 2010 and Gelfand in 2012! And guess what even at the age of 45 years he is going strong. He not only gave a tough fight to Magnus who is half his age but also rattled out 40 moves of theory yesterday (10th dec) in his game with Vladimir Kramnik which he had prepared 6 years ago! Vishy Anand, you are an epitome of sheer genius, phenomenal memory, super brain power and a devout hard worker! You are a champion that everyone loves! In spite of achieving so much, he still remains humble and down to earth! Let me take this opportunity to wish one of the greatest sports player of our Nation, Vishy Anand, a very happy birthday! My friend, Priyadarshan Banjan, has written an article on this great champion which you can read on this link: en.chessbase/post/vishy-anand-a-passionate-portrait. I watched Priyadarshan closely as he wrote the above article and I must say that he has done massive research and hard work in writing it! There are a lot of things about Anand that you will come to know after reading it!
Posted on: Thu, 11 Dec 2014 16:58:11 +0000
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