Knock-out punch for Anand

For the first time in two decades, Anand won’t qualify for the Candidates. He is not playing in the Grand Prix and he won’t make the cut on the strength of his rating either. The only hope for him was the World Cup. There is still an outside chance that he might get the FIDE President’s nomination for the Candidates, but that depends on the political equation between the Indian federation and the world body. 

Last year, he lost two games with black pieces which proved costly in the Candidates tournament. For the first time, in eight years, he did not play in a title match.

The Chennai-based Grandmaster was not all that comfortable in the knock-out format over the years for obvious reasons. Having played the long and Classical format of matches over 10 or 12 games, it is difficult for a top player to adjust to the rigours of the two-game format where one mistake could lead to a knock-out. 

After winning a comparatively short World Championship final in Tehran over six games (he needed only four to finish off the match), Anand struggled in the knock-out format the next time the World Championship was held. In the game against Kovalyov, it was just one move that cost him Game 1. 

“It was totally uncalled for in a knockout format. Sometimes your head isn’t just screwed to the right place,” commented Anand after the match. In the second game Kovalyov proceeded in a very solid way and was able to draw without too many difficulties.

But once he won the round-robin tournament format World title in 2007 in Mexico, Anand was a complete Classical player.  And he soon turned out to be a great match player in the next six years overcoming Vladimir Kramnik of and Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria and Boris Gelfand of Israel in the subsequent matches until he met Magnus Carlsen in Chennai in 2013. This was Anand’s first Chess World Cup in 15 years. He had won the 2000 and 2002 editions held in Shenyang and Hyderabad respectively. 

This was the first time he had to depend on the World Cup to qualify for the Candidates cycle, which precedes the World Championship match. But then age is also not on his side and at 48, the Indian legend has probably reached the fag end of his career. 

However, Anand is a fighter. He has staged many comebacks in his career. It remains to be seen how he is able to handle the challenge posed by the young generation before thinking of unseating  Magnus Carlsen.