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Five years later he did, indeed, go on to win the FIDE version of the championship, overcoming Shirov in the final. Yet in the same year Kramnik overthrew Kasparov in London, and the public at large preferred to regard Kasparov’s vanquisher as the legitimate successor to the throne of Steinitz, Lasker, Capablanca and Alekhine. However, in India
it was a different matter. Anand was lionized and awarded the title of
“Sportsman of the year” by an adoring populace. How much sweeter, though, to win the undisputed world championship, as Vishy has now done in Mexico! Although the tournament format is an unorthodox one for world title bouts, it was felt necessary to satisfy the competing claims of those who had been frozen out during the 13 year period of schism at the top between FIDE and Kasparov, then Kramnik. Next year, though, according to FIDE’s own rules, Anand must defend his newly won honours against second placed Kramnik within the traditional match framework. Thereafter the world championship will return to the hallowed match system.
That this is
necessary may be deduced from the fact that amongst the first five players
there were but two decisive games. This event was essentially decided
by how ruthless one could be against the lower half. Yet, as Aristotle
pointed out over 2000 years ago, the public attends the performance of
tragic theatre to see the downfall of heroes, not of the crowd. For
this reason, the return to the match system -the battle of wits between the
top two-is mandatory and it is to be assumed that Indian sponsors will fall
all over themselves to host this climacteric. That apart, Anand dominated this championship and was rarely ever in danger. Indeed, he was the sole player to emerge undefeated. In comparison, all the rest seemed out of form, so great was the margin of his superiority. It is also worth noting that Anand was one of the older players in the lists. He is approaching his 38th birthday in December of 2007 and one has to go back to the Botvinnik of 1961 (when he was fifty) to find an older winner of the world chess title. Surely this demonstrates that modern myths concerning deterioration of the brain with age have been exposed as just that - myths! Anand’s style is aggressive and even with Black he sought to inject tension into the game by frequently adopting a hyper-sharp variation of the Semi-Slav. This enterprise brought him a valuable win with black, against Aronian, which may have been decisive in securing the title. When Kramnik, on the other hand, pulled out all the stops in his black game against Morozevich, he woefully underestimated the dangers of provocative play and went down to defeat in flames. This proved the conclusive difference and led to Vishy’s final victory by the margin of a clear point.
Strangely Anand
had been offered the opportunity to challenge Kasparov again earlier in 2000
but
inexplicably he turned the offer down. Although Anand can be justly
proud of his hard-earned victory in the FIDE event, this did not yet place
him in the line of true Apostolic Succession, which extends from Steinitz,
or as have argued elsewhere, Labourdonnais, Staunton, Anderssen and Morphy,
to the present day with Kasparov and Kramnik. This lacuna evidently
spurred Anand on from being simply one of the leading Grandmasters in the
world today and an ever-present danger to any opponent, to acquisition of
the highest honour the chess world has to bestow.
Viswanathan Anand - Alexander Morozevich2007 World Championship, Mexico City, Mexico
Vishy's Victory
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At last, the Crown
Prince has become king. Vishy Anand has been so close to the supreme
title for years, yet like Rubinstein, Tarrasch, Nimzowitsch, Bronstein,
Korchnoi and Keres before him, some obstacle always seemed to block his
path. Twelve years ago, Vishy unsuccessfully fought Kasparov for the
championship in the no longer extant twin towers of New York.
There is no doubt
that Anand is a worthy and most popular successor to the greats of the past.
He legitimately joins Smyslov, Tal, Euwe, Fischer etc, amongst the pantheon
of champions and it is a further happy coincidence that the most highly
ranked and rated player in the world is now also the world chess champion.
This has not been the case since Kasparov lost to Kramnik in 2000.
Anand has already been declared Indian sportsman of the year for the second
time - in 2007 - and it remains to be seen whether this fresh and convincing
victory will earn him yet a third national accolade in 2008.
In 1995, Anand
qualified to challenge Kasparov in a world title bout in the now destroyed
world trade
towers in Manhattan. After a fine start, Anand lost heart and was
demolished in the latter half of the match. Thereafter Anand switched
his ambitions towards winning the less onerous FIDE Championship. In
1997,
he reached the final but lost to Karpov. In 2000 he again reached the
final. This time he was successful,
