Bengaluru: It is a late Monday afternoon, but inside the 400-odd seater spectators’ arena at the Lalit Ashok, there is barely any semblance of a working weekday. Nor is there room for breath. The spectators, headphones on, follow the live commentary at the Tech Mahindra Global Chess League venue, as the moves appear on the board. There is the familiar hush of a chess crowd—hundreds of people watching players move pieces in near silence.
Viswanathan Anand, 56, currently acting Fide president, is no longer a regular sighting on the tournament circuit. Carlsen, 35, has since stepped away from the World Championship cycle and trimmed his calendar. He still remains world No.1. By move 30, Carlsen seemed to be taking over. Carlsen’s win wasn’t enough as his side Alpine APL pipers lost to PBG Alaskan Knights 9-7. The queens were traded inside the first 20 moves, and Magnus tried to do Magnus things in the endgame, cranking up the pressure. But he made a mistake with 47…Bb5, and it became a race against the clock. The game eventually ended in a draw, handing Fyers American Gambits a 3-15 loss, the biggest margin of defeat so far this season.
Anand managed to defend well and the game seemed headed towards a draw before his clock ran out and he lost on time.
“Just a few moves ago, I had a few seconds more than him, so somehow my brain stopped looking at the clock,” Anand said after. Then I randomly glanced at his clock,” Carlsen said. At the centre of it all, under the blinding white lights, sit two old rivals. Thirteen years ago, they met in a World Championship match for the first time. Much has changed since. The d-file resembled the notorious Hebbal traffic pile-up with Black’s bishop pair ready to turn the screws. “I felt like I was outplaying him in the middlegame and later on I was a bit shaky with little time. For a while he was defending really well, and I resigned myself to a draw. The crowd was an assortment of those who’d called in sick from work and school. Among them was eight-year-old Anish Pujar, who had flown in from Munich with his parents to watch the Global Chess League.
Playing White, Anand went for a somewhat rare Sicilian, which Carlsen employed earlier at the World Rapid and Blitz Championship.
