CHENNAI: Is Viswanathan Anand too old to play chess at the highest level? Ever since Anand lost his world title to Magnus Carlsen on home turf in 2013, people in chess circles have been whispering that question in hushed voices.
If ever that question held any validity, Anand himself has answered it in rather emphatic fashion — by becoming the world rapid chess champion. At 48!
Anand came out on top as the FIDE World Rapid Chess Championship played out to a dramatic close late on Thursday night in Riyadh. After remaining unbeaten throughout the tournament, Anand went into the fifteenth and final round in joint-second place, behind classical world champion Magnus Carlsen who needed a win to secure the title.
Instead, Carlsen stumbled at the very last step, losing to Alexander Grischuk. Anand secured a draw against Xiangzhi Bu of China to finish on 10.5 points — joint top with Russians Vladimir Fedoseev and Ian Nepomniachtchi. That meant that Anand and Fedoseev played off for the title by virtue of having the top tie-break scores.
The blitz tie-break saw the very best of the five-time world champion as he closed out Fedoseev with white in the first game, before doing the same with black in the second. This is Anand’s second rapid world title, after his triumph in 2003. “It’s an unbelievable surprise!” Anand was quoted as saying after the win. “Right now it’s hard to find words!”
Earlier, Anand had grabbed the headlines by trouncing Carlsen with black pieces in Round 9 of the tournament on Wednesday. He had then drawn all his remaining games, holding Nepomniachtchi twice, Peter Svidler, Vladimir Onischuk in the next four rounds. In the penultimate and fourteenth round, Anand defeated Grischuk with white pieces.
In the meantime, Carlsen had bounced back by three straight games after his loss to Anand, including one over overnight leader Fedoseev. But just as he looked set to win it, there was a last-minute twist. And Anand was there to take advantage of it.