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Viswanathan Anand played his career best match so far to eliminate Gata Kamsky of the United States 6.5-4.5 in a well contested match to become the challenger in the Professional World Chess cycle. He stamped high class play, pounding his rival with the white pieces repeatedly which virtually decided the match on March 22 at Las Palmas, Spain.
Kamsky's preparation with the black pieces prooved insufficient and awry. Unable to hold ground, he mixed his repertoire bag shuffling the deck frequently and had not solved this major problem even when the match ended prematurely one game short of the scheduled twelve. Having played the first game with black, Kamsky had to spend most of his time analysing the black side that his whites never really took off.
The result is a sweet revenge for Anand, who lost to the same rival in the tie-break of the FIDE cycle eight months ago. Anand's overall score against Kamsky moved to 18.5-13.5, including the Sanghi Nagar rapid games. When Anand beat Kamsky here for the first time in the third game, he was winning a game against Kamsky after nearly ten games. It was good for Anand that he did not lose a single game except the inaugural one on the clock. He was exhibiting such a high class that, this did not happen.
The players shared the $100,000 prize fund offered by Intel. Kamsky's claim that the original prize amount was $200,000 when the cycle started might be right but the accusing fingers against the PCA and Intel do not have the important documentary evidence. The organisation was done by the Tourism department of the Gran Canarias who were co-sponsors and the facilities offered to the players were standard. Anand stayed at Hotel Santa Bragida which is near Las Palmas and an uphill half an hour's drive from the venue.
The progress of the match was one jerky road with Anand losing on the clock, falling short not by one, but eight moves! Yusupov wishes to call the result of this game as 'an accident'. Anand later said he did not realise that he was that close and imagined that he was playing a game in the 'analysis mode'. This game has been ranked the best by both his seconds and in the position where Anand lost on time, he was close to winning.
After a draw with black pieces in the second game, improving on his own defeat to Lautier at last year's Linares tournament Anand went out of his starting block and never looked back. In the third game he played the opening well, won a pawn in the early middlegame to score a fine victory to level the match. This is the turnaround of the series.
In the next few games, the spell was draw, but Kamsky struggled in most games and even his whites were no different. Anand's open variation of the Ruy Lopez with black proved more tahn a defensive wall for Kamsky to attempt something. He also struggled two games with white before escaping with draws.
Kamsky held very slight advantages as white in the eighth game. His opening advantage evapourated in thin air in all the other games where he had the advantage to move first. Kamsky lost the crucial ninth game with Anand at his peak form activating his pieces and making them coordinate well. In a queen, rook and minor piece ending, Anand won important pawns and when Kamsky counterattacked trying to promote his pawn on the queen knight file, Anand struck a deadly lightening king side attack to finish the game and take the vital lead at 5-4.
After a mild see-saw draw in the tenth, Kamsky was already sensing a defeated feeling. His tactc to jump from one opening to the other became a fashion, thought it was in the Zaitsev compound of the Spanish opening. A wrong to the Sicilian in the eleventh game made him get struck on the wrong foot and he lost pathetically like a club player. Anand drove the last nails into the Kamsky coffin in this game by winning the match 6.5-4.5. But then Anand was anyway playing very well, flowing middlegame, watchful tactics to strike that Kamsky found too much to take on.
Assessing the match as a whole, Anand has improved his play considerably, worked a lot on openings, and his rest provided fresh ideas to be released at the board. On the contrary, Kamsky who releases frustrated feelings, was exposed in the openings, was not as sharp as Anand in the middlegame and endings. Only his fighting spirit, helped by little luck made him earn a few points and look a respectable loser. Anand could have won by a greater margin as the final score discounts some of his good play.
Tactically Anand was like that hungry lion and pounced on all chances unwilling to miss opportunities. Kamsky was a little slow in thinking as well as not so good in soaking himself into the positions. Using plenty of time on the clock is seen as a sign of maturity for 25-year old Anand who made wonderful judgements in the given time.
Overall, it was an improved Anand at the board and he was several rungs higher than his rival who was also tired a bit in the end. Anand's team was dedicated and highly motivated. "I was very nervous myself about the games and I have not been this nervous even when I used to play", agreed GM Artur Yusupov to me sportively. This statement of Yusupov shows how seriously he had taken the job of being a second. His other second GM Ubilava said Anand had a strong personality and many qualities of a world champion. Ubilava liked games one and eleven while Yusupov liked games one and nine.
Kamsky was outplayed in the openings in every game where he was black. In game five for example, sensing a novelty, Anand took time followed by a short draw. "This is a very good on-board tactic by Anand", said his second GM Yusupov who added that the match was long enough and there was no urgency to win the fifth game.
Kamsky, the usually isolated chess player has received help from many quarters, some of them are still unconfirmed. He never brought any of the seconds to the venue except GM Ivanov who Yusupov says is a specialist in the Zaitsev variation. Gata Kamsky and papa Kamsky visited the venue and others stayed back at Hotel Santa Catalina, the best hotel in Las Palmas. While GM Dzindzichashvili was known to be there sure, he had some visitor seconds like Lev Alburt, Veselin Topalov. If rumours are to be believed, then there were two Russians sent by Karpov to assist Kamsky but he pulled them back after Kamsky lost the ninth game. Karpov, whom Kamsky will be challenging for the FIDE world title might have sent, but Kamsky for his own good sake should have turned them down in his own interest rather than on trying to build on the PCA versus FIDE war. And this cold war only persists between the two champions and not the organisations any more.
If this is true, then, Karpov will get an idea of the preparations and novelties stocked up in his enemy camp for his own good. Rustom Kamsky is quite capable of taking rational decisions for his son as an overprotecting measure. His abuses on Gata when he was losing was heard by many close to the stage while the final game was in progress. How long can Gata pull on with his father? Already American sources which are always against them say that Gata's halfsister left the house with a black belt karate boy friend unable to put up with her demanding father.
Unable to make any dent in the match, the American tried a different strategy which boomeranged. He wore a T-shirt, clearly violating rule No.1 of the PCA Code of Behaviour. This rule goes : "At Public appearances, correct dress must be worn at all times : jacket, shirt and tie; no jeans, T-shirt or sneakers. The PCA Dress and Conduct Code applies to both players and their delegations." This act of Kamsky was ignored by all concerned, including the arbiters who had to implement these rules. In the following games, Anand responded by coming without his tie.
Las Palmas, in the Canari islands of the Atlantic belongs to Spain though it is much closer to Morocco, in Africa. It is a wonderful city for chess with the climate ranging between 15-22 degrees centigrade.
Carlos Falcon of Barcelona was the chief arbiter and he was asisted by A.Filipowicz of Poland. Falcon's disco adventure on the eve of the eleventh game ended him in hospital with bruises knife cuts all over the body. A taxi driver mugged him while returning to his five star hotel at 4 a.m.
Chess was not much interesting for the island's 4,000 Indians who constitute close to one percent of the population in Las Palmas. None of them showed up to watch the games at the venue though some tried to call Anand during the match at his hotel and were promptly discouraged by his mother Mrs. Sushila Viswanathan and Mrs. Nieves Perea, who did a good policing job.
The media centre with each journalist having a separate telephone line was excellent and much better than the ones offered in the other candidates matches.
Anand will face Kasparov in a 20-game match for the professional world title and the winner will be the world champion. Anand has a 2-5 decisive score record in regular games, but many of these games were with the black pieces whereas in the match they will be alternating colours. While Anand is still climbing, Kasparov is slowly slipping from his level and when they meet, the match will be highly exciting.
Extracted from May 1995 Chess Mate