From HT Archives: When ‘lightning kid’ became the world chess king

New Delhi The late 1980s saw two dazzling teenagers rise in Indian sport, both going on to fulfil the dream of their billion fans at home with legions following them abroad. Sachin Tendulkar became the country’s youngest Test player at 16 in 1989 and for the next 24 years would be India’s sporting heartbeat, out in the open.

Three years older, Viswanathan Anand, with a radiant smile and making killer chess moves with rapidity to be dubbed the “Lightning Kid” had become in 1988 the first Grandmaster (GM) from a land where the game has its origins. The GM title at 19 was an early marker as he first challenged, and then conquered, the mighty in the game from the ex-Soviet bloc.

It wasn’t an easy battle as Anand remained a standout performer through the tumult of the 1990s in world chess. This December marks 23 years since he became the first chess world champion from Asia, and the first from outside the ex-Soviet bloc since American Bobby Fischer.

He was crowned the FIDE world champion in 2000, taking an unassailable 3.5-0.5 points lead over the Latvia-born Spanish GM Alexei Shirov to seal the best-of-six final match in four games. The world chess body’s decision to stage the final in the Iranian capital proved an anti-climax as every game until then in the 100-player knockout tournament was played in New Delhi.

Anand went through the championship unbeaten and had registered eight wins and 12 draws when he wrapped up the final match against Shirov on Christmas Eve, four days ahead of the anticipated close. With Garry Kasparov still the fire, India’s champion was the ice in world chess. Pretty much left by himself in his Tehran hotel as he waited to return home for a hero’s welcome, the victor calmly accepted a stream of media interview requests made through his wife Aruna, doubling up as his manager.

It was the first world chess championship held in Iran since the 1979 Islamic Revolution when the game was briefly banned by Ayatollah Khomeini and dubbed “pernicious”. Anand, living in Spain at that point, instead chose to highlight the historical link chess had with Spain, India and Iran.

Anand had already won the world rapid and World Cup in 2000, receiving the Chess Oscar as well in Delhi during the presentation ceremony for the women’s tournament that was played in the Indian capital. Tehran was as much a triumph for India, which savoured a great sports moment with the “one medal nation” taunt following the Sydney Olympics still ringing amid a cricket match-fixing scandal.

It was an authoritative performance by the 30-year-old. Only defending champion Alex Khalifman and Michael Adams -- his opponents in the quarters and semis -- did not lose to him when Anand played with white in the classical games. In the final, Anand drew the first game against Shirov with black pieces before reeling off three straight wins to settle the issue.

The fourth game came in for high praise after Shirov resigned in the 41st move, conceding the title contest. “Anand employed a radical, mysterious strategy, undertaking to defend difficult positions against one of the best attacking players of our time. Anand carried it off with a fantastic combination of guts and superb calculation,” the New York Times said in an analysis.

Anand, with white, countered the Steinitz Variation of the French Defence employed by Shirov. Avoiding a queen exchange offer, Anand took a second piece and neutralised the advanced black pawn structure, underlining his deep preparation.

He had learnt his lessons. In 1995, facing Kasparov in the rebel Professional Chess Association’s (PCA) world title match, a 20-game match played on the 107th floor of the still-standing World Trade Center in New York, the 25-year-old Anand won the ninth after eight consecutive draws, only to cave in and eventually lose 7.5-10.5. Kasparov, arguably the greatest chess player in history, left the younger Anand further demoralised by saying “the chess preparation was excellent, but there was some psychological advice not appropriate”, questioning his mental preparation.

Anand’s next attempt at a first world title in 1998, too, had left him hugely disadvantaged when Anatoly Karpov beat him in the final match to become FIDE world champion for the third time. Karpov, given a bye, waited in Lausanne while Anand was exhausted after a 100-player knockout tournament in Groningen, Netherlands to qualify followed by just three days before the title clash.

Despite Anand’s 2000 victory, there were lingering legitimacy questions as Russia’s Vladimir Kramnik had become the classical world champion (winners in a match against the holder) by beating Kasparov that year.

Anand won four successive titles to settle that argument.

In 2007, Anand won his second title in a tournament. He beat Kramnik the next year in a match to reunify the classical world title as only its 15th champion in a line that started with Wilhelm Steinitz in 1886.

The Indian chess pioneer stayed at the top for four more years -- he beat Veselin Topalov in 2010 and Boris Gelfand in 2012 -- until Norway’s Magnus Carlsen outplayed him in Chennai in 2013.