While everyone has been on cloud nine following India's destruction of Australia in the Mohali Test, another great chapter in the history of Indian Sports is unfolding elsewhere.
Viswanathan Anand has taken a commanding 4.5-1.5 lead in the World Chess Championship match with Vladimir Kramnik and needs just 2 points from 6 games to retain his crown.
Many dont understand the real significance of this. For a long long time, Chess has been totally dominated by the Russians, who controlled World Federation and ensured by hook or crook that a Russian always remains the World Champion. Whenever a worthy challenger is seen in the horizon, the Russian Chess mafia closes the ranks and virtually makes it impossible for the non Russian to succeed. This ultimately led to a split in the Chess Fraternity that saw the ludicrous situation of two sets of World Champions for a while. The unification ultimately came and Anand became the World Champion by virtue of winning the tournament designated for the purpose.
Kramnik, in pique of having lost his Crown, made snide remarks that Anand won the crown based on a tournament and not by beating him in a matchplay situation, as was the practice. This was unfair on Anand, as he can only become Champion based on the Federations diktat.
The Federation also played dirty by allowing Kramnik one more shot at the title in a match play situation when he lost the crown to Anand earlier. All in all, everything was stacked against Anand. He has to manage the dirty politics as well as play his best chess to beat a worthy opponent. Also, his form going into the tournament was not all that great. He had his worst performance in a tournament of late, which resulted in his ranking slipping from 1 to 5.
Also, the competition at the top level in the Chess world is so intense, that there is nothing to differentiate between the top 5-8. Anand has to be at his best over the 12 games to retain his World Crown.
Anand has won 3 out of the 6 games at the half way mark, and has drawn the other 3. Of the 3 wins, 2 are with Black. This is a phenomenal achievement, as winning even one game with Black at the World Championship is a rarity. Winning two consecutively is unheard of.
I have always held Vishy Anand to be the greatest sportsperson India has produced, barring none. And this reinforces my view point
