CHENNAI: One-all. A punch and a counter-punch. The Viswanathan Anand vs Veselin Topalov world chess championship match in Sofia has lived up to its billing so far. If Anand lost the first game in the most unusual way in less than two hours, Topalov got squeezed in a positional masterpiece in the second game.
Before the third game on Tuesday, the question that will do the rounds in chess circles will surely be about Anand's defence with black. Will he dare Topalov with Grunfeld again? Will he shelve it for the rest of the match?
If English IM Malcolm Pein's observation about Anand's selection of opening in Game 2 is to be believed, the world champion will throw the Grunfeld again at Topalov, unless, of course, he has found chinks in it, which is quite unlikely. "As the Catalan is a Grunfeld Defence in reverse with an extra move, he (Anand) has effectively played two Gruenfeld setups in two games," noted Pein in his comments.
This could be a pointer to where the Anand openings are disposed. It is quite possible that the world champion and his team has invested a lot of time working on this opening.
The most striking aspect of Anand's recovery is that he has put to rest the general criticism that he has always buckled down under pressure. During the Kramnik match, he was asked what was the most disturbing aspect of his opponent (in general), and the world champion replied: "When my opponent turns the game around. Sometimes it is almost liberating when you finally lose. I think to myself, okay, the point is gone, tomorrow you are going to play better. You have to be careful not to panic."
He did not face such a situation in that match against Kramnik as he was always in the lead, but against Topalov, in just two games he showed that his nerves are made of steel. It is a long match, with 10 more games to go. Anand could possibly wait for a while before pressing hard and in that case he would employ the safe Queens Indian Defence or the Slav before further trying his home preparation.
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