A calm and composed Viswanathan Anand did not let his first game loss affect him as he fought back and scored a wonderful victory in the second and levelled matters at the end of the opening day of the Chess Classic of Mainz against Judit Polgar of Hungary on Thursday night.
After losing the first game, he won the second and the score stood at 1-1 after the first day. There are three more days and six more games to go.
"It is always nice to come back from a loss. The reverse in the opening game was a surprise, but then she is a strong player. And I made mistakes," said Anand.
"Let's see how the match goes from here. It has had an exciting enough start."
The NIIT brand ambassador had earlier lost the first game from a Sicilian Najdorf in 49 moves.
In the second game, Anand with pieces was up against the Petroff defence.
Clearly Polgar's attempt was to protect the lead and carry into the second day as a psychological advantage. But Anand led the pressure from the start and into the middle game, his twin rooks on the same file created havoc in Polgar's ranks.
The rooks combined with the menacing queen and a highly mobile knight wrecked Polgar's defence. She tried to come out with a quick exchange of pieces, at the end of which she was an exchange down.
From there on Anand in the end game carried on the pressure and finished the game on the 40th.
Anand bows down to Judit
Earlier in the day, Polgar of Hungary drew first blood.
For Anand it turned out to be another major setback as he is used to being in Mainz. The former World champion had won his last outing here against World champion Ruslan Ponomariov of Ukraine after being one down after the first day.
The Indian ace trails Judit now but that can only make the match more interesting as Anand is expected to comeback firing on all cylinders in the second game that starts here after a short break.
Anand, who is regarded by the most as the best Rapid Chess player in the universe suffered the reverse playing black and the demoralising fact was that he was outplayed in the tactical complexities that have remained a forte of Judit for a long time now.
It was a Sicilain Nazdorf and the sharp English attack was a natural choice for the Hungarian who has earned herself a great reputation following some amazing results in the recent past.
Anand took the attack in his stride and did not look in any great dangers till such time he went for a pawn grabbing on the kingside that made his own king vulnerable.
What followed thereafter was a delight for the spectators.
Judit mingled with Anand's counter active measures, gobbled the piece sacrifice by the Indian ace, returned it just at the apt moment and won brilliantly with precise endgame technique. The game lasted 49 moves.
Being one down, Anand will have to take some quick corrective measures to stage a comeback. Grapevine has it that Anand will probably not vie for extreme complexities against Judit and instead will rely more on his natural piece play in the remaining matches.
Anand's approach in the next 7 games remains to be seen but for now the Hungarian wonder-lady has done the damage. Right now it is 1-0 favouring Woman in what is also called the battle of sexes.
The moves:
Game 1: Judit Polgar v/s Viswanathan Anand
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be3 e5 7. Nb3 Be6 8. f3 Nbd7 9. g4 Nb6 10. g5 Nh5 11. Qd2 Rc8 12. O-O-O Be7 13. Bd3 g6 14. h4 0-O 15. Kb1 f6 16. gxf6 Rxf6 17. Qf2 Nd7 18. Nd5 Bxd5 19. exd5 Rf7 20. Nd2 Ndf6 21. c4 Ng4 22. Qg1 Nxe3 23. Qxe3 Bxh4 24. Ne4 Nf4 25. Rxh4 Ng2 26. Qh6 Nxh4 27. Ng5 Nxf3 28. Nxf7 Qf6 29. Qh3 Rf8 30. Nh6+ Kh8 31. Qd7 e4 32. Be2 Qg7 33. Qxd6 Qxh6 34. Qe7 Qg7 35. Qxe4 Ne5 36. c5 a5 37. Bb5 g5 38. d6 Qg6 39. Qxg6 hxg6 40. Re1 Nf7 41. Be8 Kg7 42. Bxf7 Rxf7 43. Rd1 Rf8 44. Kc2 Rc8 45. Kd3 Kf6 46. Kc4 Ke6 47. Kb5 Kd7 48. Re1 Re8 49. Rxe8 black resigned.
Game 2: 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nf3 Nxe4 5. d4 d5 6. Bd3 Nc6 7. O-O Be7 8. Re1 Bf5 9. c4 Nb4 10. Bf1 O-O 11. a3 Nc6 12. cxd5 Qxd5 13. Nc3 Nxc3 14. bxc3 Bf6 15. Bf4 Qd7 16. Ra2 Rad8 17. Rb2 Qc8 18. h3 b6 19. Rbe2 h6 20. Re3 Na5 21. Be5 Bxe5 22. Nxe5 c5 23. d5 c4 24. Qd4 Be6 25. Ng6 Nc6 26. Qh4 Bxd5 27. Nxf8 Rxf8 28. Bxc4 Qf5 29. Re8 Bxc4 30. Qxc4 Qf6 31. Qd3 g6 32. c4 Rxe8 33. Rxe8+ Kg7 34. Qd5 h5 35. c5 bxc5 36. Qxc5 Kh6 37. h4 Nd4 38. Qe7 Qg7 39. Qf8 Ne6 40. Qxg7+ Kxg7 41. Ra8 black resigned.
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