Chess: Master Viswanathan Anand loses to mentee Praggnanandhaa

Bengaluru: Round 6, Tata Steel Chess India blitz, 2018. A 13-year-old Praggnanandhaa sat across five-time world champion 48-year-old Viswanathan Anand. It was the first time they met over the board in a tournament and this battle of generations is easily one of the most-watched chess clips on YouTube.
At 12 years, 10 months and 13 days, Praggnanandhaa had become the second-youngest GM that year after Sergey Karjakin. By the time the Tata Steel tournament took place in Kolkata, Praggnanandhaa had slipped to third-youngest. Uzbekistan’s Javokhir Sindarov snuck into second spot. Interestingly, Praggnanandhaa’s first win in Kolkata came against Karjakin.
Back then, even though just 13, Praggnanandhaa put up a gutsy play with White. Anand managed to douse any threat and went on to defeat Hikaru Nakamura in the playoff to win the Tata Steel blitz title. This was less than a year after Anand had won the world rapid title. Anand was an active player then and India had around 54 GMs. Today, Anand is semi-retired, mentors the likes of Praggnananadhaa and Gukesh and India’s count of GMs today stands at 85.
On Tuesday for the first time since 2018, Praggnanandhaa and Anand played over the board at the WR Masters quarter-finals in London. It was also their first classical face-off. Both classical games between them ended in draws. Anand had his chances with Black in the first but the 19-year-old managed to fend off the threat. In the second, it was Anand who put up a defence and it all came down to the Armageddon.
Praggnanandhaa had 10 minutes and a must-win situation. Anand had the Black pieces, little over 6 minutes on the clock and needed only a draw to reach the semi-final. Praggnanandhaa played the Scotch opening, which draws its name from a correspondence game played between Edinburgh and London in 1824. This opening (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6) isn’t exactly the most popular and Praggnanandhaa’s idea was to pose problems right away for Anand who had less time on his clock to begin with. It was also 12 hours after they had started out their first classical game.
Praggnanandhaa quickly managed to get into a position of dominance with his rook nicely placed on the open b-file and a dream diagonal at his disposal for his dark-squared bishop with the possibility of making things hellish for White’s King. Anand had little counterplay on his hands and Praggnanandhaa threatened a check with 22. Qc3. His rook on the h-file had gobbled up black’s pawn, a possible Rh7 check loomed and Black was out of ideas and resources to defend.
In six years, Indian chess has seen a sea change. There are two Indians – Arjun Erigaisi and Gukesh in the top five today. Anand, now a deputy president at Fide, plays only a couple of tournaments in a year but is still ranked world No. 11 (2751). Praggnanandhaa is No. 12 (2746). Last month, India swept the open and women’s Olympiad gold in historic fashion and in November for the first time an Indian not named Anand will play the World Championship.
After a long day and 26 moves in the Armageddon, Anand extended his hand to Praggnanandhaa in resignation and smiled. The solo revolution he kickstarted four decades ago has now grown into a strong, fearless army, taking on the world. His defeat as a player to one of them is a victory of his legacy.