As time stood still, Viswanathan Anand rolls back years

Viswanathan Anand said that when he started his campaign at the World Rapid Chess Championship, he felt something he hadn't in a long time.

"It was as if time had stood still," Anand said. "I was back in time, just a few years ago when I was dominating rapid chess tournaments."

The 48-year-old did roll back the years with an unbeaten, dominating display of chess to clinch the world rapid title in Riyadh late on Thursday night after coming out triumphant on a tie-break.

This title assumes significance for Anand on a couple of counts. First, it reiterates the class of the Indian on the chess board, with this being his maiden rapid world title since 2003. Second, it puts to bed all the increasingly frequent questions about him carving a full stop to, what critics have now been calling, his fading professional career.

Why, as the former world champion himself put it, he entered the championship with pessimism on the back of a rather fruitless year.

"I came into this tournament after a very difficult year, especially the London (Chess Classic) tournament was a big disappointment. It is not that I had very high expectations of London, but still I hoped to do well. But to finish in last place was a heavy blow. And that didn't seem to promise great things for this tournament either.

"Plus, my last two rapid events have been nothing short of disastrous. So, I came here almost in a pessimistic frame of mind," Anand said.

But that's when time stood still.

"On the first day already, I could feel that I was playing well. I was in a good frame of mind," Anand said.

From thereon, Anand didn't look back. Over a span for 15 rounds, the Indian remained unfluttered and undefeated, registering six victories and nine draws.

The biggest of them, though, came against world No. 1 Magnus Carlsen, his recent nemesis.

That game, Anand felt, turned the tide.

"The crucial moment was the win against Magnus Carlsen. He seemed to be in great form, as always. At that moment, I must admit I felt that he was favourite for the final few rounds," Anand said.

"But we had a very intense game. Initially, we both had this same hallucination that this was a draw offer. But since I had a guaranteed draw, I decided to spend a few minutes more to check if there was something else. After two minutes, it suddenly hit me that I was winning. And when I looked at his face, I realised that it had hit him as well. As soon as I made my move, he just resigned.

"That was nice. He is the real dominant player now in rapid chess, and so to beat him was a real accomplishment. Of course, given our history, given the fact that we've played some intense matches, there was that extra bit of feeling," he added.

However, despite performing exceedingly well, he couldn't pop the champagne bottle just yet.

On Thursday, Anand had to settle for a draw in the first three rounds as well as the last round against Bu Xiangzhi of China. It meant that if Carlsen won his final game against Alexander Grischuk, the title would go to the Norwegian.

However, this was Anand's tournament, and Carlsen lost.

Thus, the Indian was involved in a three-way tie-break with Russians Vladimir Fedoseev and Ian Nepomniachtchi, all three of them stuck at 10.5 points each out of the possible 15.

"Even while feeling euphoric, I had to keep containing my happiness, because there was still work to be done," Anand said. "But once the tie-break started, I got a big advantage in the tie-break game. And then I started to feel the wind was behind me."

Anand beat Fedoseev 2-0 in the two-game tie-break to ensure that his awe-inspiring show reaches its logical conclusion.

"It has just been the most wonderful surprise. It is just so unexpected, after all the disappointments in rapid chess. I wasn't even planning to come to this tournament, because it was announced very late.

"So, there's just all these unexpected feelings. But I think the most amazing feeling of all is to have the title of world champion again. I am so happy that I cannot describe it in words," Anand said.

SLOW IN BLITZ

Viswanathan Anand won two and drew four in the first six rounds to make a slow start to the world blitz chess championship in Riyadh on Friday. A draw with Jhao Jun of China in the opening round and then win over Vladislav Kovalev of Belarus in the second round. With four points out of a possible six, Anand is a point behind eight leaders on five points apiece and currently shares the 18th spot.

HOW OTHER INDIANS FARED

As for the other Indians in the competition, P Harikrishna finished 16th, Surya Shekhar Ganguly 60th, Vidit Gujarathi 61st, B Adhiban 65th and SP Sethuraman 96th. Among the women, Dronavalli Harika ended 19th, Padmini Rout 22nd, S Vijayalakshmi 34th and Eesha Karavde 35th

KASPAROV PRAISE

Garry Kasparov heaped praise on Anand, saying the title is a perfect answer for everyone who wanted him to end his career. “Congratulations to the man from the sixties, @vishy64theking, on his World Rapid title! I hope you dedicated this latest victory to everyone who has asked you when you were going to retire!” Kasparov tweeted.

THE STANDINGS

1-3: Viswanathan Anand (IND), Vladimir Fedoseev (RUS) and Ian Nepomniachtchi (RUS) 10.5; 4-9: Bu Xiangzhi (CHN), Magnus Carlsen (NOR), Alexander Grischuk (RUS), Boris Savchenko (RUS), Rauf Mamedov (AZE) and Gadir Guseinov (AZE) 10

Tie-break: Viswanathan Anand beat Vladimir Fedoseev 2-0