World Chess Championship between Anand-Topalov has had every chess enthusiast spellbound. Challenger Topalov has given the current World Champion: Vishwanathan Anand, the closest possible fight for the title. As both men are tied on 5.5 points each, the last match can turn out to be the decider. And in a more thrilling turn of events, it may still not be able to separate the two.
If the scheduled 12th game is also unable to produce a result like the last three games, FIDE will conduct games of rapid chess on May 13th to decide the Championship. Each player will have a total of 25 minutes to make their moves.
Toplalov will play this game with a slight advantage of white pieces but the probability of his being able to break experienced Anand’s tight and dynamic defense is very low. On the other hand, Anand’s skill in pressure situations will be on exhibition. If the decider goes Anand’s way he will be the one of the few Champions who defended their title not once but twice. Anand became World Chess Champion in 2007 in a double round robin championship format. He was then challenged by Kramnik in the next year’s championship in 2009.
Black or white?
This world Chess Championship game was conducted under FIDE and saw the comeback of the classical one on one format. The challenger earns the right to play the current holder in a series of games. Kramnik however, was comprehensively beaten in only 11 games. Anand beat Kramnik two times with black pieces in this tournament.
In the current Championship Game, Anand has had greater troubles. Topalov, who is younger to Anand by five years has matched him move by move. Critics saw the game moving towards another easy win for Anand when he had sustained a lead of one point by game 7. However, Topalov made a stunning comeback in the next few games by equalizing and pushing Anand on the backfoot time and again.
Now, all rests on what will happen in game 12. If the match is tied, we will see a sizzling tie-break on May 13.
