Final
Delegations moved from the relative warmth of New Delhi to the cool climate of Teheran. We were forewarned that it would be the feast of Ramadan, when public consumption of food and drink would not be allowed between sunup and sundown. We hardly noticed since international hotels were serving meals in restaurants. Ladies, however, were required to cover their heads in public with a shawl.
The venue was the Sports Complex which looked far from public access. We were surprised however when close to a thousand spectators came. The hall was specially arranged with private restrooms for the players, complete with live TV monitors and refreshments. We came equipped with the electronic boards and DGT clocks. Organizers, however, had been ill-advised and arranged for the MARS giant demo boards, an incompatible obsolete system with simplistic graphics, no move record, no reflection of the DGT clock and no data output to the Internet. We used our board for the players since they were accustomed to this, with DGT clock, and for the Internet broadcast, while the MARS system was used for outside simulation.
Anand was born at Madras, 11 December 1969 and introduced to the game by his mother at the age of six. At 14 years, was awarded the FIDE Master title. In 1984 he won the Asian Junior Championship at Coimbatore. In 1987 he became the first Asian to win the World Junior Chess title. In 1987 he became India’s first Grandmaster (GM) in December by achieving his third and final norm at the Shakti Finance GM tournarment at Coimbatore. He was then aged 18 years. In 1988 he won his first Super tournament, the 51st Hoogoven’s Chess Tournament at Wijk Aan Zee. In 1991 he lost in the quarterfinal of the FIDE World Championships to Anatoly Karpov at Brussels but few months later won the category-18 Reggio Emilia Super GM tournament in Italy that included Garry Kasparov and Anatoly Karpov. The following year he won Linares. In 1995 he lost to Gary Kasparov in the PCA World Chess Championships in New York by 10.5 to 7.5 points In 1996 he was the joint winner with Vladimir Kramnik in the prestigious Dortmond Tournament in Germany. In 1997 He was conferred the prestigious Chess Oscar in a poll by chess journalists from 55 countries in the world. He was the first Asian and the second non-Russian (after American Bobby Fischer) to receive the award. In 1998 he lost in the final of World Chess Championships at Groningen to Russian Anatoly Karpov. In 2000 he won the World Chess Cup at Shenyang, China…
Comparisons between the two are hard to avoid. If Anand hails from the land that gave the world the game, Shirov comes from the land produced Mikhail Tal, one of Anand’s heroes and one of the most attacking players ever. If Anand has made Spain his home away from home, Shirov has also moved from his place of birth, Latvia and made Spain his home. And they are both big heroes in Spain, where chess is a hugely popular sport.
Game 1
Game 1
The first game of the Final Match for the World Chess Championship title 2000 started December 20 in Teheran with an unexpected opening choice by Anand who usually prefers to play against the French defence with white.
Anand introduced a novelty by 12…g6. Commentators GM V.Salov and GM Z.Azmaiparashvili of Georgia were unanimous in their appraisal of the high level of chess displayed by the two finalists.
Game 2
Game 2
Ruy Lopez
The game became an epic battle that lasted more than 6 hours. The first surprise was served by Shirov who decided to follow the steps of Michael Adams and defend the same modern 5…Bc5 variation of Ruy Lopez that determined the outcome of the semifinal match in New Delhi. On move 7, however, he deviated from the above mentioned game and employed a super-sharp line (7…d5) introduced to the high level competition by Alexander Onischuk, Shirov’s opponent in the second round of the World Championship. Anand reacted instantly by introducing a completely new idea: 8.a4!?; most likely yet another example of impressive home preparation from the Indian Super GM.
It was up to Shirov to try to resolve over the board the opening problems and handle the complications derived from his highly risky opening choice. He did it well, but at a heavy cost of lagging behind on the clock.
Game 3
Game 3
Sicilian Defence
Hundreds of chess fans came to the Sports Complex of Tehran to attend the third game between the two best players of the world. The visit of the Vice President of the Islamic Republic of Iran H.E. Hashemi Taba and the Foreign Minister H.E. Kamale Kharazi shows how important the World Championship is, not only for the thousands of Iranian chess lovers but also for the leaders of the country.
Anand went for a Sicilian Defence, Paulsen variation, already twice played by him against Shirov with a positive score of 1.5-0.5. With less than 1 minute on his clock, Shirov was unable to put up a proper resistance and resigned a few moves later. With 2.5-0.5 in favour of Anand many believe that the match is over, but Anand said:” I have still to score one more point”.
At the post-game press conference, Shirov said that he considered the match lost after he missed a draw in the first game. His statement reminded me of the reply of Karpov when asked what it takes to be world champion. Karpov replied “To be world champion, you have to be a superior human being.”
Game 4
Game 4
French Defense
Viswanathan Anand fulfilled a childhood ambition. He beat Alexei Shirov three times in a row to win the world title by a wide 3.5-0.5 margin here this evening. The atmosphere was electric in Teheran. He was the crowd favourite and 200-400 people gathered in a hall to watch and cheer him after Shirov resigned on the 41st move.
The game was a French defence. Ubilava said they prepared the f4 line. Shirov tried to improve on the 12th move with Qc7. Shirov’s knight sacrifice in the centre for two pawns gave an interesting position but was not enough to put up a good challenge. Thereafter, 19…Qf6 was a serious mistake and Shirov was only trying to prolong the game after move 32. Anand played at the same level he started in round two at New Delhi to remain the undefeated winner of the month-long competition.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total | |
| Anand, V | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3½ |
| Shirov, A | ½ | 0 | 0 | 0 | ½ |