Anand’s hometown of Chennai, India, was in a celebratory mood. The people of Chennai were observing the festivities of Holi with passion. They were also ecstatic. Anand had checkmated a favourite of the Candidates tournament, which was being held to identify a challenger for the current world chess champion. The people of Chennai understood that it was much too early to pinpoint a winner for the Candidates, but learning of their hero Anand’s victory was enough. The dethroned world champion was back!
Since the teaching of chess in schools has been made compulsory in the state of Tamil Nadu of which Chennai is the capital, 
all ages may have been involved not just in the celebration of Holi, but also Anand’s victory over Lev Aronian, ranked second in the world.
Making a mockery of all pre-event speculation, Vishy Anand, the oldest of the eight Candidates at 44, all of whom are battling to become the challenger to World Champion Magnus Carlsen later this year, outfoxed Aronian following the opening phase of the Ruy Lopez. Aronian erred while facing acute pressure to complete the designated 40 moves in the stipulated two hours of clock time.
He gave up on his 47th turn early in the fifth hour, when he saw no way of rescuing his trapped knight. This was Anand’s third career victory over Aronian, and the first with the white pieces. Anand’s last victory over the world number two came in the elite Tata Steel tournament at Wijk aan Zee in January last year. Since the players were separated by 60 rating points, the victory for Anand was worth 5.8 points and took his live rating to 2775. As a result, Anand temporarily moved up a rung, to the seventh spot in the world rankings.
A meticulously-executed victory over Veselin Topalov by Anand during the ninth round of the fourteen-round tournament, came on a day when Aronian and Kramnik, the second seed, lost to lesser players. Seldom has an elite chess tournament seen the top three seeds lose in a single round. The unusual sequence of events catapulted Anand into a comfortable one point lead, which, though not unassailable, would certainly boost the Indian grandmaster’s confidence. Earlier, in round four, Anand had outmanoeuvred Mamedyarov to secure the full point. Tolalov played the Sicilian Najdorf and with a steady exchange of minor pieces, a draw seemed in the making until Topalov decided to push a kingside pawn and gave Anand an opportunity to seize control of the position. Anand gained a crucial pawn and his active queen effectively ended the Bulgarian’s resistance in 52 moves.
News of the eleventh round has emerged, and Anand retains the lead with a one point advantage. His closest rival, Aronian, can still catch him as there are three additional rounds to be played. Both Anand and Aronian drew their tenth round games against Mamedyarov and Topalov, respectively. In the eleventh, there was a lull in the proceedings as all the games were drawn. A missed chance in the fifth round against tailender Dimitry Andreikin was the first sign of fallibility by Anand. However, he stayed calm and remains undefeated. In theory, the final stages of the exhausting three-week tournament should be the most difficult for the oldest of the eight competitors.
It was in last year’s Candidates final round that both Carlsen and Kramnik faltered, although Carlsen succeeded in winning the tournament on the tie-break formula. But altogether, Anand seems to be in fine form and elevated spirits. Some believe he has slipped into the once-feared persona of the ‘Tiger of Madras’ – playing quickly, controlling the games and putting pressure on his opponents.
Carlsen has been loud in his praise for Anand’s performance at the Candidates. By exceeding pre-event expectations, Anand seems likely to be the one who will challenge the Norwegian grandmaster for the championship title this year. The results of the tournament up to the eleventh round are as follows: Anand 7; Aronian 6; Mamedyarov 5.5; Karjakin 5.5; Svidler 5.5; Kramnik 5; Andreikin 5; Topalov 4.5.
