Monday Memories: Vishy Anand trivia
We are aware of the fact that two days ago Vishy Anand returned back to India, but before that while he was stuck in Germany, the maestro posed a trivia on his facebook on 18th May. The question was, "What was so important about this simul? Can you spot me? And where and when did this happen??" If you were able to find answers to all questions then it's wonderful, if you haven't managed to figure out this challenge shared by the seven-time World Champion, then you should check out this article which reveals all the answers by Anand himself who shared the answers through a video on his fb page on 24th May 2020. Photo: Vishy Anand's fb
How well do you know Anand?
On 18th May 2020, Anand posted this photo and asked the following, "What was so important about this simul? Can you spot me? And where and when did this happen??"
Here is the original post on Vishy Anand's facebook:
Now give it some thought and try to figure out the answer. Did you get it? Now check your answer with the maestro:
"I remember a nice story associated with this photo. It's actually remarkable to find that someone had a copy of a photo like this. Grandmaster Bagirov was in Chennai and he was giving a simultaneous display. I was one of the pupil selected to play him. Of course I had difficulties in the game. Though I had lost an exchange, I had reached a point where my bishop found a kind of safe harbor i.e. my bishop was now defended by a pawn. It could have been defended by a pawn. It could have been something like bishop on c6 and a pawn on d7 if you get the idea. Of course it had this friendly casual nature. So everyone had a couple of advisors standing behind them and generally enjoying the spectacle.
In my case, Mr. Kesavan who was from the Tal Chess Club, I mean I remember him, I can almost remember his voice, telling me things to do. So now that my bishop had kind of found some safety, I think maybe grandmaster Bagirov was drifting for a couple of moves. He didn't seem to make a lot of progress. I began to get the feeling that maybe I had escaped. I mentioned this and I remember Mr. Kesavan telling me, "kaettu paaren?! Draw kedachaalum kedaikkum! (Why don't you just ask (offer)?! You might get a Draw!)". When the grandmaster came around, I said, "I offer you a draw". He was a bit a dramatic, he picked up his rook, he picked up my bishop and he said, "You want draw?" and put them back.
It was clear to me that there was no way that I was going to get that draw. In fact in the end, I lost the game and realized that it doesn't matter sometime if you are wrong, just because your bishop has found a safe harbor doesn't mean it's a fortress. It's simply a nice memory to have and it's really remarkable that you can even find a photo like this. The photo actually shows me speaking to someone. It would be too much to say that this moment was captured in the photo but this could easily have been the conversation that we had."
Links
Vishy Anand on facebook and twitter
