The lightning kid in Lindores Abbey

We often wonder what distinguishes an elite Grandmaster from a common amateur, don't we? Well, if you are just a lay chess enthusiast then a really good way to gauge the strength of a top-level player relative to your own would be to experience them first-hand in simultaneous exhibitions. A simul, as it is called in chess, typically doesn't produce very high quality games but perhaps is the only platform where ordinary gets a chance to meet and be graced by the touch of the truly extraordinary. Besides, one person crushing multiple opponents all at once does indeed make for a good spectator sport!  

In today's article we are going to talk about one particular Simultaneous exhibition that featured our very own Madras Tiger Vishy Anand. This was a side event that took place at the Lindores Abbey Chess Stars 2019. IM Sagar Shah, who was present at the venue in Scotland covering the tournament, had an unusually thrilling experience watching Vishy swat eight of his opponents rated between 1400 to 1800 all at once. He had just 47 minutes left on his phone for video recording and he decided to take the chance to record the episode hoping that Vishy would beat his opponents in that time, and guess what happened? Well, within only 43 minutes all of the games were done and dusted. Vishy had managed to beat all his opponents and score a perfect 8.0/8!  

Vishy had an exhausting day at the office minutes before he embarked on this simul. He could just glean half a point from the first three rounds of day 1 of the tournament and this included a disappointing loss from what in fact was a better position against Magnus Carlsen in round three.

So Vishy was certainly tired, he had just fought against three of the best players in the world. And more importantly, having scored just 0.5/3, he was also not in a very good state of mind. Even factoring all that in, the five-time World Champion simply proved too strong for the eight Scottish amateur kids to handle. In some of the games they were just slowly and steadily outplayed, in others tactically stunned!

Vishy Anand - Ben Volland

Vishy had the white pieces in all of the games and the above arose against the promising 16-year-old named Ben Volland. The position looks pretty balanced, right? Well, it perhaps is, but Black's mangled pawns in the center is a definite weakness that White can potentially exploit. Ben took 20...Rxc3 here which once again looks perfectly normal but is it?

The problem with this move is that it really forces the exchange of all heavy pieces. From here the game followed 21.Qxc3 Rc8 22.Qxc8 Qxc8 23.Rxc8 Bxc8 simplifying into a minor pieces ending and converting that was just cakewalk for Vishy, to say the least. Actually, Black hardly had any better choice. Something like 21...f6 22.Nxf5 Qxf5 23.b3 Qd7 24.Qc2+ looks optically very pleasant for White with those weakened light squares f5, g6, and c6; and after a variation like 21...Qe6 22.Nxf5 Qxf5 23.b3 Re8 24.Qd2 exd4 25.Qxd4 too ends up in a ruined pawn structure for Black. The harm was done much earlier with the move 20...Rxc3 itself. Black could have really held everything together with something like 20...Bg6 21.Rxc8 Rxc8 22.Rxc8 Qxc8 etc instead.

After this Vishy simply rolled his queenside pawns down the board and there was very little his opponent could do. It was a smooth victory for the Indian Grandmaster.

Yes, it is 21.e5! that was missed. Black simply wanted to exchange his light-squared bishops but in the game after 21...Bxf5 22.Nxf5 Nh5 23.Nxe7+ Rxe7  simply found himself down an exchange. 21...Nd7 22.Bxe7 Rxe7 23.b4 Nxa3 (23...Rc7 24.Nxd5) 24.Qb3 Rc4 25.Nxd5 Rxe5 26.Rxe5 Nxe5 27.Be4 Rxd4 28.Rxd4 Nec4 etc wouldn't have been any relief either.

Vishy Anand - Pranav Arcot

The talented 14-year-old Pranav Arcot too, for instance, missed that g4-g5 was the threat behind Vishy's 16.Qg2 and quickly lost after 16...b4? 17.g5 bxc3 18. bxc3 Bxd4 19.exd4. The move he should have played is 16...g6 making room for his bishop.

Vishy Anand - Liam Tang

The straightforward 29...Nc7 would have been fine here. The key was to spot the following lines 29...Nc7 30.Rd7 Na6 31.Rxa7 (31.c6 Rc3) 31...Nb8 32.Ra8 Nc6 where Black is doing absolutely okay. In the game however Liam went 29...Rb2+ and next 30.Kg3 Rb3 31.Bf2 followed.

It just boggles the mind to think that Vishy navigated all the above nuances and more in just 43 minutes. This truly shows how an elite Grandmaster's mind is so differently wired than that of an amateur. Their intuition, speed, and ability to assess positions lie on an altogether different plane! Have you faced any strong International Master or Grandmaster in a simul? How was the experience? Share it with us in the comments section below! 

We present the rest of the games that were played below. Note that the names of the individual opponents are not known in some cases but the eight players who participated were Pranav Arcot, Marco D'Alessio, Jonathan McKay, Jake Sanger, Rachel Smith, Liam Tang, Ben Volland, and Ioannis Dabos-Doukas.

We would like to thank Roland Kensdale who meticulously scored all of the eight games in this simultaneous exhibition from the video that Sagar recorded. Roland is a regular follower of ChessBase India. His own chess achievements include drawing Jonathan Rowson in a simul in 2007 (when all the other players lost!) and defeating Keith Arkell in another simul in 2012. He has not been very active as a player since finishing his own University studies but loves to follow the game online and is a die hard chess book addict.

Related news:

Carlsen and Ding Liren lead, Vishy not in great form at Lindores Abbey Chess Stars @ 26/05/2019 by Sagar Shah (en)