The Irrepressible Anand by Taylor Kingston "Vishy Anand: My Best Games of Chess," by Vishy Anand and John Nunn, Gambit Publications, London, 1998, Paperback, Figurine Algebraic Notaion, 240pp., $24.95. GM Viswanathan "Vishy" Anand of India (born 1969) has for the past several years been one of the most successful and exciting figures in the chess world. Combining youth, good looks, and a likeable manner with tremendous chess skill and amazing quickness at the board, Anand's popularity and stature in the chess world have been steadily on a steep rise throughout the 1990s. Currently among the top 3 or 4, perhaps even top 2, players in the world, one of only 8 ever to attain a 2700+ FIDE rating, Anand has scaled all but the highest peaks of chessdom, losing a PCA world championship match to Garry Kasparov in 1995, and a controversial 1998 FIDE title match to Anatoly Karpov, after a tremendously hard-fought victory in the mammoth 96-player knock-out qualifying tournament. Rarely has a games collection by an active player come out at a more opportune time. With his star so high and bright, even a poorly done Anand games collection would probably find many buyers right now, regardless of quality. However, readers may be assured that, like Anand himself, this book contains ample quality in a modest- appearing package. There are 40 games, ranging chronologically from Anand-Inkiov, Calcutta1986, to Anand-Lautier, Biel 1997. Included are victories over many of the world's best players of both past and current eras: Mikhail Tal, Boris Spassky, Jan Timman, Alexander Beliavsky, Boris Gelfand, Judit Polgar, Michael Adams, Vassily Ivanchuk, Gata Kamsky, Vladimir Kramnik, Veselin Topalov, and world champions Karpov and Kasparov. These are annotated in a style that offers adequate analytical depth and theoretical detail, yet usually keeps itself accessible to the average player. As an example, in the game Anand-Ftacnik, Biel Interzonal 1993, after 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cd4 4. Nxd4 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be3 e6 7. f3 b5 8. g4 h6 9. Qd2 Bb7 (See Diagram), Anand comments: "This game showed for the first time that 9. ... Bb7 is just a mistake with this move order. Black has to play 9. ... Nbd7, when we reach the main line (after 10. 0-0-0 Bb7). In this case White would have no time for 10. h4 because of 10. ... b4 11. Nce2 d5, and White cannot push his e-pawn since the e5-square is covered." After 9. ... Bb7 10. h4 "Ftacnik thought for some time and realized that the attempt to transpose to the main line with 10. ... Nbd7 is bad after 11. Rg1, with the immediate threat of g5-g6." Thus Anand manages to explain a subtle theoretical nuance in a manner understandable to a 1500-player. Play proceeded 10. ... b4 11. Nce2 d5 12. e5 Nfd7 13. f4! with advantage to White, and Anand won in 37 moves, using only 30 minutes on his clock. Occasionally Anand's annotations go to Huebner-like depth, but more often they are brief and conversational, yet highly explanatory. In this position (See Diagram) White: Ke1, Qd1, Ra1, Re3, Nc3, Bc1, Bd3; pawns - a2, b2, c2, d4, f2, g4, h5 Black: Ke8, Qa5, Ra8, Rh8, Nd5, Bf8, Bg2; pawns - a7, b7, c6, e6, f7, g7, h7 from Anand-Lautier, Biel 1997, he played 15. f3! and notes: "This remarkably calm move is the point behind White's play. He is willing to jettison a few pawns and/or the exchange in order to snare the bishop on g2. When the bishop is finally trapped, Black will probably end up with a rook and two pawns for two minor pieces. Owing to the lack of open files, the minor pieces will be very much more at home in the resulting position than the rooks ...". Lest the reader think that such subtle, detailed knowledge and reasoning govern all of Anand's decisions, he gives Oll-Anand, Biel 1993, where after 1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 a6 he notes, with refreshing frankness, "I played this simply because it was fashionable." Unlike some annotators (e.g. Alekhine), he makes no pretense of infallibility; for example of a bishop sac against Beliavsky he says "I just checked that Black had no obvious defence, and then played it. This might sound reckless, but it fitted in with my ambition to play interesting chess". Anand's joy in chess, and his almost boyish (but certainly justifiable) pride in certain games come through in his annotations, as in Anand- Polgar, Monte Carlo Rapid 1996. In the diagrammed position White: Kh1, Qh6, Rf1, Rg7, Bf3, Bf4; pawns - a2, b3, c2, f3, h2 Black: Kf8, Qb6, Re2, Re8, Nf6; pawns - a7, b4, c4, d3, f7 Anand found 31. bxc4!! and comments: "I was very proud of this move, which is the main reason I selected this game. ... I quickly rejected 31. Rg6+ followed by 32. Rxf6 because of 32. ... Bxf3+. ... I noticed Rg2+ followed by Rxe2 and I also saw bxc4 in connection with the move c5 disturbing the black queen. Suddenly I realized that the d3-pawn could not move! Bingo!" What delightful enthusiasm! Can you imagine Botvinnik or Capablanca, with their exaggerated self-conscious dignity, saying "Bingo!"? Relatively best now for Black was 31. ... Ke7, though then White wins with 32. Bxd3! Rf2 33. Rxf7+!; the actual game continuation was 31. ... d2? 32. Rg2+, 1-0. As we see, through Anand's annotations come not only the reasons behind his moves, but also his personality: that of a young man greatly in love with chess, confident but not arrogant in his powers, with an almost child-like, irrepressible enthusiasm, but the toughness and ambition to make his way near the top of the chess world. Reading some annotators (Huebner, say) is like an exercise in mathematical rigor. Reading Anand, in contrast, is more like a friendly chess club post-mortem, but with a partner who happens to be one of the best players of all time. Accompanying the games is a running commentary, giving the background of a game, the significance of a tournament or match, an amusing anecdote, information about Anand's opponent, or telling us Anand's state of mind. For example, Anand notes that at Madrid 1993 he started with five straight draws, at which point "there was an article in the tournament bulletin which said that I was 'on vacation'. It infuriated me. I don't know if there was any connection, but I won my last four games and finished in joint first place." The commentary is for the most part short but interesting, one or two paragraphs per game, but it lengthens on occasion, such as when Anand discusses his 1995 PCA title match with Kasparov, which he found a thoroughly unpleasant experience. This was due, Anand says, not to his losing the match but to its shoddy, haphazard organization and the frequent evasiveness, even mendacity of PCA officials: "The organization of the match verged on the ludicrous ... the venue for the match was changed from Cologne to New York without consulting or even informing me! ... The only response ... to the various problems ... was 'We are doing our best, but ...'. ... They tended to take the most optimistic interpretation of any good news [but] bad news would be parceled out bit by bit. ... The dealings with the PCA leading up to the match were thoroughly depressing and, by the time I got to New York, I was just sick of the whole thing!" If Anand can be believed, the recent demise of the PCA is not to be mourned, and its self-designation as the "Professional Chess Association" concealed a decidedly amateurish incompetence. NB: Anand does *not* use the PCA-imposed difficulties as an excuse for his loss in 1995. This book is refreshingly free of the back-biting, sour grapes, and alibis so often found among unsuccessful world title challengers and defenders going back at least as far as Lasker. Based on his comments in the book, Anand is determined to learn from and advance beyond such setbacks, rather than let them hobble him. Given his quick rebounds from the match losses to Kasparov and Karpov, it seems likely that many of Anand's best games have yet to be played. As a nice finishing touch to the book, there are 30 combinational quiz positions from Anand games. These are very instructive, and sometimes highly brilliant and original, as in Ruban-Anand, Palma de Mallorca 1989 (See Diagram): White: Kg1, Rc3, Nd6, Nf5; pawns - a5, b4, d5, e3, f2, h5 Black: Kh8, Rc8, Ne5, Bc4; pawns - a6, b7, d6, g3, g5, h6 48. ... Nf3+ 49. Kg2 (if 49. Kh1 gf2 50. Ng3 Nd2 etc.) Nh4+! -- Strikingly unusual, a Knight forking another Knight. If now 50. Nxh4 Bxd5+ 51. f3 Rxc3 wins, hence 50. Kxg3 Nxf5+ 51. Kh2 Ne7 52. e4 Be2, 0-1 (60). Interestingly, while Anand has White in 29 of the 40 full games, he is Black in 16 of the 30 combinational positions. Does Anand play his "best" as White but more excitingly as Black? Looking at other single-player game collections, Anand's is not on a par with classics such as "Tarrasch's Dreihundert Schachpartien," "Alekhine's My Best Games of Chess 1908-1923," or Fischer's "My 60 Memorable Games," but it is still very good, comparable to another recent release, "Fire on Board" by Alexei Shirov. I recommend "Vishy Anand: My Best Games of Chess" to players of class C and up, who want to learn from, and get to know, one of today's best players.