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Sunday was a very busy day for a true sports lover. There was chess, cricket, soccer and a surfeit of tennis action to get the adrenalin pumping.
Liverpool's victory over Chelsea set the tempo, the world championship chess match between India's Viswanathan Anand and Russia's Vladimir Kramnik raised the tension, Roger Federer and Andy Murray's heroics increased the excitement and as England scored over Middlesex in the Stanford Challenge Twenty20 match in the Caribbean in the wee hours, the heart and soul of sports was bared to the bone.
But nothing was as pulsating as the chess clash, though it ended in a draw leaving Anand still needing half a point to retain the world crown with three more matches to go. As I write this column, the 10th game is about to start in a few hours and Anand may have sealed the title by the time you get to read this.
If Anand indeed achieves it, the Indian will become the first to hold three world titles simultaneously - the knockout championship, rapid play championship and the world championship. Even the great Garry Kasparov could not achieve it. And if Anand can retain the title with a victory, it will be the icing on the cake.
It is a long time since I followed a chess game live. In fact, the last tournament I covered was the quarter-finals of the FIDE World Championship in Sanghi Nagar, near the southern Indian city of Hyderabad in 1994.
Coincidentally, Kramnik and Anand were involved in that clash too, but playing different opponents - Anand faced, and eventually lost to, Gata Kamsky while Kramnik beat Valery Salov.
As I followed the tense ninth game live on the net, fond memories came flooding back. In 1994, Anand had floundered when on the cusp of a famous victory. And believe it or not, the Indian Grandmaster threw away a comfortable lead and lost the tie-breaker (then a blitz game) to plunge the whole nation into mourning.
'The whole of Hyderabad did not have a smiling face, except for the monolithic Buddha statue in the middle of the Hussain Sagar lake,' I reported later that gloomy day with a heavy heart.
But on Sunday, Anand was at his vintage best. It was a fiery game, a Queen pawn opening by Anand turned into a Semi-Slav sharp Moscow system by Kramnik, who seemed determined to hit back after having lost three games and, three points behind, was on the brink of a major championship defeat.
It turned into a furious, bruising battle after the first time control. Kramnik certainly had an edge with a pawn advantage which he could have converted into victory against a weaker opponent.
But Anand was razor sharp under tremendous time pressure. The way he marshalled his resources and forced Kramnik to exchange the Queens was awe-inspiring. The Russian clearly looked under-prepared and lost his way at a crucial stage. The players split the point after 45 moves made over five hours.
According to GM Susan Polgar, who was analysing the game on the official web site, Kramnik blundered on move 35 and let Anand off the hook. Her option was - 35.Bxf5 exf5, 36.Qxh6+ Kg8, 37.Qg6+ Qg7, 38.Qe6+ Kh8, 39.Rxf5 Rxf5, 40.Qxf5 Qb7+ 41.Rd5=.
It was a fascinating tussle and had a mix of everything: the drama of a tennis epic, the heart-stopping excitement of a Twenty20 clash and non-stop action of a bitter soccer showdown - as witnessed a little earlier when Liverpool beat Chelsea.
I re-played the chess game watching the Twenty20 clash on TV. It was far more exciting ... the game of chess I mean.
Moves of Game Nine:
Anand vs Kramnik: 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 c6 5.Bg5 h6 6.Bh4 dxc4 7.e4 g5 8.Bg3 b5 9.Be2 Bb7 10.Qc2 Nbd7 11.Rd1 Bb4 12.Ne5 Qe7 13.O-O Nxe5 14.Bxe5 O-O 15.Bxf6 Qxf6 16.f4 Qg7 17.e5 c5 18.Nxb5 cxd4 19.Qxc4 a5 20.Kh1 Rac8 21.Qxd4 gxf4 22.Bf3 Ba6 23.a4 Rc5 24.Qxf4 Rxe5 25.b3 Bxb5 26.axb5 Rxb5 27.Be4 Bc3 28.Bc2 Be5 29.Qf2 Bb8 30.Qf3 Rc5 31.Bd3 Rc3 32.g3 Kh8 33.Qb7 f5 34.Qb6 Qe5 35.Qb7 Qc7 36.Qxc7 Bxc7 37.Bc4 Re8 38.Rd7 a4 39.Rxc7 axb3 40.Rf2 Rb8 41.Rb2 h5 42.Kg2 h4 43.Rc6 hxg3 44.hxg3 Rg8 45.Rxe6 Rxc4 1/2-1/2
