Vishwanath Anand COULD NOT DEFEAT ME

I am in my perfect senses when I say "Vishwanath Anand COULD NOT DEFEAT ME".
This is just the trailer, check out more snaps here. So the next time you talk to me just keep this at the back of your mind.

Yeah, Vishy was at our workplace and we had a session of rapid chess with him. To say the least, he was amazing. But, me being me, could hold the fort for 20 minutes. He dished out all the tricks he had, but of course, I had an answer. He reached the limits of his intellectual capacity and finally called quits. Finally, I consoled him saying "Well played, but better Luck Next Time mate".

Now coming back to reality- yes I did play chess with the legend himself. We did interact and compete with Anand(in flesh and blood). Anand is the brand ambassador for NIIT and NIIT has a good association with the company I work for. Hence the game. 10-12 of us competed with him in a rapid chess scenario.

Initially, we had our tactics well laid, so that we give him a run for his money. I and my neighbor had a simple strategy. I was supposed to play black and he would be playing white. A white move in my board would be faithfully copied by my neighbor and I would replicate every black move. The intention was to make Anand play against himself( Obviously inspired by some Sidney Seldon Novel, but the application was innovative).

But just before the game, our so-called tactics went down the gutters as the organizer asked everyone to start with whites. I normally don't show my psychopathic intentions but-- this occasion demanded one!!!. So there you go, Anand face-to-face with me and I don't have a strategy to counter him. Honestly, it hardly mattered!!!

With everyone going in for the standard Ruy Lopez move or Queen's Indian Defense, I decided to go with a rather unusual move called Benko's Opening. To put things into perspective, this is one of the favorites of Gary Kasparov.

Finally, after juggling for 20 minutes and having lost a pawn each, the game had to be called off for the pausity of time. Post match we had our share of snaps and autographs. Al, so there was an interview session with one of the true legends of Indian sports history.