Detonator Posted November 3, 2014 Posted November 3, 2014 Magnus Carlsen vs Viswanathan Anand So, they face off. Again. On one side we have the hero of the Billions, the King of 64 squares, the five time world champion, the man who has seen it all. The man who riled up the great Garry Kasparov himself. The Madras Tiger, Viswanathan Anand. His opponent? The Chess Champion of the world in all three formats - Classical, Rapid and Blitz, He is the chess equivalent of Steve Waugh's Australia or the Barcelona team from 2009. *He is the highest rated classical player ever, became a grandmaster at just 13 years of age. The one and only World Chess Champion, Magnus Carlsen. The tiger is wounded. Anand was so (in)famously humiliated in his own backyard last time around , drawing six and losing four as Carlsen came into the tiger's cave and pummelled it repeatedly and comfortably won with a score of 6.5-3.5. Anand was a forty four year old man with a young family. A man who had already conquered the world five times. He had already been the number one rated player in the world, long before Carlsen became a part of the elite. The general expectation was that Anand would not even bother playing in the Candidates tournament to compete for the world championship again. In fact, Anand himself was in two minds about the thought of once again clashing with seven other super grandmasters, the herculean effort that would go into preparing for those tactical slug fests. However, a fellow super grandmaster, former World Champion, Vladmir Kramnik convinced Anand in a fateful night in London and Anand was on the flight to Khanty-Mansiysk. The field consisted of Anand, the world number two Levon Aronian, *the former World Champions Vladmir Kramnik and Veselin Topalov, Azerbaijan's number one Shakriyar Mamedyarov *and the Russian trio of Sergey Karjakin (the youngest ever grandmaster in history), Peter Svidler and Dimitry Andreikin. Anand was expected to do little in terms of qualification but he shocked the world with a round one victory over Aronian and went on to display solid chess as he sealed the deal with a score of 8.5/14 and was undefeated. The tiger had roared back and comprehensively dispelled any doubts that he was finished. While Anand was busy silencing doubters, Carlsen sought to build upon his dominance in the chess world. What's harder than winning the World Championship and being number one? Well, to maintain it. "Sustaining success is so hard but so sweet", they say. Carlsen set about sealing victories in the super tournaments in Zurich, Shakmir Chess and narrowly lost to Karjakin in Norway. Then came the pinnacle moment when he sealed the Rapid and Blitz world championships in the UAE. Then, he was off to the Sinquefield Cup in St. Louis. The tournament was the strongest chess tournament ever in history, in terms of average rating. He, along with the rest of the chess world, was shell shocked when Italian Grandmaster Fabiano Caruana went on a run of seven straight victories (beating Carlsen along the way). The doubters have started questioning whether Caruana is actually immune to Carlsen's seemingly immense psychological hold over other super GMs. The drama about the whole match has been yet another tedious factor in the build up to this match. Initially, no cities bid to host it. Chennai and Oslo, the two cities connected with the players, had no funds after hosting last year's world championship and this year's Chess Olympiad respectively. Then followed the FIDE presidential tussle between Kirsan Ilyumzhinov and Garry Kasparov. Carlsen, a firm supporter of Kasparov, almost opted out of playing in this match. Some also reckon it may have been a psychological ploy to disrupt Anand's preparation. But worry not. Anand is ready. He is raring to go. He has appeared in very few tournaments since losing his world crown. He did participate in the World Rapid and Blitz championship where he got a rare victory over Carlsen after the latter's blunder in the endgame. And now, leading into Sochi, Anand seems quietly confident. He vowed that last year's mistakes will not be repeated. What remains to be seen is whether Anand will choose sharp tactical lines that will ensure quick conclusions to the games. Carlsen is known for his prowess in long drawn out tactical games where his endgame accuracy and immense stamina mean that he forces the opponent into a blunder more often than not. Carlsen can be viewed as the chess equivalent of Rafael Nadal. He'll keep rallying with great accuracy till you inevitably err. However, sharp chess is often a double edged sword and playing risky against a naturally talented prodigy like Carlsen isn't always the best idea. Anand has hidden his preparation quite well. He has barely played his renown Slav Defence as black. Recently in Bilbao, he lost the last round against Aronian and it was quite clear that he was hiding his preparation (he chose a pretty weak setup against the queen's gambit resulting in an easy victory for the Armenian). As white, Anand more often than not goes for Ruy Lopez. Last year he struggled to break down Carlsen's Berlin wall against Ruy Lopez and it remains to be seen if he'll continue with the same strategy. Carlsen meanwhile is versatility's child. He plays 1.e4, 1.d4 and 1.c4 systems as comfortably as the other. Trying to predict his opening repetoire is a fool's errand. What can be taken into account though is the Caruana factor. For the first time in many years, people are doubting Carlsen's status as the world number one. Whether this leads to a confidence crisis or a strong reaction remains to be seen. Make no mistake about it, Carlsen starts favourite but people like Anand don't get where they are before being written off a million times. The battle lines have been drawn, the troops are in place, the battle field of Sochi is perhaps fitting given the political scenario in Russia. The tiger will roar, the eel will try to wriggle out of his grasp and sting him hard. Sixty Four Squares, thirty two pieces, two great minds, one champion. http://www.thesportscampus.com/2014103138304/news-bytes/magnus-carlsen-vs-viswanathan-anand-preview All the best to both :bow:
Detonator Posted November 3, 2014 Author Posted November 3, 2014 sorry duplicate thread. pls merge with FisherTal's thread.
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