Chess World Championship

[GameSetAndMath]

I don't understand why this thread is in off topic instead of being in frontier sports bar.

Anyway, I found this interesting article on the web that compares Viswanathan Anand's
failure with Roger Federer's failure.

http://www.livemint.com/Opinion/pRBpbL30l66Ndz1xN0FOXN/Viswanathan-Anands-end-game.html

 

[DarthFed]

Stupid comparison. Carlsen was hardly the first player to challenge Anand and at almost 44 there is no way anyone with sense would argue Anand is still in his prime. Anand was closer to his prime when he was getting blasted by Kasparov game after game (which again shows Carlsen is hardly the first player to challenge him).

At this point Carlsen is just a whole class better than Anand which again separates it from the Federer-Nadal rivalry (until 2010 which was the first year Rafa was way superior to Roger as an overall player IMO). The writer of this article seems to have thought this past match between Anand-Carlsen was almost a pick'em whereas those in "the know" had Anand as a massive underdog for good reason.

 

[GameSetAndMath]

I agree with your assessment. Let me ask you a tough question. How do you
compare Carlsen of now with Anand when he was in his prime (not the Anand of today).?
Do you think Carlsen shows lot more talent than Anand at a comparable stage.

 

[DarthFed]

Tough to say, chess is always evolving so talent comparisons now and 15 years ago are difficult much like tennis. Like tennis I would say that the level Carlsen is playing at today is certainly higher than Anand has ever played but he has an extra 15 years of games to go on and much more advanced computers. The only comparable absolute level is Kasparov and no doubt Carlsen will continue to improve, which is scary.

 

[DarthFed]

Alright so I figured I'd bump this thread since another championship match is starting tomorrow.

Same participants (Carlsen vs. Anand), same rules (12 game match, I assume quick play tiebreaks if needed).

Different circumstances as Carlsen is now champion and Anand is the challenger. Anand is clear underdog again but he is in much better form than this time last year. And I'd expect him to play very aggressively unlike last time when he played into Carlsen's hands. The only other factor might be the change in mentality as this is Carlsen's first title defense, so the hunted vs. hunter factor could affect them but I wouldn't bank on that.

All in all I think it will be more competitive but the same end result.

 

[Kieran]

Anand battled through the rounds? He still have the mental block against Carlsen?

How has Carlsen done since he won it? Bevy of babes, or did he stick to chess? :snigger

 

[DarthFed]

Anand won the tournament to decide Carlsen's challenger this year. I don't think there is a mental block but Carlsen at this point is a much better player than Anand.

Carlsen has done well since winning it as he has now set the all time ratings record, beating Kasparov's best earlier this year.

 

[Billie]

So the World Championship happens every year? They go through the rounds till 2 players reach the final, is that how it goes?

 

[DarthFed]

I don't think there is anything set in place Billie but what happened this year is that there was a tournament to decide who would face the champion (Magnus Carlsen). Also, it is not like tennis where players are eliminated. I think they played a double round robin and Anand had the best score at the end and therefore won the rematch with Carlsen. It should be noted that as part of last year's championship match there was a clause that Anand would automatically gain entry into the challenger tournament if he lost the title (which he did). If Anand loses again he will not get automatic entry into the next challenger tournament.

 

[Kieran]

They start at 11am, CET.

I think if Anand loses, maybe Carlson won't have a good challenger for a while, is that true, Darth? Or is there anybody else out there?

 

[DarthFed]

No that's not true, Fabiano Caruana as of now is by far the best challenger to Carlsen's title (including Anand). Caruana has given Carlsen a bunch of trouble the past couple years and he has been on a tear this year. Caruana is now 2nd ranked and he is 1.5 years younger than Magnus.

 

[Kieran]

I'm watching it live...

 

[DarthFed]

Anand's hanging on by a thread right now. A loss as white in the 1st game doesn't end the match for him but given that he is the overwhelming underdog it'd be an enormous blow. He had a pretty good position out of the opening but 19. Be6 was weak and 20. Qd2 was also. Two smallish errors and Carlsen will pounce.

 

[DarthFed]

Tough game to draw for white but also tough to win for black.

 

[Kieran]

They were calling it a draw about an hour ago before I went for a walk (the guy in the corner of the screen, alongside the giggly cute geeky girlie), but it's getting exciting now. They still have the same number of pieces, but Carlsen is kinda hemming White in, isn't he?

 

[DarthFed]

Draw agreed. It was an exciting first game I thought. Carlsen missed a couple chances to make life more difficult per the chess programs. Anand played a pretty aggressive opening (which he should do)but had those two errors ( no prog needed to spot those) that gave the edge to Carlsen.

 

[Billie]

Thanks Darth. How many games does a player have to win in order to become the world champion? They can't just draw over and over again, right?uzzled

 

[DarthFed]

Sadly yes, it could be 12 draws and then tiebreak games (probably 25 mins each player instead of games that can last 6 hours) to decide it. That won't happen here, Carlsen pushes hard for wins and Anand will also need to be opportunistic because he knows he can't count on drawing 12 straight. But in Anand's last title defense before he lost last year there were only 2 decisive games and they happened near the end with each player winning 1. Needless to say it was a pretty boring match as the games didn't have much serious action. Yesterday was a pretty lively draw, many draws are not.

 

[DarthFed]

Pretty dry position after 18 moves in game 2 but these are the type of positions Carlsen can often grind out. There might still be an attack for Carlsen on black's kingside but he'd have to be careful not to overextend as black's position could get really good if he does.

 

[DarthFed]

^ All downhill from the last post. Anand had a few poor moves to give Carlsen an advantage and then lost the game on the spot with an incredible blunder.