For the past six years, Viswanathan Anand has been the most motivated player on the planet when it comes to defending the World Chess Championship crown, his most prized possession.
No matter the format or how formidable the opposition, the politics or the provocation, the Indian maestro has always relied on skilful use of his craft to reign supreme in the matches that mattered most. Still, playing at home should be an extra incentive for Anand when the World Chess Championship kicks off on Saturday at the ball room of the Hyatt Regency in Chennai.
The 12-game contest, dubbed as ‘The Ultimate Match’ will have Anand pitted against Magnus Carlsen of Norway after the latter won the Candidates tournament which was the qualifying event to decide the challenger for Anand. The player aggregating 6.5 points in games played under Classical time controls will be the champion while a 6-6 score will push the tournament into tie-breaks, which will be played under faster time controls.
No two rivals for the title in recent times have posed such a striking contrast as Anand and Carlsen. At 43-years, Anand is twice Carlsen’s age but the Indian scores in the experience department having successfully won five titles, his three successive title defences being his trump card.
In contrast, Carlsen has been accumulating Elo ratings with ease by winning almost all the major tournaments to stay loftily perched on the rating ladder at an incredible 2870, the highest ever by any player in history. Anand, with 2775 on the other hand, has slipped to eighth position in the latest rating list. Here’s a look then on how the players shape up on different fronts:
INDIVIDUAL ENCOUNTERS
Anand and Carlsen have played each other 29 times under Classical controls in tournaments with Anand having won six times, Carlsen thrice and 20 encounters ending in draws. However most of Anand’s victories have come during the early years of Carlsen. The last time the two clashed was at the Tal Memorial in Moscow this year where Carlsen triumphed with white pieces. Interestingly Anand has been striking with the black pieces, notching four victories with black. An equally interesting bit of statistic is that Carlsen has been unable to beat Anand with black pieces, scoring all his wins with white. In the first round, Carlsen will play with white.
Advantage: Anand
PLAYING STRENGTHS
The hallmark of Anand’s outings in the World Championships have been his intense and effective preparation and this has been very obvious in the opening phase. Carlsen, on the other hand, excels in the middle-game and revels in the endings. Both players are naturals when it comes to opening with the king pawn though Anand had switched to the Queen Pawn Opening against Vladimir Kramnik at Bonn in 2008 which had shocked the big Russian. Against a strong positional player like Kramnik, Anand had been sharp and aggressive. Anand’s ability to adapt and change his game according to the opponents has been his biggest trump card in all his title defences. Against Veselin Topalov, reputed for his wild and exciting brand of play, Anand switched to positional chess and virtually played in Kramnik style. Against Boris Gelfand, the Indian found the going tough and most of the encounters were rather short. Against Carlsen, Anand’s strategy might again be to play sharp and aggressive chess.
Advantage: Anand
ENERGY LEVELS
A cursory glance at Carlsen’s game indicates his determination to toil long and hard, to ground out opposition even in drawish positions. Anand on the other hand enjoys getting early initiative and is not often inclined to explore more in balanced positions. Carlsen’s strategy would be to involve Anand in long drawn games and tire him out. Whether Anand succeeds in keeping the positions short and crisp or Carlsen carries on, testing his grinding abilities, will be something worth watching.
Advantage: Carlsen
SECONDS OR TEAMS
Anand announcing his team was rather surprising and caught Carlsen off guard. Peter Leko, Krishnan Sasikiran, Sandipan Chanda and Radoslaw Wojtaszek comprise Team Anand. Carlsen refused to divulge his seconds. However it is pretty evident that the players are holding cards pretty close to their chests and the possibility of remote seconds cannot be ruled out. How much the absence of Peter Heine Nielsen, Anand’s permanent second, makes a difference will be known once the games start. Carlsen, however, has not built a consistent team and has been flitting with many seconds. He has worked with Garry Kasparov and it is not known how exactly the former world champion has assisted Carlsen. An interesting angle is that Carlsen had worked more as a sparring partner for Anand on a couple of his world championship defences and the insights he has gained into Anand’s game will be crucial. Anand, however, has been quick to point out that it works both ways.
Advantage: Unclear
THE VENUE
Since title matches are played in five-star hotels around the world, the venue does not matter much. However this is the first time that Carlsen is visiting India and 25 days is a tough time to play in top form in totally unfamiliar conditions. Carlsen, however, trained in Oman to get used to the weather conditions.
Advantage: Anand
MOTIVATION LEVELS
Playing in front of his home crowd and trying to justify the hopes of more than a billion people should egg Anand on while for Carlsen, the lure of his first world title should spur him on.
Advantage: equal
Whatever the advantages and disadvantages might be, once the players sit across each other, the score starts at 0-0. The pressure piles on, tension mounts, it becomes difficult to control the nerves and all predictions and expectations can go for a toss. While this match is one of the most difficult to predict, it promises exciting and entertaining encounters.