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Saturday, November 9, 2013

FIDE World Championship - Anand V Carlsen - 1st Match drawn


If Cricket is gentlemen’s game ~ what is the name of the game that the great gentleman Viswanathan Anand play ?!?!?

Going by the pre-match hype, the Vishy Vs Magnus match is getting a boxing bout or the olden day wrestling bout hype of Kingkong Dharasingh.  Termed as ‘Experience of Vishy Vs Youth of Carlsen’………. Would analysts make us understand that whether any of these aspects singularly guarantee a win or are they making it easier for themselves to brace ‘I told you so’ later. 

Chennai is witnessing this rare spectacle – more so with the State Government sponsoring and CM Ms Jayalalithaa glittering the opening ceremony and picking up the draw.  The city is decked with Chess connotations ~ in Marina a giant chess board sprung up and more.  The way we are reading reports makes us think that these players are computer brains sitting before giant screens with bigger team of wizards honing their skills in shadow boxing, just as Sachin Tendulkar was shown preparing in the nets without a bat – no bowler and nothing being bowled at.

Not many of us understand the nuances or the time period that it would take for a game – and I truly wonder whether this is a spectator sport……….  the physical aspect of chess is often underestimated – players shown as sitting in one place, hands on chin, concentrating on one thing for several hours and not getting the boredom at all. 


Is there any home advantage in such a game and is Hyatt Regency giving a great ambience to the viewers too…..  In a First post report is stated that  Carlsen was once asked which animal he would like to be, his answer was crocodile. “It seems to have a good life. A crocodile just lies there and relaxes, and it can more or less kill any other animal. Crocodile without a doubt,” he said. Anand had said in the interview to the Financial Times. “A match is really a contest of space between two people, and you can’t give the other one any quarter.” The match has already begun ……….


At 3pm Indian time, the two players started their first game of the match, Carlsen having the white pieces. The FIDE World Chess Championship, fully sponsored by the state of Tamil Nadu, will be played over 12 games and is taking place from 7th to 28th November at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Chennai, India.

The hot news is that defending champion Viswanathan Anand, playing with Black pieces, drew with Magnus Carlsen in the opening match of the world chess championship in Chennai on Saturday. Game 1 went on for one hour and twenty-two minutes and both competitors played 16 moves each before a draw was declared. Every game is worth a solitary point – the winner takes it all and in case of a draw both get half.  There would be 12 matches over 20 days and the first one to get 6.5 points wins…. Anand and Carlsen are playing for a USD 2.55 million purse.

To us, the  43-year-old Super Grand Master, the undisputed world champion is the favourite at heart.  Today, after photographic repetition, both players shake hands as the game ended in a short draw. So nothing much happening in the opening encounter of the most high profile clash in the history of Chess.

We sure hope to see Vishy winning and taking an early lead sooner

With regards – S. Sampathkumar.


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