Vishy Anand saves his strength before world meeting with Veselin Topalov
Leonard Barden
Saturday 27 February 2010
Vishy Anand, who defends his world title against Veselin Topalov at Sofia in April, kept his powder dry in his warm-up event at Corus Wijk where the Indian, 40, played at full force in only a few games. In contrast Topalov, 34, has played hard in almost every game this week at the Linares elite tournament in Andalusia, where he won first prize with 6.5/10, half a point ahead of Russia’s Alex Grischuk.
The Bulgarian squeezed points from tiny advantages and by round six had regained the world No1 spot on the live ratings from Magnus Carlsen. These daily updated rankings have a huge following and their prestige is now not far short of the official world title. Topalov dropped back to No2 after his ninth-round defeat by Grischuk but overall he can be well satisfied with his Linares performance.
Topalov was also laying down a marker for a possible future title clash with Carlsen and answering critics who said he could hope to beat Anand only if his manager, Silvio Danailov, introduced similar dubious offboard tactics to the infamous 2006 “Toiletgate” series against Vlad Kramnik. Given Anand’s deep preparation methods, which defeated Kramnik in 2008, the Indian remains a marginal favourite, but basically the match looks too close to call.
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk
Although I love watching Topalov play…seems to me Anand is better..needs no manager to upset the room and he reallly never makes excuses…I’m pretty sure Anand will win by at least 2 and ahalf points….Topalov has never faced anything like this…and I doubt he’s up to it. Even Carlsen would have a tough time here…and when his time comes..its going to be a joy to watch. Topalov will put up a decent fight…everyone is waiting for Carlsen to play for the title I don’t think anyone cares about Topalov anymore.
Another bitter Kramnik fan…
well…I’ve got no love for Kramnik…for the way he kept his title by avoiding all the best players….I think Anand is boss in this match…and agree with above..nobody cares about this match..everyone is waiting for Carlsen..Anand has always been tough on him…thats the match to watch..and I agree with above…Topalov loses by at least two points….Anand ..once he gets a lead like that..relaxes…
I just wonder what your comment will be in case of a victory for Topalov against Anand. 🙂 Just think about it :-))
Topa’s strength is he has no fear and puts his opponents under severe pressure by this, but also by psychological tricks.
Anand will need all his experience to overcome this. He can do it, might be favorite, but he lacks the fearlessness of Topa.
In Linares, Topalov got a winning position in every white game- scoring 4.5/5- but he did much worse with black- 2/5.
However he was hiding his opening preparation for the Anand match. In the match he might win some games with white and draw with black- so Anand should beware this might be a very difficult match.
Equal chances.
Anand’s stategy of saving his strength for the World Championship match was not prefessional. You have a duty to play at full strength when you sign up for an event. He only played at full force against Kramnik which affected the outcome of the tournament. He should have been penalized by the organizers.
I think the winner should be allowed to have bragging rights and the right to dispense toilet paper with the loser’s face printed on the sheets. That is enough to satisfy any rabid chess fan.
Topalov brand toilet paper now with extra beard stubble to simulate the real thing while wiping!
I would buy that for a Euro!
“He only played at full force against Kramnik which affected the outcome of the tournament. He should have been penalized by the organizers.”
Doesn’t matter. Anand is his own man and thanks be to reason that the organizers give full freedom to chess players. The only people who should be penalized are chess players with bad haircuts and devilish beards!