Anand could lose precious points after two poor results
Hari Hara Nandanan, TNN | Dec 13, 2011, 10.55PM IST
Anand, who has managed to stay above 2800-Elo rating in the last two years, would probably go under the mark as a result of these three results and what could hurt him more would be the plunge that he would take in the rankings. He was No. 1 or 2 for over a year and the next list could well see him either in the No. 3 or No. 4 spot.
“The whole season …(starting with Bilbao) has been a disaster, no getting around it. I don’t know why that is. I never got going,” admitted Anand after the mediocre London Chess Classic performance where he finished fifth in a field of nine.
Magnus Carlsen had retained his No. 1 position ever since he overtook Anand in early 2011, his results getting only better with every passing month. Very soon, he would be challenging the all-time high of 2851 that Gary Kasparov recorded at his peak in 1999-2000. A phenomenal achievement considering that he has not yet played a world championship title match.
But then Carlsen did not play a title match because he did not qualify; it was only because he did not want to. “The only times that I think about the world championship is when people ask me about it. Otherwise I just don’t think about it at all. It’s so much more interesting to focus on tournaments I’m playing right now. For me right now the London Chess Classic is much more interesting than the world championship,” he said during the London event last week.
Compare and contrast this with Anand’s results. The current world champion was a great tournament player in the 1990s and early 2000s when he was not rated so much in matches. The world championship also had a tournament format since mid-1990s, making way for matches again in 2008. Anand’s priorities also turned around the same year when he trounced Vladimir Kramnik of Russia in a 12-game match in Bonn. Kramnik had the reputation of a good match player then as he had dethroned Kasparov in a long match.
With the jolt that he is likely to take in rating and ranking ahead of his match against Boris Gelfand of Israel, Anand needs to find a solution to his poor tournament form. Vladimir Kramnik has completed a very good year getting back to 2800 while Levon Aronian of Armenia has always been on the move to displace Anand from the No. 2 spot.
The Tal and London tournaments together could cost Anand more than 10 points and that will take him down to almost 2800 or even below. But then, the Indian has only one target in his mind, that is Boris Gelfand!
Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com
I think Anand is the best world champion in history. He’s clearly stronger than Karpov, Kasparov, Fischer, Kramnik, Topalov, Kasimdzhanov, Ponomariov, and Khalifman. His talent is second only to Nakamura.
Stronger than Kasparov, Karpov, Fischer? You have to be kidding…. World champions tend to be world beaters, Anand is not in their league.
vishy and naka have both been described as tigers by others; vishy was called ‘ the tiger from madras(chennai)’; naka’s name among elite name is ‘paper tiger’
Naka it more like toilet paper tiger 🙂 Someone keeps trolling saying Nakamura is best. They are trying to be funny surly or they are a little eh odd – Nakamura is top 10 that’s all
Here we go again, this guy rooting for Naka is just trying (and suceeding) to provoke, nobody in his clear mind can say Anand is the best world champion and Naka even better!?
We should stop answering – commenting this nonsens pro Naka postings, for my part, this is my last posting regarding Naka
nice trolling…
I think Kramnik best describbed how great of a Champion Anad is, in his recent interview.
Link to article: http://whychess.org/node/1605
Anand’s play strenght is absolutely on par with Kasparov’s, at least that is what Kramnik claims and well… he knows a thing or two about chess.
What you need to consider when saying WCs are “World beaters” is that chess today is a hole different game than chess of 1970’s or 1990’s. Fischer said in mid 90’s that Chess was dead, it was all computers and 14-year old kids becoming GMs… all being based on learning openings amass, that’s why he invented Chess960.
Kasparov said goodbye to Chess at his peak, after 20y as No.1, as he realized with computer revolution, with Rybkas, Houdinis, etc… the days of wining 10 Class20+ tournaments in a row are gone.
Today, it is all matter of ‘per moment’ form and preparation against the other guy…
And we won’t see another Fischer or KAsparov, not because another colossal talent can’t be born aain, but because the differences can be worked around in no time thanks to technology…
I think Kramnik best describbed how great of a Champion Anad is, in his recent interview.
Link to article: http://whychess.org/node/1605
Anand’s play strenght is absolutely on par with Kasparov’s, at least that is what Kramnik claims and well… he knows a thing or two about chess.
What you need to consider when saying WCs are “World beaters” is that chess today is a hole different game than chess of 1970’s or 1990’s. Fischer said in mid 90’s that Chess was dead, it was all computers and 14-year old kids becoming GMs… all being based on learning openings amass, that’s why he invented Chess960.
Kasparov said goodbye to Chess at his peak, after 20y as No.1, as he realized with computer revolution, with Rybkas, Houdinis, etc… the days of wining 10 Class20+ tournaments in a row are gone.
Today, it is all matter of ‘per moment’ form and preparation against the other guy…
And we won’t see another Fischer or KAsparov, not because another colossal talent can’t be born aain, but because the differences can be worked around in no time thanks to technology…
I think Kramnik best describbed how great of a Champion Anad is, in his recent interview.
Link to article: http://whychess.org/node/1605
Anand’s play strenght is absolutely on par with Kasparov’s, at least that is what Kramnik claims and well… he knows a thing or two about chess.
What you need to consider when saying WCs are “World beaters” is that chess today is a hole different game than chess of 1970’s or 1990’s. Fischer said in mid 90’s that Chess was dead, it was all computers and 14-year old kids becoming GMs… all being based on learning openings amass, that’s why he invented Chess960.
Kasparov said goodbye to Chess at his peak, after 20y as No.1, as he realized with computer revolution, with Rybkas, Houdinis, etc… the days of wining 10 Class20+ tournaments in a row are gone.
Today, it is all matter of ‘per moment’ form and preparation against the other guy…
And we won’t see another Fischer or KAsparov, not because another colossal talent can’t be born aain, but because the differences can be worked around in no time thanks to technology…
Anand is simply not someone who cares about anything else than keeping his title…..much like Kramnik in his day. It’s tough to get..and they hold it it for every reason possible. He does not play hard because he does not have to. It’s normal behaviour. The worlkds need to win win win..all the time..is not in his character,,hels sort of like petrosian, tough man to beat but he’s the champ. Until we get a real Dynamo..we are stuck with this guy…(who’s great I guess). The Problem is not Mr Anand..It’s FIDE. People like Grischuk who play till they can play speed games..ugh..its sort of disgusting…the system needs to go back to the 80’s when men were men and didn’t wear dresses like they do now.
atleast Anand cares about keeping his title he earned the hard way. Not like karpov in 97 and Kramnik should not be playing gary ( instead it should be shirov) and Kasparov conveniently kept out Anand in the prague agreement.. and this Karpov wants to run FIDE… ok Kirsan may be bad but karpov running FIDE would be worse…
Anand not even close to be considered one of world’s bests. Kasparov is the greatest. 20 years as world’s no.1, and reached 2800 ratings when even 2700 rating players still rare at his time. It means he dominates everyone, he could reach 2851 rating because he won games more than anyone else..fact is fact, don’t fool urself