Summary Chess Classic 2009 / Day 6
By Johannes Fischer
Will World Champion Vishy Anand strike back? Will he be able to qualify for the final? On the first day of the GRENKELEASING Rapid World Championship Anand, 11 times winner of the Chess Classic Mainz, had only scored 1 point from 3 games and was trailing 1,5 points behind Aronian and Nepomniachtchi. However, everybody knew that an Anand in good shape can work miracles on the chess board.
But the first game of day 2 seemed to indicate that Anand had not yet overcome his bad form. Playing with Black against Aronian Anand opted for the Grünfeld and got an almost equal position after the opening. This, however, developed into an endgame in which Aronian had a passed b-pawn and every right to play for a win and it took Anand a fine defensive effort to draw.
Meanwhile, Arkadi Naiditsch took his revenge for yesterday’s first-round loss by beating Nepomniachtchi. In a Sicilian Najdorf Naiditsch sacrificed a pawn to gain the initiative and this strategy paid off when the young Russian crumbled under the pressure.
The other fifth round game between Nepomniachtchi and Anand was less tactical but no less dramatic. On the black side of a Caro-Kann Anand carefully converted an equal position into a slightly better one. This slight advantage led to a better queen endgame, which in turn led to a queen endgame, in which Anand was two pawns up.
However, his king could find no place to rest. A win would have given Anand three points and every chance to qualify for the final and the World Champion indeed tried hard. But White relentlessly pursued Black’s king all over the board and after 50 moves in which no pawn advanced and no piece was captured, a draw was agreed.
Now, ironically, before the sixth and final round, Anand could only hope that Aronian would help him to qualify for the final by beating Nepomniachtchi.
While a lot of people expected Aronian to agree to a quick draw to avoid playing Anand in the final, the Armenian showed true sportsmanship by playing a real game against Nepomniachtchi. However, after committing an error in the opening he was unable to put any pressure on his opponent and finally had to agree to a draw, which secured Nepomniachtchi a place in the final.
While constantly having an eye on Nepomniachtchi’s game, Anand tried his best to win against Naiditsch – but he also failed to get any tangible advantage. And shortly after Aronian and Nepomniachtchi drew their game Anand and Naiditsch also drew.
11 times Anand won in
Still, with all the pressure lifted of him, he may come back to form when playing against Naiditsch for third place tomorrow. And hopefully he will be back in
Final standings:
Aronian 4.5
Nepomniachtchi 3.5
Anand 2.5
Naiditsch 1.5
This is not surprising. It seems like the end of Anand predicted by Kasparov…
Kasparov… didn’t expect Anand to continue with his winning streak for long, one knew he wasn’t just babbling phrases. “Vishy is a brilliant player. But it is very difficult to compete at 40. He is up against people half his age. I will be surprised if he can go on any longer. He can fight against anyone but time,” Kasparov said, on the sidelines of the India Today Conclave 2009 in the Capital on Friday.
And there is still so much smoke around Kramnik, who many still believe to be the correct World Champion. Why was Kramnik forced to play in Mexico City? He was already World Champion. Then he was forced to challenge Anand for the title that he had already given up. Anand should have been the challenger. Now we have Anand who was beaten by Kasparov (1995) playing Topalov who was beaten by Kramnik in Elista. Two losers playing for a title that still belongs to Kramnik, Kramnik being the only one to beat Kasparov in a match. Is this fair I ask?
It is fair my friend.
Trust me. Or my name is not..
Campo.
You ask too many rhetorical and rather obdurately foolish questions, my friend. Kramnik was arrogant enough to argue before the Bonn game with Anand that he “had merely lent Anand temporarily” his “crown.”
In any case, the fourth (recently fifth or sixth) player by ELO ranking should have NO ILLUSIONS that he can claim “rightfully” a WC title. In fact, he can claim rightfully the WC, as he did in Elista! Just without the title! Savvy?
How is Anand a loser if he beat both Kramnik and Shirov (in 2000), yes the same Shirov that had beaten Kramnik in a match. Shirov is the true challenger to all the World champions. There should be an
Anand-Shirov title match instead of Anand-Topalov. Kramnik’s win against Kasparov has little validity as he was handpicked despite formally losing the challenger’s match. He got soundly beaten by Anand last year.
Based on post No. 1 – looks like some fans of Kramnik are yet to recover from the mental trauma inflicted upon them by the loss of their “Hero” to Anand.
All i can say is try electric shocks to help you recover from such retardation…LOL
” Anand should have been the challenger.”
And since there was no champions advantage, what would be the difference?
I completely agree with the first poster!
FIDE should let Kramnik to play world championship matches until he wins. After that FIDE should modify the world championship rules a little. They should go back to best of 24 games, with the defending champion (Kramnik) starting with 12-0. Of course the defending champion also has the draw odds, meaning that in case of 12-12 he keeps the title.
Thats what MUST be done by FIDE. Afterall like one of the previous posters said, Kramnik is the only one to defeat the almighty Kasparov.
Kramnik, world champion for life!
to anon Aug 1 2009 6.21.00 pm CDT
What else can one say but that you are an imbecile at best. You long diatribe proves that.
to Anon Aug 1 6:21.
And what about Shirov may I ask who was the legit challenger vs Kasparov,having beaten Kramnik in a match?
And as for Anand this is rapid chess,you moron not classical.
and finally if you cannot give a world champ his due (any world champ) then you certainly must be a bigoted racist pig.
I agree.
Kramnik had won against Topalov in 2006 and should have kept the title for 2 years until 2008. The Match-Tournament in Mexico City 2007 should have been a Candidates Tournament rather than a Title-Match-Tournament. Topalov didn’t need to be included as he already had his shot at the World Title in 2006 in Elista which was the best he could hope for, as no other FIDE Champion (Kasimdzanov, Ponomariov, Anand, Khalifman) did get such a privilege.
The match between Anand and Kramnik in 2008 should then have seen Kramnik as Champion and Anand as Challenger.
However, this match did take place and Anand did proof that he was the better one in Bonn last year and therefore he is the rightful champion now.
However, the upcoming match against Topalov is completely unjustified as Topalov took his place in the Candidates Final by loosing against Kramnik in 2006 ???!!! Never before did something like this happen. The criminal guy behind this all is Danailov who already started a unsportmanship like bahaviour (Toiletgate) when Topalov was trailing 0:2 against Kramnik in Elista. The accusation of Kramnik cheating was completely unjustified and Danailov just started this all in order to give Topalov unfair chances by setting Kramnik off which he did and Topalov getting a forfeit win.
Topalov should be ashamed of this all and if I were Anand I wouldn’t play him next year but would rather do what Kasparov did in 1993: stage my own private Title Match against a worthy challenger; and I would pick Carlsen for this. A match Anand-Carlsen would definitely attract more people than a FIDE-Champ Topalov who got his place in the Candidates Final as a free lunch …