Anand Looks to Make an Impact at Star-Studded Gashimov Memorial
By R Srinivasa Raghavan Published: 17th April 2015 06:00 AM Last Updated: 17th April 2015 04:28 AM
CHENNAI:Spurred by an impressive performance in the Zurich Chess Challenge (second spot overall), Viswanathan Anand will be looking for another top finish in the Gashimov Memorial, which starts on Friday in Shamkir, Azerbaijan.
The third super tournament of 2015 has a strong line-up, with World Champion Magnus Carlsen being the star attraction in the ten-player, nine-round round-robin tournament.
The event has a good blend of youth and experience. World No 2 Fabiana Caruana, World No 7 Anish Giri, World No 8 Wesley So and World No 11 Maxime Vachier-Lagrave comprise the young guns. The experienced ones are former World Champion Vladimir Kramnik, Azerbaijan’s No 1 Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, England No 1 Michael Adams, and Azerbaijan champion Rauf Mamedov.
Carlsen, who has triumphed in two classical tournaments, will be the favourite to win his third title of the year. He started the year with a comprehensive victory in Wijk aan Zee, stringing off six straight victories at one point. His second title came after a lot of sweat in Baden-Baden. The Norwegian was stretched to the limit by German No 1 Arkadi Naiditsch before clinching the title in the playoff tie-break.
Carlsen will be looking for an encore in Shamkir, but he will face still challenge from Caruana, Anand and Kramnik. The young trio of Giri, So and Vachier-Lagrave, who have been improving with every tournament, will test the world’s best player.
Making fewer mistakes and racking up points with machine-like efficiency is what makes him the champion performer tournament after tournament. Added to that, Carlsen’s ability to bounce back from tough defeats is what makes him the most accomplished player at the moment.
Caruana’s stunning performances in 2014 and his good head-to-head record against Carlsen kindled hopes of a future rivalry between the two. However, his results this year have not been inspiring.
The Italian finished seventh in the Tata Steel Chess and occupied the joint last spot in the Zurich Chess Challenge, failing to win a single game in ten rounds. He has gone four tournaments without winning a title and his rating has slid to 2802 from 2014-high of 2844. The 22-year old will be looking to arrest the slide with a good result.
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