Kasparov arrival raises eyebrows
Manisha Mohite, Chennai, Nov 11, 2013, DHNS:

The arrival of former world champion Garry Kasparov here on Monday generated tremendous buzz at the venue of the ongoing World Chess Championships, given the scathing and unflattering comments he had made in Moscow last year against defending champion Viswanathan Anand.

Anand was engaged in the World Championship duel against Boris Gelfand at the Tretyakov Art Gallery in Moscow May 2012 when Kasparov came up with unkind references to his age and form.

It provoked the usually gentle and polite Anand to such an extent that for the first time in his career, he hit out at Kasparov after winning the title.

Before the Anand-Magnus Carlsen match here, there were rumours that Kasparov would be offering assistance to Carlsen and the Norwegian’s manager Espen Agdestein had announced they were not averse to the idea. Carlsen had briefly worked with Kasparov in 2009.

On Monday, Kasparov described himself as a chess tourist and stated he was here only to witness the contest for two days. However, the former world champion stressed that he was rooting for Carlsen.

“I cannot hide the fact that my sympathies are with Carlsen, not because we have worked before but because I am a believer that future belongs to the younger generation and Carlsen is half of Vishy’s age,” he said.

“Having said that, the World Championship is a highly unpredictable event and Vishy has plenty of experience and is on his home turf,” he said.

There are always mind games involved during World Championships and the feeling among the chess fraternity here is that his presence might be another attempt to disturb Anand.

Anand had played Kasparov in the PCA World Championship in 1995 where a world record was set, of the first eight games ending in draws. Anand struck with a brilliant win in the ninth game but walked headlong into Kasparov’s preparation in the 10th game and ended on the losing side.

Kasparov thereafter slammed the pieces and banged the door on his way in and out during the rest of the games, rattling the inexperienced Anand who ended up losing the series 7.5-10.5.

Source: http://www.deccanherald.com

Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
Tags: , , , ,