Chess
By Lubomir Kavalek
Special to The Washington Post
Monday, January 19, 2009; Page C10 Kavalek
Bobby Fischer, who died on Jan. 17 last year, was the greatest chess player ever, according to Vishy Anand, the current world champion. The Indian superstar believes Fischer made the biggest impact on the game. Anand also acknowledged that Garry Kasparov‘s 20-year reign was remarkable.
The Corus Line
After defeating Russia’s Vladimir Kramnik in the world championship match in Bonn, Germany, last October, Anand took a well-deserved rest. He decided not to play the elite Corus tournament that is underway in the Dutch coastal town of Wijk aan Zee and can be followed on the Internet at http://www.coruschess.com. Kramnik and the world’s top-rated player, Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria, also stayed home.
Still, the Corus tournament is one of the year’s most important events and it began with a bang. The heads started rolling in the first round on Saturday, when the top-rated Vassily Ivanchuk of Ukraine lost on time to Dutchman Jan Smeets and another favorite, Alexander Morozevich of Russia, was smashed by the Ukrainian teenager Sergei Karjakin in the Taimanov Sicilian in 26 moves.
Here is the full analysis.
I’d have to disagree with Anand on this…
Fischer deserves some respect because he was the world champion. He had great skill and talent — but he never defended the title; so to say he was the greatest is over-stating things.