Viswanathan Anand: A victim of his own hubris?
28 Nov, 2013, 04.00AM IST
By Sumit Chakraberty
On hindsight, it seems apparent that Viswanathan Anand should have taken more of an initiative at the very outset of his world championship match with Magnus Carlsen in Chennai. He quickly forced a draw with black pieces in the first game, and then opted for a queen exchange and another quick draw when Carlsen surprised him with the Caro Kann defence in the second game. Even in the third game, which seemed to be developing into the sort of complexity in the middle that Anand relishes, he chose a risk-free line when a pawn sacrifice was offered.
Carlsen appeared uncharacteristically vulnerable in that first quarter of the championship. But Anand could not pounce on that unexpected vulnerability, because his own strategy was to put safety first, and avoid risks. In fact, from game four onwards, he seemed quite willing to be drawn into long end games, which is known to be Carlsen’s strength.
A five-time world champion does not play like that, especially at the start of a championship, unless that is what he had planned. Even at the end, after everything had gone horribly wrong, Anand never admitted that his risk-free strategy was wrong; he only said he had failed in its execution. So what could Anand have been thinking?
Carlsen is not too hot on opening theory, nor does he set much store by complicated middle games with too many pieces. His preferred route to a kill is an endgame that stretches for hours until his victim succumbs to relentless pressure or makes a mistake out of sheer mental exhaustion.
But what if somebody as good as Anand could withstand that pressure and not make mistakes in endgame after endgame? Would it then be Carlsen who would eventually get frustrated and crack, or be forced to try a different tack where he is less sure of himself ? For somebody who has been world champion for so many years, it is natural to back oneself to concentrate and play error-free chess, especially in the simplified positions of an endgame, however long it stretched. Why should the world champion be the one to open himself to counterattack by risky play in the middle game, while the challenger sat back and played solid, safe chess?
Ultimately, Anand was a victim of this self-belief. He did not take his age or fitness into account. He also discounted his erratic play in the last year or so, and Carlsen’s immaculate record for over two years during which he was rated the No.1 player in the world. If he had factored all that in, he would have happily risked going into uncharted territory in the middle game when Carlsen deliberately made sub-optimal moves to disturb Anand’s prepared lines of play. In fact, he came close to beating Carlsen only in Game 9 when he went on a risky all-out attack in desperation.
Anand may still have lost if he had taken more risks from the beginning, but at least his strategy would have reflected selfawareness, rather than being in denial about the reality of his own age and his rival’s No.1 status. The deposed champion has won hearts over the years with his humility, but may have succumbed to his own hubris in the end.
Source: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com
Perfect game plan for Magnus.
You can always count on any chess journalist who doesn’t play chess all that well to have an ironclad opinion about why so-and-so won or lost.
whatever the game plan was, if the winner still magnus, you gonna find a new analysis why anand lose the match.
for me, magnus is simply better than Anand. if anand was playing risky from the 1st game, probably the score is higher than just 3-0.
whatever the game plan was, if the winner still magnus, you gonna find a new analysis why anand lose the match.
for me, magnus is simply better than Anand. if anand was playing risky from the 1st game, probably the score is higher than just 3-0.
In his own words said: yada, yada, yada! Analysis based upon pure speculation. What really matters is the fact that Carlsen crushed Anand, that Carlsen dominates the highest rank and the game for some time now, and that no other Super-GM can really beat him! Of course he loses some games, but they are rare!
I can’t believe reading that Carlsen is not that hot in openings or middlegame play!? He doesn’t want to at that point, cause it’s part of his match plan! A big difference. He is smarter then Kasparov, more accurate then Fischer, prophylactic and defending like Karpov, end game specialist at least equalling The Great Capa and as resourcefull like Morphy. And many many people can’t deal with it! Envyous and disrespectful as they are!
As every year, i was at the Tata tournament 2 yrs ago. Hans Böhm asked the public: is Carlsen the best player ever, considering age, achievements, domination, etc? One big mouthed in the back shouted: “Let him first become Worldchampion, then we’ll talk!”
Well, he is WC! I bet yout boots that now, the same question asked again, they will come up with something else…
yeah a guy who got past kramnik bcoz the tiebreaker rules were not the same as in other tournaments..ok man , he is WC now; lets not extroploate.. When Mike Tyson came, everybody said he would be better than Ali.. now look where he ended/landed.. wish magnus well.. but dont expect to get the same royal treatment in other countries like you got in India.. Hope you never fell sick; hope u liked the food; BTW what is meant by norwegian food? heard of chinese, indian, italian, mexican and u better start eating one of those