Kramnik, Kasparov helped Anand win world championship
By: MANISHA MOHITE
Date: 2010-05-20
Place: Sofia
Can over the board rivals, victors and the vanquished, come together for a common cause? Will the former and current World Chess champions discuss, dissect and diagnose possibilities for an ongoing World Chess Championship match? Incredible or unbelievable as it sounds, two former World champions and rivals of Anand – Garry Kasparov who defeated him in the PCA World Championship final match in 1995 and Vladimir Kramnik whom he beat in the World title match at Bonn in 2008 — connected, consulted and conspired together to bring about the downfall of Veselin Topalov in the high intensity clash which got over last week in Sofia, Bulgaria, Topalov’s home country.
“It has never before happened in the history of any World Championship match. At least I can’t recall nor have I heard such stories,” said reigning World Champion Viswanathan Anand who said he was delighted with the assistance offered by Kasparov and Kramnik.
Even current World No 1 Magnus Carlsen of Norway had pitched in. Carlsen had worked briefly with Anand before for the Mexico and the Bonn World Championships but after ruling the ELO rating list, Anand wasn’t sure whether Carlsen would be working with him. But sometime in March, Carlsen got in touch with him and offered to help for a couple of days. Basically, Anand worked with Carlsen more as a sparring partner, a real versatile one at that, more so in blitz games.
The second person to call was Garry Kasparov who said he wanted to help a bit, and Anand and his team sent him a general plan of what they intended to play. Incidentally, it was Kasparov who okayed the Catalan Opening with whites for Anand and this had resulted in victories in the second and fourth game of the match. “It was nice to get some tips, suggestions and psychological insights from Garry,” said Anand.
The third was Kramnik who got in touch with Anand after the fourth game of the match. Thereafter the duo spoke almost everyday with Kramnik. The Russian GM’s shadow could be seen lurking on the matches with Anand playing all the openings and defences which Kramnik had effectively used against Topalov in 2006.
“I have been publicly rooting for Anand for two reasons, I have a personal equation with Anand and secondly, Vishy is a better chess player. Topalov is a strong player but not on the same level with Vishy chess wise. So I saw no reason not to help Anand,” Kramnik told MiD DAY.
On a day of revelations, yesterday, Topalov confirmed rumours that he indeed had been using a 112-core computer cluster(Blue Gene/P) working at super speed and had spent close to 100, 000 euros to secure it. Anand, on the other hand, had just 4 to 8 core computers but his human cluster comprising of Garry Kasparov, Vladimir Kramnik and Magnus Carlsen proved that there is nothing to match the human angle.
The man responsible for bringing Vishy, Vlady and Garry together was Frederic Friedel of ChessBase.
“I have known Vishy for 23 years and it is gratifying to know that the human element has been re-introduced into chess. Since all three are good friends, individually, I thought it would be great if I could get them to work together,” says Friedel.
Anand was very appreciative of Friedel’s efforts. “It makes me feel privileged,” says Anand and adds: “It is difficult to believe and at the same time interesting that Garry Kasparov and Vladimir Kramnik have been my rivals for so many years. The gesture from Kramnik is very special and I will treasure it. Kasparov has retired but is very busy and it was unusual chatting with him.”
“Two years ago, if you had told me that one day Garry and I would be chatting and exchanging smiles, I would have laughed. After Game Eight, he gave me a lecture on opposite coloured bishop endings (Anand blundered and lost the game when he had the draw in his hands), and after game nine as well.
Vlady was actually incredibly helpful. I think he really got into it. The first day he said the only game I didn’t play his openings I was blown away.
This is a boost for my morale, an incredibly high one for each is a towering personality in his own right, a historical figure and just thinking about it makes me feel privileged.”
Source: http://www.mid-day.com
Yo Regan this is amazing aint it? vishy gets help from kasparov, kramnik and carlsen their best traditional thinkers, and my Tboard horse is the decisive factor in the match! h All the way from Buffalo, N.Y. UM Ktrazy!!! hehe. UM actin like a fool with ma pants on da ground!!! Hey Susan i caught Regan tryin to use a computer to determine who was stronger Fischer or Kasparov , i told him to put that thing away! i already know , Um usin tricks!!! Oh, Fischer of course!
Well it proves that Topalov is not favoured by opening preparation, and that he lost against three world champions only in the last game, by overpushing and having a little “nervous breakdown”. SO I think he is going to confirm his unofficial status of best player in the upcoming tournaments.
Well, when you and your manager work pretty hard at being the most disliked and unfriendly persons in the whole sport…what else would you expect. I’m surprised more GM’s didn’t join the cause. Don’t get me wrong, I think Topalov is one of the best players today…but he really needs to work on his image. Well, if he actually cares at all about his image.
Timothee said:
“Well it proves that Topalov is not favoured by opening preparation, and that he lost against three world champions only in the last game, by overpushing and having a little “nervous breakdown”. SO I think he is going to confirm his unofficial status of best player in the upcoming tournaments.”
Sure, as long as he doesn’t run a GM called Magnus Carlsen who gave him some lessons in the Alekhines Defence.
Hard to win against the 13th, 14th, 15th, and the probable 16th world champs in the line from steinitz. Danailov makes people want to see veselin lose.
Susan,
Though you might not have found it very much relevant, Friedel had also revealed one more supporter in GM Anish Giri.
Now there is another dimension to what Timothée Tournier said. ie.
Topalov could not beat Anand or push him to the rapid play off even with,
1. a 112 core COMPUTER against an 8-core computer and part time tips(that too with out any payment) from Kasparov and Kramnik and some sparring partnership in Blitz with Carlson.
2. Age factor, which he tried to his advantage by the no draw self imposed rule
3. Home country advantage and the moral support from the organizers by giving Anand only one day postponement
4. Accidental power OFFs during Anand’s turn of move
5.Fatigue happened to Anand and team with 40 hour road journey etc.
I think this shows that being a nice guy instead of trying to win at any cost sometimes pays off.
Oooo man, I almost thought that Vishy was better than Topalov after this match! Now I see that they all got scared from Topalov and joined a secret pact to destroy him. What a pity! They are actually greater p. than I ever imagined! I start to like more and more Veselin!
An excellent example of the good guys coming through.
Maybe an anti-Danailov move against Topalov, though VT has been willing to voice some ungracious words about the match.
Probably a lot of Bulgarian ‘bull’ about the value and use of super-computers – something I am painfully over-familiar with.
Go Friedel!!
I read the interview on chessbase and I found Kramnik very funny when he said “So you manage to equalize with white!”
Great effort by everyone, especially Carlsen and Kramnik, since they were directly helping their rival.
Bla-bla-bla Ravanan …The biggest conspiracy in chess history against one great fighter!Anand also used 52 (not 8 ,as you stated)cores computer cluster + a team of best chess minds alive. Obviously,they are afraid of him.
It just shows how great Vesko is in their own eyes!
I wonder if FIDE should allow this, because where is this going to take us in future? On one side such a big help from computers, on the other side from great players.
Why not put the players in isolation (quarentine) so that they show their own strength?
Vesko lost pathetically. No amount of computers can save you if your over the board tactics are weak.
For all the naysayers –
Anand did not ask for help from Garry, Carlsen, or Vlady. They came out on their own to help Vishy and why would he not take it?
It’s not like Topalov was fighting 4-5 GM’s. He was still playing Anand. Th pieces don’t move differently because Garry and Vlady came together.
Topa fans are sore losers. SuperFLOPS basically.
This is like a game of Poker. Now that the game is over and we see the cards, Vishy has quite a few aces and Topalov just has a supercomputer to show.
Better preparation led to Vishy’s win. Just goes to show you can never be over prepared.
Come on, this is right out of a comic book! And the warring tribes cleared their differences and ganged up against the evil empire and its electronic brain.. Oh wait, ‘cept the evil empire is just one guy, he only seems evil because his PR team and social skills are less than that of the opposition, and the electronic brain is no help when you’ve got to respond on your own to moves that are “ad libbed”.
Please, let’s put this stuff to rest. World chess championships have never been simply a matter of individual skills — they’re team efforts, but let’s hope for the sake of excitement and nobility that the teams are usually evenly matched.
Author does a disservice by using words such as conspire. Conspire suggest a crime. Nowhere does it say you can’t get help from anyone between games. Topalov’s behavior in his match against Kramnik was so dishonorable and discredited chess in the eyes of the world he lost a lot of support. So of course a really decent guy like Anand is going to have more supporters. Simply put Anand is more popular.
For all the guys who keep saying Anand is great or Topalov is great…..take this when it mattered Anand Won ! Thats all suckers. Anand won and Topalov lost.
All the crap of 112 cores and Carlsen,Vladimir and Kasparov helps but once you are on the board you are on your own.
And the crap of ‘He didnt win and i lost’ grow up guys….
He guys, never forget Anand is a very polite and humble man ( a typical Quality engrained in top intellectual Indians since times immemorial), so he is honoring the “advice” of Garry and Vlady as being valuable. He would have beaten Topalov anyway with or without their advice—goes without saying. They just don’t like Topalov and so favored Anand.
Anand is GREAT, and needs no support from other WC’s!
Mathur
“And the crap of ‘He didnt win and i lost’ grow up guys….”
Why crap? In my life my opponents didn’t manage to win a single game. I lost quite many of them 🙂
I believe that if a half eaten dog fell from the sky it would bring good luck.
I find the idea of strong supercomputers aiding pre-match preparation somewhat scary. Ten years from now, would WC matches like these be dominated by bone-dry analysed computer lines? Maybe Anand’s victory suggests otherwise.
It’s sad and pity for the world of chess.All top seeds (Anand,Kasparov,Kramnik,Carlsen) against One Man.Something stinks here… It rings a sad bell in History…
Glad to see Anand get help from such a great group of players… its obvious that they wanted Vishy to win because of their dislike for Danailov/Topalov.
Glad to see Anand win… he has class 🙂
Anand? Humble? I’ve seen interviews on Chessvibes where “humble” and Anand are oximorons. He can be arrogant and dismissive at times, and plays occasionally a racial argument that sounds all too pathetic, coming from the mouth of a media-proclaimed “gentleman.”
Kramnik, Kasparov – who cares? Will they regain any titles? No. Will the title come back to the right country and the right ethnic group any time soon? Not really.
Friedel – ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! Have you seen him in person? If you haven’t, you should, he is grossly preposterous and oddly reminiscent in his accent and comport of Yogi Bear.
Right country, “right ethnic group”?!
I thought that moderation of comments would imply getting rid of comments like this one.
Susan: You were supposed to summarise the entire match. Part 1 was a great piece on the ecosystem, when are you writing Part 2? Eagerly waiting for your analysis of the chess!
“L Parreira said…
Right country, “right ethnic group”?!
I thought that moderation of comments would imply getting rid of comments like this one.”
I’m glad someone picked up on that comment. It’s pure disgusting racism.
this all sucks, theres no crediobility in chess left, who cares anymore, maybe susan needs more time to write a better article, part 2, but i think it dont matter, time has gone by and with all the secrets coming out, its best to find another sport, the truth its all like this…