Viswanathan Anand is scared of Carlsen: Kramnik
TNN | Nov 4, 2013, 05.17 AM IST
It was Vladimir Kramnik who brought Garry Kasparov’s two decade-long reign to an end in 2000. Kramnik was the unofficial king of world chess till 2008 before Viswanathan Anand beat him in the World Championship match.
Kramnik came very close to becoming Anand’s challenger all over again this year, but it was Magnus Carlsen who fended off a strong challenge from the World No 3 in the Candidates final to book his spot.
Most in world chess, including Anatoly Karpov, believe that the 24-year-old Norwegian is at the right age to win the title and Kramnik is no exception. “Chess is not like football or other sports, but still, when you are much older than your opponent, it works against you. (At 37) I consider myself to be quite old. Vishy (44) is even older than me.
So that makes it a bit difficult for him,” Kramnik told firstpost.com at the Alekhine Memorial tournament in Paris. He added that “Carlsen has much more energy, more motivation as he hasn’t been a world champion yet. Those are his biggest advantages.”
The Russian GM feels that Anand is “somewhat intimidated” by Carlsen’s rapid rise. “Anand definitely has his chances, it is absolutely realistic. The only problem that Anand is facing is that he is somewhat intimidated by Carlsen. He hasn’t been confident playing against him – he’s scared of him, I would say,” Kramnik said.
Elaborating on it, the Russian talked about the problems Anand used to face when he took on Kasparov. “He was never seriously weaker than Kasparov, but just couldn’t play against him.”
In order to turn the tables on Carlsen, Anand has to be “absolutely relaxed”. “Vishy shouldn’t think about the outcome. He should just play and enjoy and try to show his best. If he is relaxed and doesn’t get too tense, he can win.
Lately, he has been a little tense and nervous, but he should try to be calmer and take it easy,” the Russian added. When reminded that Anand is not winning too many games of late, Kramnik shot back: “One doesn’t have to win many games in a match like this. It is enough to win one and draw the rest.
It is clear that Anand is now match oriented and is not wasting energy on regular tournaments.” There were references to Kramnik’s World Championship match that Anand won in Bonn in 2008, where the Russian was the favourite.
Kramnik, himself, felt that Anand was at his peak at that point of time. “His match against me was probably the pinnacle of his career. He was playing brilliantly back then.
Even if he gets back to his normal ‘good’ form, he can still beat Carlsen, but only if he manages to solve his psychological problems. That’s a must-do.”
Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com
Flashback=>Kramnik was the unofficial king of world chess till 2008 before Viswanathan Anand beat him in the World Championship match.
It seems that Frustration of Kramnik is on song..it’s sheer rubbish !
Anand is never scared as far as chess is concerned
First it was Kasparov, now it’s Kramnik mouthing off as usual. I remember the quip he made saying that he has only lent his title to Anand temporarily!.
Very insightful comments by Kramnik. I doubt there is anybody in the world with a deeper understanding of chess. Thank you for the good read.
You know Anand never beat Kramnik in a match for the title like Kramnik beat Kasparov, this is why many still feel Kramnik is the true champion, not Anand.
Anand got the title from Kramnik under subterfuge in a tournament where Kramnik did Fide a real favor just to unite the titles, but it was very bogus.
Yes, afterward there was a match featuring Anand vs Kramnik but they made Kramnik play it as the challenger not the champion another bogacity. Most of the world championship matches are won by the defender not the challenger. Total psychological screw job.
No doubt if Fide played by the rules Kramnik would be playing against Carlsen not Anand but Fide chose to go with multiculturicty to stop the Russians from dominating Chess. If you look at the chess of Kramnik and Anand since, Kramnik far outstrips Anand.
I think it is al engineered by Fide. (This is why they voted down Karpov and Kasparov now for president.) What is the strange explanation that Ivanchuk played so well in the candidates tournament final game? A call from Kirzan in the middle of the night no doubt to the room of Ivanchuk.
All of this engineered by Fide the people need to wake up and use their minds to understand who the real world champion is and not go with the theater Fide puts on and calls a championship. Also 12 games, another bogacity!
Yes like he was intimidated by Kramnik is 2008???
Kramnik : “Blablabla…”