Viswanathan Anand will do much better in re-match: Grandmasters
Archiman Bhaduri, TNN | Apr 2, 2014, 01.36 AM IST

KOLKATA: Viswanathan Anand’s incredible triumph in the Candidates meet has surprised chess experts and players across the globe, but most of them believe that the India aced will have a mountain to time when he faces Norwegian Grandmaster Magnus Carlsen in a rematch for the world title in November this year.

“I really didn’t expect Anand to win,” English Grandmaster Nigel Short told TOI on Tuesday. “It only showed how resilient Anand is. It is no doubt his best result in years,” he stated.

Short, who had earlier opined that the world championship crown was weighing Anand down, is happy to see the Indian GM stage a great comeback. “It seems that that burden of having to defend the title has been lifted,” he stated.

Hungarian GM Susan Polgar is also elated with Anand’s show. “I am happy for Anand, India and his fans. It was a great result, especially after a devastating loss to Carlsen in Chennai last year,” she said. However, the former women’s world champion was optimistic about Anand making it back to the top.

“Anand was among my three favourites (along with Vladimir Kramnik and Levon Aronian) to win the Candidates tournament,” she said.

Polgar, who was in Chennai as a commentator at the last World Championship match, felt Anand played a lot more freely in the Candidates meet.

“I felt that Anand was too tense during the entire World Championship. May be, it was because he was playing in front of his home crowd. But in Khanty Mansiysk, he was smiling a lot more. He seemed to be upbeat, relaxed and played with plenty of confidence,” she observed.

It will be for the first time since 1990 that same opponents (Anand and Carlesn) will face off in consecutive World Championships. Both Short and Polgar, however, expect a different Anand when he confronts Carlsen in November.

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com

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