| The FIDE Candidates Tournament is taking place in Khanty-Mansiysk (Russia). The first round will start on Thursday, March 13 at 3 p.m. local time, the final round is on Sunday, March 30, 2014. The event is a double round robin (14 rounds). The time control is 120 minutes for the first 40 moves, 60 minutes for the next 20 and 15 minutes for the rest of the game plus an additional 30 seconds per move starting from move 61. The tournament will determine the challenger who will face the reigning World Champion Magnus Carlsen in a title match later this year. The prize fund is 600,000 Euros (= US $832,000), the first place 135,000 and last (8th) place 25,000 Euros. |
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Just when everyone (including myself) had written him off as being too old or lacking motivation or being distracted after becoming a father, etc. etc... what does he do? He comes to the first round of the Candidates and destroys the favourite of the tournament, Levon Aronian who is currently rated 2830 and is world No. Two.
It was no ordinary win. It was a convincing victory without any chance given to his opponent. Anand's play was so consistant that people have already started dreaming about and Anand-Carlsen match later this year! While we cannot discount that possibility, 13 rounds is a long way to go. But as of now all Vishy fans can cheer: their hero is in the sole lead, as all other games ended in a draw. Today was Vishy's day, and I would like to focus on his game.
Something has gone wrong
I must say this game of Anand reminds me of the game Rosenthal-Steinitz 1873 in which the first World Champion showed masterly use of the bishop pair. Even after 140 years coaches all around the world show that game to demonstrate the power of two bishops and how to take away advanced posts from opponent's knight. I am sure that Vishy's game too will be shown in the year 2154 to many young and budding talents! For all those who haven't seen that game, here it is:
My approach to the game of chess is different from the traditional analytical way: I look for that integrative element which always tends to elude our immediate perception when the game is approached analytically in parts, move by move. In the above context, games always offer fertile ground for indulgence, and round one of the Candidates was no different.
This to me is the crux of chess: when the conceptual thinking of a player meets with the demands of the position, then the moves, pieces and squares seem to obey the divine proportion – the golden ratio: the jewel of geometry that leaves no area untouched! Later on, we shall try to consolidate this aspect and deal with its variants, when we get sufficient material from this tournament which started ideally – ideally for Indian fans and ideally for chess lovers like me who strive to look for those vestiges!
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About the authorGovindaseshan Srikanth is a native of Chennai, with Tamil as his mother tongue and English as his favourite language of expression. He was a contemporary of Vishy Anand during their teens and early 20s days at the Tal Chess Club at the Soviet Cultural Centre, Chennai – a landmark formative period for Vishy, as any chess enthusiast would know. A keen reader of varied subjects as philosophy, science, literature, neurology and Hindu spiritualism, Srikanth – Sri to his friends – is a connoisseur of Karnataka Samgita or Indian Carnatic music, one of the richest and most ancient classic music forms in the world. One more addition to the ever expanding number of Indian chess writers, as he aims to take up chess writing as a serious activity in future! |
Pictures from official site
LinksThe games are being broadcast live on the official web site and on the chess server Playchess.com. If you are not a member you can download a free Playchess client there and get immediate access. You can also use ChessBase 12 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs. |
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