A successful experiment: The Anand vs Kramnik "No Castling" match in Dortmund

by Johannes Fischer
7/22/2021 – In Dortmund Vishy Anand and Vladimir Kramnik tried a new variant of chess: they played a four-game match, in which castling was not allowed. After four interesting games Anand won the match 2.5-1.5, and both players, the organizers in Dortmund and the public agreed that the experiment was a success.
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Vishy Anand wins No Castling match against Vladimir Kramnik

Anand won the first game of the match and after a draw in the second game, he had good chances to decide the match in game three but allowed Kramnik to escape into a draw. In game four came Anand again had a good position after the opening but then had to defend precisely against Kramnik's creative attacking play.

Vishy Anand

Vladimir Kramnik

In the critical phase Anand found the only defensive moves and Kramnik finally had to settle for a perpetual and with this draw Anand narrowly won the match 2.5-1.5.

Both players agreed that the Anand absolutely deserved the victory in the match. The spectators were able to follow all the games live online and were thrilled to see the two living legends trying their hands at this innovative format.

Kramnik and Anand analyse game four

The first DVD with videos from Anand's chess career reflects the very beginning of that career and goes as far as 1999. It starts with his memories of how he first learned chess and shows his first great games (including those from the 1984 WCh for juniors). The high point of his early developmental phase was the winning of the 1987 WCh for juniors. After that, things continue in quick succession: the first victories over Kasparov, WCh candidate in both the FIDE and PCA cycles and the high point of the WCh match against Kasparov in 1995.
Running time: 3:48 hours

Vishy Anand is one of the greatest chess talents of all times. On this DVD he speaks about his career, his views on chess, and presents the most beautiful and interesting games of his career.

On this DVD Vladimir Kramnik retraces his career from talented schoolboy to World Champion in 2006. With humour and charm he describes his first successes, what it meant to be part of the Russian Gold Medal team at the Olympiad, and how he undertook the Herculean task of beating his former mentor and teacher Garry Kasparov.

All games

 

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Johannes Fischer was born in 1963 in Hamburg and studied English and German literature in Frankfurt. He now lives as a writer and translator in Nürnberg. He is a FIDE-Master and regularly writes for KARL, a German chess magazine focusing on the links between culture and chess. On his own blog he regularly publishes notes on "Film, Literature and Chess".

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