The World Champion Vishy Anand is playing a four-game rapid chess match against the legendary twelfth World Champion Anatoly Karpov, on the island of Corsica. The games take place in Bastia on October 31th, and then in Ajaccio on November 2nd. Time controls are 15 minutes for the whole game and 3 seconds increment per move. Live coverage is available on the official web site and on the Playchess server.
Corsica, which the French call La Corse, is located west of Italy, southeast of the French mainland, and north of the island of Sardinia. It is famed as the birthplace of Napoléon Bonaparte.
The island was formed through volcanic eruption. It is the fourth largest in the Mediterranean Sea (after Sicily, Sardinia, and Cyprus, which lies south of Turkey, much further to the east).
Corsica is 183 kilometres long and 83 kilometres wide, with over 1000 kilometres of coastline. The two locations of the rapid chess match are marked in the map above: Bastia and Ajaccio.
A panorama of Corsica and Calvi, by Wolffy & Greudin
The second day of the rapid chess match was quite grim for Anatoly Karpov. He lost the first game in thirty moves, and after putting up a token fight in the last game he was horribly mangled by Anand:
Karpov,Ana (2619) - Anand,V (2788) [E32]
Rapid Match Corsica FRA (4), 02.11.2009
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Qc2 0-0 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.Qxc3 d5 7.cxd5 Ne4
8.Qc2 exd5 9.Bf4 Nc6 10.e3 g5 11.Bg3 f5 12.0-0-0 f4 13.f3 Nd6 14.exf4 gxf4 15.Bf2
Bf5 16.Qc5 Ne7 17.Ne2 Bg6 18.Qc3 Qd7 19.g3 fxg3 20.Nxg3 Nb5 21.Qb3 a6 22.Rd2
Nc6 23.h4 Na5 24.Qb4 Qc6+ 25.Kd1 Nc4 26.Bxc4 dxc4 27.d5 Qf6
28.Qxc4? Qxf3+ 29.Kc1 Rf4 30.Qa2 Nd6 31.b3 Qc3+ 32.Kd1 Rxf2 0-1. [Click to replay all games]
"Karpov really does have to do at least some remedial work on his game if he is to play any more of these exhibitions," write Mark Crowther in TWIC. "At the moment they're close to being a waste of time." Europe Echecs tells us that the planned match Karpov vs Kasparov, which was scheduled for December 11 to 13 in Paris has been cancelled. But it may still be staged in connection with the Year of Russia in France, which begins in March 2010.
Actually we believe that Karpov's poor showing is due to a lack of practice and modern training methods, and that this can be remedied. Let us see what can be done in the coming weeks and months.
The audience in Ajaccio waiting for the rapid chess match to begin
A handshake before the start of the second round of games
The clock is started, Anand has white in game three
Karpov ponders before playing 6...c5
Rtng. |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
Tot. |
Perf |
|
| Viswanathan Anand | 2788 |
1 |
½ |
1 |
1 |
3.5 |
2957 |
| Anatoly Karpov | 2619 |
0 |
½ |
0 |
0 |
0.5 |
2450 |
Links
The 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 the free PGN reader ChessBase Light, which gives you immediate access. You can also use the program to read, replay and analyse PGN games. New and enhanced: CB Light 2009! |
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Anand vs Karpov rapid chess match in Corsica |
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Karpov-Kasparov: Grudge Match in Valencia 30.08.2009 – They played each other in five big World Championship matches, most famously in 1984, when their first encounter was abandoned after 48 games without a final decision. Now to mark the 25th anniversary Garry Kasparov and Anatoly Karpov will play a 12-game match – four rapid and eight blitz games – from 21 to 24 September, 2009, in Valencia, Spain. Details and statistics. |
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Karpov-Kasparov: Match start in Valencia today |
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Valencia: Kasparov starts with 2-0 crunch |
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Valencia: Karpov wins game three, Kasparov wins the
match 3-1 |
