Carlsen - Anand 2014

[JustinHadi]

I'm not sure switching openings after one defeat is the right thing to do, but in short matches one player may need to switch to plan B or even plan C. Both teams of opening analysts presumable have possibilities lined up, but ultimately the player themselves needs to decide what to do.

I don't think Anand actually will play the French because it's not in his style recently, but it might be a decent way to play in general against Carlsen. Even if Carlsen does play 1.e4 in the rest of the match, there's not too much recent data on Carlsen's games against the French, except for a loss against Grischuk in blitz.

[Matt Mackenzie]

In case it hasn't already been mentioned, Anand is also psychologically fragile. Specifically, he can't put up the kind of fight Kasparov did in his first match against Karpov when he was down 5-1 and Karpov needed only one more win. Anand has trouble playing opponents who are at least as good as he is -- well, we all do, but it's compounded by the aforementioned fragility.

Apart from his poor score v Kasparov (who was "only" the strongest player ever, after all) is there really that much evidence for this?

The match against Carlsen last year.

I expect Anand to go down this time as well, but perhaps showing a bit more resilience. A negative score by the end of the second game against the world's strongest player does not augur well.

Carlsen's irresistible force has encountered Anand's almost immovable object and the former will prevail.

So, Anand in his 40s can't quite match the man who might well replace Gazza as the "strongest ever" soon.

I do think you are being a bit hard on him.......

[Arshad Ali]

I do think you are being a bit hard on him.......

Let's put it this way: if I had a tenner, I wouldn't put it on Anand at the 12-1 odds the bookies are currently offering. To stand the ghost of a chance, Anand has to win a game in the next few rounds. Somehow. Or the one-game deficit will continue to fester. Meanwhile I can only imagine the collapse in morale, the recriminations, and the frantic search for a Plan B currently taking place in the Anand camp. To have dropped a point in the sixth or seventh round is one thing, to drop it in the second, entirely another.

On the plus side, I expect Anand to be one of the top players indefinitely -- the next ten or twenty years (i.e., for as long as he participates in competitive chess). And I'm looking forward to buying Franco's new book on Anand's games.

[Paolo Casaschi]

Let's put it this way: if I had a tenner, I wouldn't put it on Anand at the 12-1 odds the bookies are currently offering.

Where are such odds available? In the UK you get "only" 7-1:
http://www.oddschecker.com/chess/world- ... hip/winner

[Chris Rice]

We are only two games in and Anand has only lost one game as Black. Presumably in the preceding months he's been working arduously with his seconds to come up with something as White that will create pressure for Carlsen. Game 2 was ominous as it felt like the first match in Chennai leading to speculation that this match would turn out the exact same way. Wonder if this is why the Russians have just announced the following to stir up some PR just in case it does? They say they have already announced it but did anyone see it? Whatever, certainly looking to seeing Grischuk playing again and wondering how Kosteniuk is going to get on though pity no Caruana or Naka.

Sochi: 12 GMs to Fight for $100000 Soon in Dvorkovich Drawing Room

The World Championship match is being accompanied by various side events. Six participants of the Petrosian Memorial are going to Sochi after the finish to take part in the 2-days blitz tournament in memory of Mikhail Tal (which we have already announced) on November 13-14. The prize fund of the double round-robin competition (4'+2" time control) is $100000, with $20000 for the winner. The list of invited players has finally been revealed; here it is, according to the blitz FIDE ratings:

Ian NEPOMNIACHTCHI (Russia, 2880)
Shakhriyar MAMEDYAROV (Azerbaijan, 2824)
Alexander MOROZEVICH (Russia, 2811)
Vladimir KRAMNIK (Russia, 2757)
Peter SVIDLER (Russia, 2756)
Evgeny TOMASHEVSKY (Russia, 2725)
Alexander GRISCHUK (Russia, 2724)
Boris GELFAND (Israel, 2719)
Sergey KARJAKIN (Russia, 2701)
Peter LEKO (Hungary, 2682)
Ernesto INARKIEV (Russia, 2648)
Aleksandra KOSTENIUK (Russia, 2548)

The games will begin at 12:00 GMT the first day (November 13th, a free day in the World Championship match) and at 08:00 the second day (November 14th). The venue is Dvorkovich Drawing Room in the Sochi Media Center which is for the moment hosting the children's Russian Champions and Award Winners tournament.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

So I look at the position in the third game 12 minutes after the start, and I find a White pawn on c7 after 14 moves...

[NickFaulks]

Excellent position. Anand may lose, but I don't see how he can bottle out.

[Stephen Saunders]

So I look at the position in the third game 12 minutes after the start, and I find a White pawn on c7 after 14 moves...

14.c7 first played by Karpov in 2002 according to Informator. However my Informator only goes up to 2004 so I don't know if recent games have been played with it.

ETA I would have preferred 16...b3 to 16...Ne4; looks as if Carlsen is going for simplification.

[Chris Rice]

Good for Anand, an unbalanced position and all to play for, Svidler keeps hinting its still theory but doesn't seem to know for sure.

[Roger de Coverly]

So I look at the position in the third game 12 minutes after the start, and I find a White pawn on c7 after 14 moves...

It's known from a 2013 game between Aronian and Adams as well as earlier examples. Even at move 17, they have yet to diverge from that game. Given the speed of play, they presumably both know this, as might be expected.

Carlsen having a longish think as to whether to continue to follow Adams.

Here's the Aronian-Adams game from chessgames.com

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1733069

[Stephen Saunders]

Thanks for that, Roger.

[MartinCarpenter]

The online computer is amusing It has somehow fixed on a perpetual in a queen/rook ending so is claiming its 'usual' 0.00. It really does seem obsessed with doing that at times. Suppose it is normally right in an absolute sense.....

[Stephen Saunders]

19.f3 Nc3 looks somewhat drawish already, unless Anand has something special in mind....

[NickFaulks]

I think Anand would be delighted to see 19...Nc3. Mickey's move looks better. Perhaps 19...Ra5 20.fxe4 will be the novelty.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Nick was right. Seems like Anand got his novelty in first (would it be right to presume that Carlsen didn't have anything prepared in this line?). Wonder if it will be enough for Anand? He is more than half an hour ahead on the clock.