A day after India’s Viswanathan Anand had defeated Vladimir Kramnik of Russia within the world Chess Championship healthy in Bonn in October 2008, this correspondent requested Australian Grandmaster Ian Rogers whether or not Anand is the best chess player ever after triumphing the world identify in 3 one-of-a-kind codecs.
As we both waited in a Bonn resort to interviewing the world Champion, Rogers said no question Anand turned into one of the tremendous players the sport has seen however he might be counted among legends best if holds directly to the crown and dominates the game for a long stretch.
Many chess enthusiasts, especially Indians, might no longer agree to it as they recollect the sheer longevity of Anand at the top, his versatility in winning the world Championships in the knock-out, a spherical-robin, and fit-play formats makes the 5-time international Champion the greatest.
At the day world, Champion Magnus Carlsen defeated Sergey Karjakin of Russia in new york to defend his title, the query rears its head once more –is he the finest player of this era?
Is Carlsen extra than Anand?
For Carlsen to be in comparison with Anand — his predecessor as international Champion — is, however, inevitable.
And here is how they examine.
Carlsen has dominated Anand of their world title clashes in 2013 and 2014 — some claim the Indian GM turned into definitely intimidated by the Norwegian in 2013. He has won all titles that the game has to offer – much like Anand. His highest-ever rating is a stratospheric 2882 – the previous maximum inside the history changed into 2851 by way of Garry Kasparov, even as Anand’s first-class is 2817. He has been the world number one considering that April 2010, a rating Anand held from April 2007 until being dethroned with the aid of the Norwegian.
Even though Carlsen retained his title, he did that with the aid of the skin of his tooth – in tie-destroy. He changed into harassed with the aid of a gritty opponent who had a properly concept-out method.
Carlsen too becomes not his standard self. A player who generally forces mistakes from his combatants by way of simply chipping at their defense, Carlsen located Karjakin’s protection tough to breach. also, for someone who punishes his opponent’s minor errors, Carlsen missed probabilities to take lead in video games 3 and four — thwarted by way of some superb defense by means of Karjakin – after which nearly lost sport 5 while the Russian did not capitalize on an error. It became clear that he was feeling the stress of expectancies of being dominant and intimidating.
The chess world saw Carlsen dropping his aura of invincibility. The Norwegian turned into expected to outplay Karjakin but there was a time whilst he trailed inside the healthy (after sport 8) and needed to combat difficult to draw stage.
It appears, the Mozart of Chess changed into slightly out of a song in the big apple!
This can growth pressure on him and raise hopes of his fighters that they could in addition whittle away his aura.
Whether they'll manage to accomplish that or this was only a blip for Carlsen, one issue is clear – he still is streets beforehand of his contemporaries and truly the greatest player of this era. yes, extra than Anand.