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Anand praises Magnus Carlsen and Levon Aronian.

In an interview to Indian Express, World Chess Champion Viswanathan Anand was all praise for the top chess talents Magnus Carlsen and Levon Aronian.


“I am no longer the favourite for the World Championship next year,” Anand said during his visit to Delhi to celebrate his chess academy’s ten year anniversary. Anand said that given the line-up of the candidates, he would have a tough time defending his title.

In an eight-player double round robin candidates tournament in London in March next year, Anand’s challenger will be decided. The list includes heavyweights in the above 2800 rating like Magnus Carlsen and Levon Aronian. The 20-year-old Carlsen has beaten Anand a couple of times while Aronian has repeatedly had the better of the Indian.

“Both these players are fantastic talents, their understanding of chess is absolutely brilliant,” said Anand.

Anand reserved special praise for Aronian and said that the Armenian was one of the best players he had faced. “Levon is an incredible chess player, he starts strongly and then just does not let the pressure on the opponent lift,” said Anand.

Incidentally, it was the Armenian who had demolished Anand with black pieces in the Tal Memorial tournament in 2009, famously closing out the match in 25 moves.

Anand said that while Norwegian Magnus Carlsen was still an emerging talent, he has no illusions about the youngsters ability. “Carlsen has talent which is quite simply, out of the world, his choice of openings is perfect and he has massively improved his all-round game,” said Anand.

Despite winning his fifth World Championship last month, Viswanathan Anand is not upbeat about his chances in the next World Championship match which unlike the biennial format, will be played next year. “I am no longer the favourite for the World Championship next year,” Anand said during his visit to Delhi to celebrate his chess academy’s ten year anniversary. Anand said that given the line-up of the candidates, he would have a tough time defending his title.

In an eight-player double round robin candidates tournament in London in March next year, Anand’s challenger will be decided. The list includes heavyweights in the above 2800 rating like Magnus Carlsen and Levon Aronian. The 20-year-old Carlsen has beaten Anand a couple of times while Aronian has repeatedly had the better of the Indian.

“Both these players are fantastic talents, their understanding of chess is absolutely brilliant,” said Anand.

Anand reserved special praise for Aronian and said that the Armenian was one of the best players he had faced. “Levon is an incredible chess player, he starts strongly and then just does not let the pressure on the opponent lift,” said Anand.

Incidentally, it was the Armenian who had demolished Anand with black pieces in the Tal Memorial tournament in 2009, famously closing out the match in 25 moves.

Anand said that while Norwegian Magnus Carlsen was still an emerging talent, he has no illusions about the youngsters ability. “Carlsen has talent which is quite simply, out of the world, his choice of openings is perfect and he has massively improved his all-round game,” said Anand.

Anand will be playing in three tournaments, in Bilbao (Spain), Brazil and London, in order to keep himself ready for the marquee event. “It’s better to play some tournaments and maintain a good rhythm, it’s easier to prepare for a big tournament if you have been playing regularly, a break does not really help,” he said Anand.

Carlsen was part of Anand’s technical team in 2010, giving analysts of the game enough reason to float the theory that the World No. 1 has gotten a look at Anand’s game and will be working at exploiting his weaknesses if he manages to win the candidates match for the World Championships.

However, Anand is quick to brush off the theory and said that too much is being read into what was a very harmless partnership. “Magnus joined me for a few weeks in 2010, we just sparred, that was it,” said Anand.

Looking back on his successful effort at the World Championship, Anand said that he was quite worried by the fact that he could not find any top chess players against whom he could practice before taking on Boris Gelfand. “Gelfand is a very nice guy and he already had all the top guys as his playing partners, It was quite a task to find someone to play and practice against.”

Linares 2012 canceled

The chess fans remain for yet another year without the Chess Wimbledon – Linares. The 2012 edition of the tournament has been officially canceled for second year in a roll.

The idea of sharing the venue with another country has failed, as the organizers could not reach an agreement with Universidad Autónoma de México. Francisco Fernández Albalate, the technical director of the championship, explained that the reason for the cancelation of Torneo de Ajedrez Lineres 2012 is not financial, rather “lack of dates in the calendar”.

Full news about the cancelation of Linares here.

Wa-Wa Anand ” Wish Anand :: Win Anand One Million Wishes for Our World Champion Campaign

As you are aware, the defending World Chess champion Vishy Anand , who has held the World Champion title since 2007 will be playing against Israel’s Boris Gelfand during May 2012 in Russia to defend his World Championship title. To commemorate this Historic occasion and to encourage and support Anand and to convey our wishes to him to successfully retain the World Championship title, the Tamil Nadu State Chess Association has decided to initiate “Wish Anand :: Win Anand
 (WAWA) campaign” and collect 1 million signatures from school children across the State wishing Anand for his success at the ensuing World Chess Championship match against Grandmaster Boris Gelfand of Israel.


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Interview with the World champion

London Chess Classic Anand Vs Nakamura

Official website of World chess Championship.

We have found the official website of World chess Championship 2012 between Vishy Anand & Boris Gelfand at Moscow.Click here to access the website.

AICF recommends Vishy Anand for high honor!

CHENNAI: All India Chess Federation on Tuesday decided to recommend Grandmaster Viswanathan Anand for the coveted 'Bharat Ratna' award.

At its Central Council meeting this morning, the Federation unanimously passed a resolution to recommend World Champion Anand for the most prestigious award.

The Central Council also unanimously decided to disaffiliate West Bengal Chess Association and formed an Ad-hoc committee to run the affairs of the West Bengal Chess.

The members of the Ad-hoc committee are: Debashis Barua, Atanu Lahari (Convener) and Tharun Banerjee

It was also decided to explore the possibility of tying up with Tenvic Sports (Founded by former India cricketer Anil Kumble) with regard to setting up a National Chess Academy which will try to promote chess coaching.

The Central Council also expressed gratitude for the chief minister of Tamil Nadu for decided to implement chess in school program (7-17 yrs) from the next academic year.

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com