Building up to the World Championship
: Created:08 Aug 2013 , byThis November Viswanathan Anand will defend his title against the challenge of Magnus Carlsen.
Past matches at both Candidates and Championship level have been littered with incidents and when the players have not been accusing their opponents of cheating the losing participant has been complaining about the playing conditions. I enjoyed very much Roberrt Hubnuer's moans about his semi-basement encounter with Tigran Petroshan nearby to a noisy thoroughfare. Apparently Petroshan turned off his deaf aid and was oblivious to outside interruptions.
With air conditioning in the match room hotel a challenger cannot complain about an adverse climate but nevertheless Anand in Chennai has a significant home advantage.
A few have noticed a slowing of Anand's play in recent tournaments and this could be very damaging against Carlsen who is very adept at putting on the pressure in the later stages of a game. Carlsen will be looking at the example of Vladimir Kramnik who crushed Gary Kasparov in the year 2000. A twenty year differential in age is significant in today's chess.
I like Anand. He is a gentleman but if Carlsen is smart he will win easily.