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World Chess Championship 2013 |
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Location of World Chess Championship Venues 2013
The much awaited jousting between the World Chess Champion, Vishwanathan Anand of India and the Challenger, Magnus Carlsen of Norway, has begun. It is a momentous occasion in the history of chess that it is being played in Chennai, as India is recognized as the land where the game of Chess originated. The contest between Anand and Carlsen is a fascinating one being held under the auspices of the World Chess Federation or Fédération internationale des échecs (FIDE). There has been unprecedented hype about the championship because of two reasons. The first is the difference of two decades that separates the World Champion and the Challenger, and the second is the fact that Magnus Carlsen is the highest rated player in chess history. This makes the current match one of the most exciting contests ever. Already, it is being touted that this is the most exciting World Chess Championship contest after the fascinating Bobby Fischer-Boris Spassky duel in 1972.
The first game between the World Champion and the Challenger begins on 9th November and the last game would be held on 28th November. Both Anand and Carlsen would play twelve games in the Classic format, and if the contest is tied after the twelfth game on 26th November, then a tie-break would be played on 28th November. The games would be played on: November 9, November 10, November 12, November 13, November 15, November 16, November 18, November 19, November 21, November 22, November 24 and November 26. Anand is starting with Black pieces and Carlsen with White. Anand’s current ELO rating is 2775 and his best rating is 2817. On the other hand, the Norwegian Magnus Carlsen is the highest rated player in the history of chess. His current rating is 2870 and he achieved his highest possible rating of 2872 in February this year.
Vishwanathan Anand – the Defending Champion
Anand has been the Champion for a long time since he defeated Vladimir Kramnik in the World Chess Championship in 2008, Veselin Topalov in the World Chess Championship in 2010 and Boris Gelfand in the World Chess Championship in 2012. The 2008 World Chess Championship was quite significant because it unified the Chess world once again in the classic format of the game. This makes Anand one of the strongest players of the era.
Anand has had a meteoric career as a chess player. When he was 15, he was the youngest Indian to atttain the International Master title and in 1987, he became the first Indian to win the World Junior Championship. In 1988, when he was 18 years old, Vishwanathan Anand had become the first Indian Grand Master.
Anand is, however, in his 40s, an age when it is considered that one makes way for the new generation. Carlsen is only 22 and has been in devastating form in recent times. This has made most analysts and commentators feel that it is the time for the man in his 40s to give way to the younger man.
Magnus Carlsen – the Challenger
Magnus Carlsen, the Norwegian,Challenger is the current World No. 1, the highest ever rated player in chess history and he has been called the Mozart of chess. On 26 April 2004, at 13 ½ years, he became the second youngest Grand Master in chess and on 1 January 2010, he became the youngest player ever to be ranked World No. 1. Before Carlsen, there was the trailblazer, Garry Kasparov, former World Chess Champion, who had achieved the highest possible ELO rating ever. But Carlsen crossed Kasparov too. He does not use any specific opening and uses a wide repertoire of chess openings. Magnus Carlsen has tremendous prowess over positional chess and is an acknowledged master of the endgame. These qualities make him a very dangerous player to face.
In December 2012, at the London Chess Classic tournament, Magnus Carlsen gave a virtuoso performance. He won the tournament and increased his rating to 2861, which broke Kasparov’s 13-year-old record of 2851. In this tournament with five wins and three draws against the top ranked players of the world, Carlsen achieved a rating of 2994. Carlsen played in the 2013 Candidates Tournament, defeating Vladimir Kramnik on a tiebreak, earning the right to Challenge Vishwanathan Anand in the World Championship Match. He has also won the Chess Oscars for 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012, which are awarded by the Chess Magazine, 64.
Format of the World Chess Championship
The 2013 Candidates Tournament which threw up Carlsen as the winner was played as a double round robin tournament for the first time in 50 years, instead of a knock-out tournament. In the current format of the World Chess Championship, 12 games are played in the classic style, where the first player to win 6.5 points becomes the winner. One point is awarded for a win and in case of a draw, both players get half a point each. In the first two hours, both players need to make 40 moves each. Then, the players get one hour to make the moves 41-60 and 15 minutes for the rest of the game with an increment of 30 seconds per move from move 61.
Previous World Chess Champions
The World Chess Championship has generated such interest for the first time in over 40 years. This Championship has been termed as a defining moment in chess history. The World Chess Championship began in 1886 and earlier World Chess Champions have included famous players such as Wilhelm Steinitz, Emanuel Lasker, Jose Raul Capablanca, Alexander Alekhine, and Mikhail Botvinnik. In the earlier era, for instance, the rules were flawed, so, Emanuel Lasker could remain the World Chess Champion from 1894-1921 as he refused to defend his title. Then when FIDE stepped in, the legendary Karpov-Kasparov matches were tilted in favor of the reigning World Chess Champion but under the current rules, the player who gets 6.5 points wins the match. In an earlier era, it was Garry Kasparov who was considered as the greatest chess player of all time but Magnus Carlsen has came along and generated further excitement in the chess world. Post their chess careers, both Kasparov and his one-time famous rival, Anatoly Karpov have been active in public life. While Kasparov dabbles in active politics, Anatoly Karpov has been a member of the Public Chamber of Russia and has kept himself busy with humanitarian causes.
