Kramnik vs. Anand

by admin on October 13, 2008

What an exciting month for chess! Of course, tomorrow we will see the first game of the world championship match, Kramnik versus Anand. From everything I’ve read it should be a pretty even match, but with a vivid contrast in styles. Because it’s a short match (only 12 games) every win is going to be especially important.

According to the ChessPro website, Anand has a plus score against Kramnik, but that includes a fairly large number of quick games, blindfold games (at Melody Amber), etc. When you look only at games played at a “classical” time control, Kramnik leads the series with 6 wins, 4 losses, and 41 draws!

I think that I would slightly favor Kramnik, first of all because he has more experience in very high-pressure matches, and he has shown his ability to win under those circumstances. Anand has never been through anything like the Kramnik-Kasparov, Kramnik-Leko, or Kramnik-Topalov matches. Also, according to GM Mikhail Golubev’s preview on ChessPro, Anand psychologically has a harder time dealing with losses than Kramnik does. If that’s true, and if Kramnik notches an early victory, then the match might be over.

We seem to be in a “first among equals” era among the top grandmasters, very reminiscent of the 1950s to early 1960s. Kramnik reminds me of Botvinnik, who never really was much better than his opponents, but was so tenacious that he remained champion for most of that era.

Anyway, it should be an exciting match. For chess fans, it will be a pleasure if we can just get through the match with no scandals about bathrooms, yogurt, or hidden transmitters …

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{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }

Howard Goldowsky October 14, 2008 at 12:43 pm

The personalities of Kramnik and Anand don’t seem to favor accusations. They seem more pleasant and mellow than Topolov, and they’ll probably focus on the chess. Your pregame analysis is logical, but there are so many variables in sports that analysis like this is obsolete once we get the first move. Off topic: What ever happened to the follow-up to Andre H’s column on tactical vision? –Howard Goldowsky

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admin October 15, 2008 at 11:13 am

Andres gave us an update a few weeks ago. He got a book deal from Everyman Chess that will be a continuation of the two columns that he wrote for Chessville. That’s pretty exciting! As far as I know, the Chessville series did not continue past the second installment.

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Andres D. Hortillosa October 15, 2008 at 11:31 am

I suspended the series on tactics because the contract with Everyman Chess requires that 80% of the work must be new material (never published). Anyway, my blunder-proof process has been reworked (honed) because of new “data sets” from my New England Masters experience.

I submitted an article in September to Chessville but it has not been carried yet.

Everyman is currently working on the blurb for the catalog.

By the way, my FIDE rating is now officially at 2199 as predicted by the New England Masters organizer.

I sent Everyman the draft of the introduction and it mentioned Dana’s blog.

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