Good display by Anand
Arvind Aaron
CHENNAI: In a three hour battle, World No.1 Viswanathan Anand saved a couple of difficult games towards the end to turn around and win seventeen games, draw one and lose one game in the Anand v The World, Vidya Sagar Charity Simultaneous Display held on April 21 at the Internet Chess Club.
Anand, the 37-year old Chennai-born World No.1, took on 19 players at the same time from four continents spread across eight nations from various time zones as Hong Kong in the East to California in the West at the same time in a classical chess game from his home at Collado Mediano near Madrid in Spain and ended with a high 92.10 per cent score.
Best preparation
Speaking to The Hindu, Anand said the best preparation before playing such a demanding display was good sleep and rest and he had it. “Both `Bluesette’ (real name Marc Lacrosse of Belgium) and `Knight Gold’ (Dr Alain Authier from Quebec, Canada) played well, and I managed to recover against Shanbhag and win,” said Anand.
Bluesette won a nice ending after Anand admitted that he overlooked a rook manoeuvre by his opponent. Knight Gold took a draw by repetition.
The event took place at http://www.chessclub.com/ and the games were played on a 90 minutes per player with a five second increment per move basis.
The ICC confirmed that $5,408 (about Rs. 2.25 lakhs) was raised for VidyaSagar, Chennai from last night’s Charity Simul. The highest bidder paid $501.
Source: Hindu.com
I was happy to get the oportunity to play a lesser-known Paulsen variation with which I have a long experience in correspondence play.
A few comments of mine on my website at chessbazaar.mlweb.info.
I thank GM Anand for that wonderful opportunity, surely the best experience of my whole chessplayer “career”.
Marc Lacrosse (Bluesette on ICC)
Marc,
Congratulations on your victory over the world’s #1 rated player. That is no small feat even for a super GM.
I thought there was a 2200 rating limit on this simul? See http://www.chessclub.com/resources/event/anand07/
Marc is a Fide Master and rated 2313
http://www.fide.com/ratings/card.phtml?event=200921
Jon,
On Marc’s website I found the following heading on the game vs Anand:
“Anand, V (2786) – Lacrosse, Marc (2155)
simul ICC 90+5 (Internet Chess Club), 04/21/2007
[Marc Lacrosse] [B40]”
I’m not sure if 2155 or the 2313 is more recent. Either way, it’s still a big accomplishment to beat Anand with black, and even a 2313 Master would be dealing with a 473 rating difference.
No no.
There are two “Marc Lacrosse” playing chess in Belgium.
The FIDE master is from the flemish city of Ghent and is a much stronger player than myself over-the-board.
I am from the southern french-speaking part of Belgium. I am not FIDE rated. My rating for slow chess is a poor 2150 or so on ICC.
I play correspondence chess at ICCF in master class.
Marc
Thanks for clearing that up Marc. There’s a world of difference between 2155 (close to my own rating) and 2313 and I congratulate you on an excellent performance.
Congratulations Marc! Well done! And thank you for helping out a good cause!
Best wishes,
Susan Polgar
http://www.PolgarChess.com
I thought that there would be a expressive number of oponents to Anand in that simul. But only 19?
Congratulations, Lacrosse. It was a great achievement.