Kasparov’s attack had a Fide link
World champion Anand may have to defend title in November ’13 itself
LOKENDRA PRATAP SAHI
Calcutta: World champion Viswanathan Anand’s refusal to support former champion Anatoly Karpov and, thereby, take sides in the heat-generating 2010 Federation Internationale des Echecs (Fide) elections led to Garry Kasparov attacking him during the recent championship duel against Boris Gelfand.
That, at least, is Anand’s belief.
Kasparov, also a former champion, had been canvassing for Karpov, who failed to unseat Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, a multi-millionaire businessman and politician. Ilyumzhinov was the President of the Republic of Kalmykia for 17 years.
“The attack was on purpose… Kasparov and I had a slight falling out in 2010, when he’d expected me to support Karpov. I didn’t take sides… So, it was his way of paying me back,” Anand told The Telegraph on Friday, before returning to Chennai after being felicitated by the West Bengal government.
In what was most unusual, Kasparov tore into Anand, now the world champion five times, saying he lacked ideas. At a press conference, he also remarked “you (the media) should be disappointed with Anand’s play…”
It was very personal.
Clearly, Kasparov wanted to provoke Anand and destroy his concentration, but the champion didn’t fall for the bait.
“Kasparov felt that he could actually disturb me, but I was in my chess bubble, focusing on the job at hand… He couldn’t cut through that bubble… I try and keep the external influences at bay…
“When I’m in that state of mind, sometimes, it’s jarring even to be wished by well-wishers… When I’m in the chess bubble, then expectations don’t come into the picture,” Anand pointed out.
Anand did ‘retaliate’, but after he’d retained the crown.
Laughing, Anand said: “Look, at that point (with the games tied 3-3), it made no sense for me to get into a slanging match with Kasparov… He had all the time to attack me, could do it 24×7, but I had my title to defend… He had nothing to do, I had plenty on my hands, I had to focus on Gelfand.”
Incidentally, it’s not that Kasparov and Anand have always been on different wavelengths.
Anand, meanwhile, could well have to defend his title as early as November 2013 and not sometime in 2014.
“Frankly, I don’t know how it’s being done, but they’re looking at 16 months from now… The venue won’t be decided till, possibly, the challenger is known,” Anand commented.
Anand’s next tournament will be the Bilbao Masters, split between Brazil and Spain, in September. The field, one learns, is being finalised.
Source: http://www.telegraphindia.com
It’s about money, power, and ego.
Due respect to Anand, Kasparov was at least partially right. Geldand match was uninspired and short on ideas.
The disadvantage that Anand has, is that every candidate has masses of time to prepare for Anand,while Anand himself can only prepare after the candidates are over.
Kasparov’ critic has succedeed. It was a boring match at that point…
even gelfand snubbed kasparov.. if gelfand had accepted kasparov’s offer he would have gone about saying, gelfand’s good show was due to his seconding..
“The disadvantage that Anand has, is that every candidate has masses of time to prepare for Anand,while Anand himself can only prepare after the candidates are over.”
The candidate who is doing that, probably won´t qualify because his immediate opponent will defeat him.
the recent world championship was a terrible and boring bad joke
anyway fide is a very political entity similar to FIFA, full of scandals and internal deceptions
Quote: “Clearly, Kasparov wanted to provoke Anand and destroy his concentration, but the champion didn’t fall for the bait.”
You should try to present the facts as they are and not to put your personal view