Going into the first rest day of the Candidates Chess 2014 tournament, former World Champ Anand is in the sole lead with a staggering 2.5/3.0 points.
Round #1 saw Anand v/s Aronian, Levon Aronian (ARM) current World No.2, 2827.6 Live Rating and apparently Anand's most feared opponent, the heads up score between the 2 has favoured Aronian. Until Tata Steel Chess 2013, where we saw Aronian v/s Anand, a semi slav variation chosen by black, sommething Anand had well prepared for his World Championship Match against Gelfand in 2012. Vishy won that game in 23 moves, that game now known as 'Anand's Brilliancy'.
Anand won round one with the white pieces against Aronian, giving him a head start and an incredible boost in confidence for tournament ahead. The other 3 games were drawn but we did see some action in them too, in other posts to follow, Games of Kramnik !
The final position of the game where white threatens to capture black's knight and black has no escape from it. White's last move Kc3 evaluates the position to +5.83
Round #2 Topalov v/s Anand, Vesilin Topalov (BUL) Challenger to world champion Anand back in 2010, where Anand desperately needed a win with the black pieces in the last round of that match to defend his title of World Champion then, and what a game it was !! After the amazing win in Round 1 Anand enters with the black pieces and we see a very long game with a critical rook-pawn endgame, Houdini and Stockfish both showing an evaluation of (+1.6) but after the long hours of play Topalov couldn't convert that advantage into a win thus ending the game into a draw after a long 54 moves
Round #3 Anand faced Mamedyarov(AZE), Mamedyarov who qualified to the Candidates 2014 as the runner up in the FIDE Grand Prix 2012-2013. Mamedyarov started off with the Queen's pawn, and Anand chose to play the slav defence. Black gradually gained a slight edge, and played all the right moves to hold white against his weaknesses. Result ? Victory for Black in 31 moves !!
And this is the final move played by black where the Stockfish evaluates this to -3.18, 30... h6 played just to avoid any back rank issues and create a fool proof strategy to mate white!!
So this has been the story of the Candidates Chess 2014 till now for our Madras Tiger, former World Champion. I now strongly believe we will see a Anand-Carlsen rematch for the throne, though yet long way to go. But with Anand highly motivated, boosted confidance we are sure to see some really strong games more action in rounds to come.
Feel free to share, comment ! Thanks !!
Twitter: @TanayHH
Image Courtesy : http://candidates2014.fide.com/ official FIDE website for the Candidates tournament
PS: All the above views are my personal opinions, and this blog is to share my views about chess and in no where it is intended to use them for profit.
Round #1 saw Anand v/s Aronian, Levon Aronian (ARM) current World No.2, 2827.6 Live Rating and apparently Anand's most feared opponent, the heads up score between the 2 has favoured Aronian. Until Tata Steel Chess 2013, where we saw Aronian v/s Anand, a semi slav variation chosen by black, sommething Anand had well prepared for his World Championship Match against Gelfand in 2012. Vishy won that game in 23 moves, that game now known as 'Anand's Brilliancy'.
Anand won round one with the white pieces against Aronian, giving him a head start and an incredible boost in confidence for tournament ahead. The other 3 games were drawn but we did see some action in them too, in other posts to follow, Games of Kramnik !
The final position of the game where white threatens to capture black's knight and black has no escape from it. White's last move Kc3 evaluates the position to +5.83
Round #2 Topalov v/s Anand, Vesilin Topalov (BUL) Challenger to world champion Anand back in 2010, where Anand desperately needed a win with the black pieces in the last round of that match to defend his title of World Champion then, and what a game it was !! After the amazing win in Round 1 Anand enters with the black pieces and we see a very long game with a critical rook-pawn endgame, Houdini and Stockfish both showing an evaluation of (+1.6) but after the long hours of play Topalov couldn't convert that advantage into a win thus ending the game into a draw after a long 54 moves
Round #3 Anand faced Mamedyarov(AZE), Mamedyarov who qualified to the Candidates 2014 as the runner up in the FIDE Grand Prix 2012-2013. Mamedyarov started off with the Queen's pawn, and Anand chose to play the slav defence. Black gradually gained a slight edge, and played all the right moves to hold white against his weaknesses. Result ? Victory for Black in 31 moves !!
And this is the final move played by black where the Stockfish evaluates this to -3.18, 30... h6 played just to avoid any back rank issues and create a fool proof strategy to mate white!!
Feel free to share, comment ! Thanks !!
Twitter: @TanayHH
Image Courtesy : http://candidates2014.fide.com/ official FIDE website for the Candidates tournament
PS: All the above views are my personal opinions, and this blog is to share my views about chess and in no where it is intended to use them for profit.
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