After his defeat with Magnus carlsen in their match for the world championship last year, the critics of the entire chess world were merciless with him: his play was becoming too shy, his drawing rate was very high, he was too aged for and old for a number one, he was done.
his chances of winning the candidates tournament were estimated as really microscopic by all the bookies, some of them even said that he should’nt participate in this tournament.
but the king VISHY proved them all wrong, he showed the entire chess world that he still got it!!!!!!!!!!!
Last Sunday, the great Vishy anand, former world champion, won the Candidates tournament in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia, convincingly. He even managed to clinch the first place with one round to spare and without suffering a single loss.
He earned himself the right to play a revenge match against his highness magnus carlsen later this year.
Anand showed his class and big nerves when other Candidates like Kramnik and Aronian faltered. He rose up his play level as others went down. Anand’s dominance could be clearly seen from the final crosstable shown below.
the two big favourites collapsed on the second half of the tournament su to some fatigue and some bad management of their nerves. First, Vladimir Kramnik lost two games, probably because of some fatigue, and was completely out of the business; the second big favourite Levon Aronian of Armenia couldn’t manage to hold his nerves and collapsed under the big pressure in the last rounds.
All in all, Anand managed to score three victories, mostly outplaying his opponents positionally. It was a smooth run till the end of the tournament. He probably may not regain his world title from magnus, but he now knows what to expect from the norwegian prodigy. He will surely calibrate his play better than last year in Chennai, and make the match more exciting.
A very big and interesting fight is to be expected…