When reigning world champion Anatoly Karpov lost to Wolfgang Hartmann in Hanover in 1983, it created shock waves. The 27 year old Hartmann was a lowly 2290-rated player and no prodigy. By those standards, Anand’s last round defeat to Levon Aronyan at the Tal Memorial was mundane.
Aronyan was winning by move 12 ( he won in 25 moves) and that is unusual in any GM game. It ruined what had been a good tournament for the world champion. If Anand had won instead, he could have tied for first.
Kramnik played top-quality chess to finish clear champion with 6 from 9 games. Magnus Carlsen made a late surge to tie for second on 5.5 with Vassily Ivanchuk. There was an experimental anti-draw regulation in force where the arbiters had to agree to let draw offers stand. It’s tough to enforce this consistently and the Sofia Rules method of no offers makes more sense.
Sofia of course, is the home town of challenger Veselin Topalov and it will host the title match next April. According to a Kramnik interview in Sport Express, “Anand’s chances are sharply reduced because it will be played in Bulgaria. In Anand’s shoes, I would never have agreed to play in Sofia.”
The 18-year-old Norwegian genius is likely to be the new no:1 in January if he holds his rating gains here and in the upcoming London GM. Carlsen followed his 2nd prize in the classical Tal Memorial with an awesome blitz performance in the 5 minute double round-robin that followed.
In a mammoth 22-player 42-rounder, Carlsen logged 31 (+28,=6,-8) followed by Anand 28, (+20,=16,-6), Sergei Karjakin 25 (+20,=10,-12) and Kramnik (24.5) with a vast mob following. Carlsen scored 2-0 against all three second to fourth placed players.
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Just six players were rated sub-2700 and just one sub-2600. That one, Alexandra Kostenjuk beat both Anand and Carlsen. Carlsen’s exclusion from the next title cycle due to the Grand Prix messup is now looking truly ridiculous. Top players generally peak at 200-250 points above their rating at age 18. Carlsen could therefore, cross 3000 if he keeps going at this rate!
THE DIAGRAM, WHITE TO PLAY (Anand Vs Aronyan, Tal 2009) shows white on the edge of the precipice. Either 2. Bc2 or 12. O-O is balanced. Anand’s 12 b3? was a lemon. 12...Nxd3+ 13.Qxd3 Qg5. Black’s winning with an unstoppable light square assault and the white king can’t escape due to 14. O-O Bh3.
Play continued 14.g3 Qf6 15.Bb2 Qf3 16.Rg1 Bg4 17.a3 Re8 18.Rc1 b4 19.axb4 Bxb4 20.h3 Bxh3 21.g4. Bxg4 22.Rg3 Qf5 23.Qd4 Re4 24.Qa7+ Qd7 25.Qb6 c5 (0-1). The threats include Re6 and d4 – apart from the huge material advantage.