TIME MAGAZINE’S recent Q&A with Magnus Carlsen highlighted the stereotypes surrounding chessplayers. They’re super-bright; they can calculate umpteen moves, and they have a tendency to go off the rocker.
The Norwegian dealt with the usual chestnuts (chessnuts?) with dignity and patience. He pointed out that while he can calculate deeply when required, accurate evaluation at the end of calculations is more important than sheer depth. He also made the classic disclaimer, “Right now,I don’t see myself going mad but it’s hard to predict the future. ”
Carlsen may help dispel the stereotypes by being normal and endorsement-friendly. A few months ago, parallels were being drawn with Tiger Woods. But it’s unlikely Carlsen will crash a gas-guzzling SUV while dodging chess pieces hurled by an enraged partner. Norwegians are eco-conscious.
In mid-January, the new world no:1 will face the elite at the Corus super-tournament. World champion Anand is playing but he may already be in match mode. Match play demands a completely different mindset. The temptation to hold back new ideas is also extreme if there’s a match round the corner. Topalov is skipping Corus, probably for that reason.
Whatever happens at Corus, the Anand-Topalov match is going to dominate fan-conversation in the first half of 2010. Both GMs relish messy positions but Anand is a more complete player in calmer positions. Hence, Anand could head into more solid setups while Topalov sharpens play.
Off-the-board, psychological dimensions are difficult to call. The match will be tense and perhaps, feature a lot of verbals. Anand must surmount the pressures of playing in Topalov’s home-town and his ability to do the unknown. On the other hand, Topalov is emotionally fragile, and can self-destruct. We may thus see an error-ridden match where the results are explicable only in terms of off-board tensions.
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The 10-player Russian Super League has just concluded. As usual, it was very high quality with the lowest rated being the 15-year old Sana Sjiugirov (2612). Alexander Grischuk scored 6.5 from 9 to ensure that he’s back in the Top Ten with a 2650 performance. Svidler was second with 6. Alisa Galliamova won the ladies Super final with 7.5/ 9 ahead of Nadezdha Kosintseva (7).
The Diagram (Timofeev Vs Khismatullin, Russian Super 2009) features one of the most unusual material imbalances. 40.Rb5! Nxb5+ 41.axb5 Ke8
The computers say it’s equal but the horrible Rb6 gives white cause for optimism. 42.Ra1 e6 43.Ne3 d5 44.exd5 Rd6 45.c5 Rdd8 46.Kd4 Rac8 47.Rxa5 e5+ 48.Kc4 b6 49. b4!
The first exchange sacrifice was daring but not unusually imaginative. This is both. The pawns storm through after 50.— bxa5 50.bxa5 Ra8 51.a6 e4 52.fxe4 Kd7 53.Nf5 Re8 54.c6+ Kd8 55.Nd6 Re7 56.Kc5 f5 57.exf5 Re2 58.Nb7+ Ke8 59.d6 Rxg2 60.d7+ Ke7 61.f6+ Kxf6 62.c7 1-0.