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The Viswanathan Anand- Magnus Carlsen world title match will present a fascinating contrast in styles and a lot could depend on the quality of preparation. Match play revolves around deep preparation. It is about trying to find out the specific weaknesses of a given opponent while trying to mask your own.
Anand is vastly experienced at this. He likes to play highly complex positions where deep opening preparation can translate into a quick win. He is less comfortable psychologically if he's out of the book. He is also not fond of playing long technical endgames and closed positions which involve manoeuvring.
Carlsen's opening style is less conventional. On the whole, he has tended to avoid complicated openings where deep preparation can make a difference. This is because he's a supremely confident middlegame and endgame player. Many of Carlsen's wins come from probing away in objectively equal positions. He has tremendous energy and killer instinct and is very fit physically. So he enjoys playing long games. He is the best endgame technician ever - surpassing greats like Bobby Fischer, Anatoly Karpov and Jose Raul Capablanca - in his error-free management of endgames.
Anand and Carlsen have worked together before, so they know each other well. Anand has revealed at least some of his team members. Sandipan Chanda and Radoslaw Wojtacek have worked with him before. He has also taken the help of Krishnan Sasikiran and Peter Leko for this match. Leko is an interesting choice - he has a somewhat similar style to Carlsen in that he's a great technician. He is also a great theoretician.
Carlsen declined to reveal his team. The known elements include Laurent Fressinet, the French GM and Jon Ludwig Hammer, the Norwegian no:2. There will be more players in the background and there are rumours that Garry Kasparov will also be assisting.
The classical track record favours Carlsen head-to-head. Anand leads 6-3 in wins with 20 draws across their careers. But Anand's last classical win came in 2010 while all three of Carlsen's wins have come in the last three years.
Will Carlsen stick to his old strategy of avoiding opening preparation? If he does, he is backing himself to outplay Anand in long games. If he heads into sharp opening preparation, he could surprise Anand or risk being surprised himself. Anand is well-aware of his own issues and he will have worked hard to ensure his physical fitness and endgame technique is up to scratch.
The Diagram, WHITE TO PLAY (Carlsen Vs Anand, Tal Mem Moscow 2013) was the last decisive encounter. Carlsen played 22.d5! cxd5 23.Qxd7 Rxd7. Black loses after 23...Rxc1 24.Qb7 Rxe1+ 25.Kf2 and play continued 24.Nxe6! fxe6 25.Bh3! Kh8 26.e5 Ng8 27.Bxe6 Rdd8 28.Rc7 d4 29.Bd7! (1-0). Since 29.Bd7 Ne7 30.Rd1 Nd5 31.Rb7 and white wins.
Devangshu Datta is an internationally rated chess and correspondence chess player
