It is heartening that Viswanathan Anand has qualified to try to win the world chess crown, that he lost to Magnus Carlsen last year. The former world champ has defied age to come through the rough and tumble of the Candidates’ tournament, where he took an unassailable lead by the penultimate round after a big upset, with top seed Levon Aronian of Armenia beaten by low-ranked Dmitry Andreikin of Russia.
The battle has just begun for Anand, who came off a poor second in the title match in Chennai in November, failing to win a single game, losing to the Norwegian prodigy by 6.5-3.5. Experts noted Anand was too defensive initially when he may have blown away potential winning positions. He may have hoped for all-drawn games so he could strike in a tie-breaker, but once he failed to capitalise early, Carlsen became unassailable.
The tilt at the title in end-2014 may be tougher as Anand will play in Europe against an opponent who is now the world’s highest-rated chess player (peak Elo rating 2881), above even geniuses like Anatoly Karpov. It will be unwise to raise our expectations too high for the five-time world champion against first-time winner Carlsen. But a wiser and more relaxed Anand could challenge the champion a lot better if he sheds the fear of defeat that seems to come with a home match.
