Chennai: The fire-fighting exercise of Fide, the world chess governing body , on the Garry Kasparov issue only succeeded in pouring more petrol into it. As a result, Viswanathan Anand, who is involved in a nervewracking world championship match with Magnus Carlsen, has become an unwitting pawn in the political battle of Fide.
Fide deputy president Georgios Makropoulos told a press conference on Wednesday that Team Anand had requested the local organisers not to give Kasparov a seat in the first two rows of the playing hall during Tuesday's third round. When an intrepid foreign reporter asked Anand whether his team had made such a request, the Indian said: “No“.
Later, Fide's press officer told the reporter that the question should have been directed at Anand's team and not the player himself. But the collateral damage had already been done.
The revelation of Makropoulos was a clear attempt by Fide to divert attention from the flak it had been coping for making the Russian legend a persona non grata in Chennai.
Team Anand's “request“ wasn't meant for public consumption, but the Fide deputy president saw it fit to announce it to the media. It was a revelation Anand could have done without.
Kasparov had declared his moral support for Carlsen and Anand had a reason to be wary of the former world champion's presence in the front rows. Fide's disclosure has put Anand in a spot because he had made a conscious attempt on Tuesday to make light of Kasparov's presence at the venue of the match.
Earlier, Makropoulos said the world chess body had “respect for Kasparov as a former world champion and Fide presidential candidate.” “He can’t be a chess tourist here. At the same time, the question of not welcoming him with the red carpet and flowers didn’t arise as he hadn’t informed us about his visit.
The stories saying Fide didn’t respect Kasparov are the creation of the media, which wanted something after two not-so-interesting rounds,” he added.
But Makropoulos admitted that the local organisers were apprehensive that Kasparov might use the world championship platform to make political statements. When asked why the official commentary team was instructed not to allow Kasparov inside and the media centre was declared out of bounds for the former world champion, the Fide deputy boss feigned ignorance. “I’m responsible for making statements on behalf of Fide. Did I say something?” he said.
The Greek didn’t relent even after being told the names of Fide officials who had spoken about the restrictions on Kasparov.
Makropoulos went on to point out that Kasparov was welcome everywhere now. According to the Kasparov camp, however, the former champion had flatly refused to share the dais with Makropoulos in a press conference in the media centre on Wednesday.
Few would believe that the local organising committee acted without consulting Fide. Makropoulos also said that it wasn’t proper on the part of Kasparov to declare his support for Carlsen as a Fide presidential candidate. “If I were in his shoes, I wouldn’t do that,” he added.
The decision of Fide to leak the information on Team Anand’s “request on Kasparov’s seating arrangement” was clearly an attempt to make the Russian the public enemy number one here. In the process, the world chess body has done a disservice to Anand. For the record, Kasparov wasn’t given a seat in the first two rows on Tuesday.
Hansen revels in pupil Carlsen's rise
Hansen revels in pupil Carlsen's rise
DC/ S Sujatha
Chennai: He was Magnus Carlsen's first coach when the challenger was nine. Despite becoming a GM at 13 years and gaining elo rating points at will, it took Carlsen seven years to defeat him.
And he still has tremendous influence on Carlsen. He is IM Torbjorn Ringdal Hansen of Norway, who is here in Chennai as his prodigy's guest. Hansen, 34, is still an aspiring GM, but is already an established chess trainer in Norway .
“Carlsen was lucky to get quality training under Hansen right from a young age.
Research shows that one must have 10,000 hours of quality training to excel. If not, you need to start all over again. That way , Hansen played a big role in Carlsen's career,“ said Norwegian chess journalist Ole Johan Valaker.
Unlike regular chess trainers, who believe in giving chess puzzles as initial lessons for a newcomer to the game, Hansen tries to show them classics and makes them enjoy the game more than anything else.
“I myself don’t like solving puzzles and so, I rarely teach my students anything I don’t relish,” Hansen told this paper on Wednesday.
The Norwegian coach, who is enthusiastic about his former student taking on Viswanathan Anand for his first world title, also has unique ideas on teaching chess. “When I show a game of Anand to my students, I also show a picture of Anand and talk a little bit about him. I love sharing historical data and it actually helps the mind to store things easily,” he added.
Hansen mainly shares with his wards analysis of games that interest him and teaches openings that he likes. “At times, I do show them endgames, though it is something the children wouldn’t be happy about,” he added. The IM, who is part of Carlsen’s history now, also prepares chess quiz for his students to add variety to his teaching.
Hansen started training Carlsen in 1999, when the challenger’s family wanted a private coach for their son. “I taught him opening, strategy and whatever that interested me. One thing that we did deliberately was not to stick to one opening for a long time. We tried out different lines and it probably helps him now,” he said.
According to him, the young prodigy was initially playing e4 (pawn in front of the king in the centre) as his first move, like any other chess kid. Carlsen also used to play open Sicilian strategy, the first coach said. And one thing that is common right from childhood between Carlsen and world champion Anand is that both of them love chess books and have a photographic memory.
CHENNAI GM'S DAY OUT WITH KASPAROV
CHENNAI GM'S DAY OUT WITH KASPAROV
DC/TN Raghu
Chennai: When every person worth his pawn had been desperately trying to get close to Kasparov at Hyatt Regency on Wednesday, one Indian GM had the privilege of analysing the fourth round between Viswanathan Anand and Magnus Carlsen with the former world champion.
M.R. Venkatesh couldn't believe his eyes when the iconic Kasparov strode into the business centre of the hotel where the Chennai GM was explaining the game to Tamil Nadu association president P.R.
Venketrama Raja and his friends. “I was stunned to see my hero in front of me all of a sudden. It was like meeting superstar Rajnikanth unexpectedly. Kasparov brought energy to the hall. I will never forget this day in my life because the Russian has been my idol since childhood,“ he added.
The day indeed got better for Venkatesh. “Kasparov immediately put me at ease and started analysing the game with me.
Despite being one of the alltime greats of the game, he listened to my views carefully . The former world no.1 kept making comments about Anand's body language. Even though he has expressed his support to Carlsen, I only saw his passion for the game today,“ the GM added.
Even as Venkatesh was studying chess with a legend, his wife Bhavani was patiently waiting for him outside the hall with her father-in-law. It was a proud moment for the young lady as well because her husband had a chance that the others had been craving for.
