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Carlsen confirms he will not be part of Anand's team for the match with Topalov
Magnus Carlsen was supposed to be part of Anand's team, as reported by the Indian Calcutta Telegraph earlier this week. However, alarms sounded as several other sources quoted Peter Heine Nielsen as the "sure second" for Anand.
After the Times of India report was published with the different team setup, Chessdom journalists contacted Magnus Carlsen himself for confirmation via Facebook. "I will make my own statement regarding this matter soon," commented Carlsen and a few minutes afterwards changed his status to, "Magnus Øen Carlsen: Is apparently not going to be a second for Anand after all. A shame, as I was really looking forward to that."
For the Chessbase blog of F. Friedel, Carlsen's father also denied the news, although not giving additional details for now.
Anand and Carlsen will be on the same team for WCC 2010 in Sofia
The World Champion Viswanathan Anand will have the Norwegian prodigy Magnus Carlsen as second for the upcoming match with Topalov. The news was announced by Anand himself in an interview during the visit at the East Zone NIIT Mindchampions Academy — Chess Master. Anand shared, "Surya Sekhar Ganguly may be. I am not sure. Seconds are a very secretive thing. Even if I tell you that he will be one of my seconds, the rival camp will not believe me. But one thing is for sure, Magnus Carlsen (the world No. 2) will be one of the seconds."
The World Champion added, "There’s a fight for the No. 1 spot. I rate Carlsen very highly. He’s had a memorable second half in 2009 and has improved by leaps and bounds."
Danailov about Carlsen and the 2010 World Championship
In a recent interview Silvio Danailov commented, "Since Carlsen started working with Kasparov, he is progressing as expected. At this moment he has to deal with the psychological pressure to be only 9 points from the top. He is young and talanted, it is expected for him to become number 1 at some point."
Anand and Carlsen in 2010
In the first part of 2010 both Carlsen and Anand are playing Corus chess 2010 tournament. While Anand is preparing from now for the match with Topalov, Carlsen will concentrate on Corus and will have extensive training session with Kasparov. The young Norwegian commented on his blog, "Right now I really look forward to a quiet and peaceful Christmas vacation with family and friends. My first tournament next year starts in the middle of January in Holland, but before that I’ll have a training session with Kasparov just after New Year."
Being Anand's second can surely be one of the reasons why Carlsen did not confirm participation for Linares 2010.
Anand and Carlsen in a rapid game encounter in Mainz
Always nice to be at the pinnacle: Anand A STAFF REPORTER Tuesday , December 22 , 2009
Calcutta: World No. 3 and reigning world champion Viswanathan Anand was in town to felicitate the East Zone winners of the NIIT Mindchampions Academy — Chess Master 2009, on Monday. From playing simultaneous chess with youngsters to teaching a trick or two to magician PC Sorcar, or signing around 100 autographs, Anand had a rollicking time at the DPS, Ruby Park. The smiling assassin also took time out to interact with the media.
The following are excerpts
How does it feel to be a world champion?
A It gives me a kick to be a world champion. Yeah, it’s always nice to be at the pinnacle and find out how it looks from the top. But being a champion has never made me feel complacent. In fact, it gives me impetus to work harder and strive to be better.
Whether defending the world title brings added pressure
Not really. I am not the defending champion in the sense that I won’t be winning the title if I drew with (Vaselin) Topalov. The match will go to the tie-breakers.
[Anand, who defeated Vladimir Kramnik to win the 2008 crown, will be playing current world No. 1 Vaselin Topalov for the world title in April next year.]
His preparation for the world title
The first part of 2010 will be hectic. In January, I am playing the Corus chess and in April, the World Championship. I am preparing hard for the April meet. Working more than 12 hours a day. Preparing for a World Championship is no mean task. You have to work 10 times more than what you do under normal circumstances. Physically and mentally, I have to be at my peak. I have to be ready to fight till the end.
The difference between Kramnik and Topalov
Kramnik is more from the classical school of chess. While Topalov loves to move around. I will have to look for chinks in Topalov’s armour and try to guess which way to attack.
His form before the World Championship has always been far from satisfactory. Is it a ploy to fool his opponent when the real battle begins?
I don’t think so. You don’t do these things intentionally. It’s just that this year I haven’t performed well enough to win a title.
Is the poor form a cause for concern?
No way. I know how to reach my peak when it comes to the crunch. If you don’t give your best in the World Championship, where else do you give? I will be motivated enough in April to give my best shot.
Topalov ahead of Manchester United's striker Berbatov
Veselin Topalov made it one more time to the top 10 of the prestigious award Bulgarian Sports Person of the year. Topalov takes the 7th position among strong competition.
The first place is for Detelin Dalakliev, World Champion in boxing (54 kg), who received the award from the President Georgi Parvanov. The silver medal is for Iordan Iovchev (gymnastics) and the bronze for Stanka Zlateva (wrestling). The person with most newspaper headlines for the year, the Manchester United striker Dimitar Berbatov, is 9th, two positions after Veselin Topalov.
Bulgarian Sportperson of the Year is an annual award given to the best sports person, as the winner is selected by the national journalists. It was first given in 1958 to the basketball player Vanya Voynova. The person with the most awards is high-jumper Stefka Kostadinova with four. For the first time a chess player appeared on the top 3 in 1962, when Georgi Peev got the second position.
Since the year 2001 Veselin Topalov is often present in top 10. He was the sports person N1 of the country in 2005 (after San Luis).
The Asian team chess championship is starting in Kolkata, India, wiith the participation of 93 players from Vietnam, India, Iran, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Singapore, Yemen, Sri Lanka, and Nepal.
Men section: 49 players of which 19 Grandmasters
Women Section: 44 players of which 10 Women grandmasters
The top seeded team in the men section is India A, led by GM Harikrishna and GM Sasikiran, while the top women team is again from India, led by IM Harika Dronavalli. Scroll down for full participant lists.
The opening of Asia teams chess
Yet another steel company after Corus is sponsoring a major chess competition. Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee inaugurated the Tata Steel Asian Chess Championship by making a symbolic move on a chess board at the Hotel Hindustan International on Sunday. The finance minister also unveiled the champion’s trophies of this premier Asian team championship which is organised by Dibyendu Barua Chess Academy & All Sport Management and will be held at the historic Town Hall. Speaking on the occasion, Pranab Mukherjee said, “ Chess is a game of intellect, patience and farsightedness. It is not important who wins the trophy, it is the participants spirit that prevails.” He wished all the participating counties a memorable stay in Kolkata “ I am sure the participants will take back happy memories of the city, and a part of India…” he further added.
Aslo present on the occasion, were the Mayor of Kolkata, Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya, the leader of the CLP Manas Bhuinya, Sanjay Choudhury, Chief, Corporate Communications, Tata Steel, D.V. Sundar , Hony Secretary of All India Chess Federation and Ravindra Dongre, Vice-President of AICF.
D.V. Sundar praised the efforts of Dibyendu Barua Chess Academy and All Sport
Management in organising this Mega event.”Dibyendu Barua is the pride not only of Bengal, but also of India. Barua has served India as a chess player and has ventured into organisation. I am sure he will find greater obstacles as an organiser than he must have had as a player, ” said Sundar in lighter vein.
Schedule change
The championship scheduled to start on December 21, has been postponed by a day due to the late arrival of Bangladesh and Lanka teams. The Bangladesh captain, Niaz Murshed, however, arrived in the city earlier in the evening and attended the captains meeting. In the captains meeting held late in the evening it was agreed by all the teams that the tournament would start from Tuesday, December 22.
It was also decided in the captains meeting that no player can agree to a draw before 30 moves. The games will start from 2 p.m everyday.The time limit for each game will be 40 moves in the first one and half hours followed by 30 minutes for the rest of the game. In addition there would be 30 seconds increment for each move.
India A teams start as the favourite in both the men’s and women’s sections in this 7 round Swiss league championship which will continue till December 28. As the host country, India will be fielding 2 teams in each category.
Participants men section
1. INDIA A (RtgAvg:2653)
1 GM Harikrishna P 2672 IND 2 GM Sasikiran Krishnan 2664 IND 3 GM Ganguly Surya Shekhar 2654 IND 4 GM Negi Parimarjan 2620 IND 5 GM Deepan Chakkravarthy J 2518 IND
2. VIETNAM (RtgAvg:2563)
1 GM Le Quang Liem 2624 VIE 2 GM Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son 2616 VIE 3 GM Bui Vinh 2488 VIE 4 GM Dao Thien Hai 2524 VIE 5 GM Nguyen Anh Dung 2447 VIE
3. IRAN (RtgAvg:2532)
1 GM Ghaem Maghami Ehsan 2603 IRI 2 GM Moradiabadi Elshan 2560 IRI 3 GM Mahjoob Morteza 2510 IRI 4 GM Bagheri Amir 2410 IRI 5 IM Toufighi Homayoon 2454 IRI
4. INDIA B (RtgAvg:2491)
1 IM Adhiban B 2486 IND 2 IM Satyapragyan Swayangsu 2480 IND 3 GM Laxman R R 2511 IND 4 IM Sengupta Deep 2488 IND 5 IM Himanshu Sharma 2469 IND
5. INDONESIA (RtgAvg:2382)
1 GM Megaranto Susanto 2522 INA 2 IM Purnama Tirta Chandra 2417 INA 3 FM Novita Anjas 2340 INA 4 Kaisar Jenius Hakiki 2227 INA 5 CM Farid Firman Syah 2249 INA
6. BANGLADESH (RtgAvg:2354)
1 GM Rahman Ziaur 2545 BAN 2 GM Murshed Niaz 2409 BAN 3 Md Jamal Uddin 2150 BAN 4 FM Mohammed Abdul Malek 2290 BAN 5 Ahmed Mahtabuddin 2171 BAN
7. SINGAPORE (RtgAvg:2263)
1 GM Wu Shaobin 2454 SIN 2 FM Chua Zheng Yuan Terry 2256 SIN 3 FM Lo Kin Mun Dominic 2174 SIN 4 Tan Weiliang 2168 SIN
8. YEMEN (RtgAvg:2217)
1 Abdullah Sonbul 0 YEM 2 FM Fouad Mofleh 2199 YEM 3 FM Faraj Yahya 2280 YEM 4 Al-Aqrabi Saleh 2201 YEM 5 CM Abdul Moula Sabri 2189 YEM
9. SRILANKA (RtgAvg:2130)
1 Hapuarachchi H L M 2019 SRI 2 Edirisinghe Dulan 2137 SRI 3 Kalugampitiya R S 2135 SRI 4 Anuruddha G C 2158 SRI 5 Wijesuriya G Luxman 2089 SRI
Bulgaria PM: We Are Honored to Host World Chess Title Match Sports December 16, 2009, Wednesday
The President of World Chess Federation (FIDE), Kirsan Ilyumdzhinov, and the Chair of the Bulgarian Chess Federation, Stefan Sergiev, signed Wednesday in Sofia the contract for hosting the final Chess World Championship Match in 2010.
The chess face-off between current world champion Viswanathan Anand from India and Bulgaria’s chess master Veselin Topalov, who is currently number one in the FIDE world ranking (Anand is third) will start on April 21, 2010.
Topalov and Anand will play 12 games. In case they finish with a tie, they will hold a tiebreaker including 4 games of fast chess.
For 140 years of chess championship there have been 19 such World Title matches, and all them turned into historic battles. Why is it important for us that Bulgaria and Sofia were picked to host this historic game? We can just imagine that the opponent of our representative Topalov is a representative of India, a nation of over one billion people, vs. tiny Bulgaria of 8 million. It is an honor and pleasure for us to become a center of global attention with this match. Let’s wish Topalov the best of luck. Once again, I thank FIDE for the hosting of this match, which is a recognition for Bulgaria, which has had world chess champions from among both men and women,” Bulgaria’s Prime Minister Boyko Borisov said during the ceremony.
Included are photos of the Grandmasters participating in the Festival Open. The last round game between Jon Ludvig Hammer and Simon Williams ended in a quick draw, which means that Norwegian grandmaster Jon Ludvig Hammer has taken first prize (£2,500) in the Festival Open with 8/9. He will be hoping that his compatriot Magnus Carlsen can make it a double Norwegian celebration tonight.
