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In chess, like in any other sports, psychology plays a critical role. One doesnt become a world champion having a weak character. However, even the bravest and most self-confident player isnt guaranteed anything. The higher the stakes, the more nerves matter. Vladimir Kramnik mentioned while commentating on the match that probably the main difference between the very top players and the top-100 grandmasters is that the former can handle stress better. The game is not decided only on the board; its a clash of minds, personalities. One can be better prepared in the opening, generally play chess better, but still lose due to being overemotional. Even the best of the best falter sometimes.
I dont know for sure what Anand and Gelfand are feeling, but even by observing them one can gather food for thought. From the psychological point of view the match can be broken down into two parts: before game 8 and after. Clearly, Anand is not in his best shape. One can tell that both by the way he is playing and by the way he looks. During the first 8 games Vishy gave the impression of an unconfident and passive person. He was hiding in his shell and avoiding answering questions during the press conferences. And I dont think that was due to trying to save energy. Moreover, Gelfand had excellent preparation with Black, and this contributed even more to Anands psychological problems. Game 7 (which he lost in a terrible fashion) became a true shock for the World Champion. Many analysts were expecting him to pull himself together after the defeat, but that wasnt the case. However, luck was on Anands side at this point: Gelfand blundered a queen, and the score became equal again. Now Vishy became way more relaxed and concentrated than before. For example, in game 9 he was defending a fortress against Gelfands queen. Having made a few quick and strong moves, he offered a draw to his opponent. Usually the stronger side is supposed to offer a draw, so this was a psychological trick in some respect. During the press conferences Vishy started smiling and making jokes, as well as answering the questions before Boris, not after.
Maybe Anands sapless play is connected with his lack of motivation. He has defended his title twice already. What else does he want to achieve in chess? When preparing for the match against Gelfand, Vishy was playing rather mediocre chess in tournament, apologizing shyly before his friends on Twitter. Probably he lost focus, and his thoughts were elsewhere. Alas, Caissa is a cruel goddess that rewards only her most loyal servants. By playing in an energy-saving mode one risks forgetting what it feels like to give 100% of yourself to the game. Not to mention losing self-respect by being a World Champion who doesnt win the tournaments he is playing in.
On the contrary, Boris Gelfand knows no rivals when it comes to preparing himself for top tournaments. For him it is the very first WCC match, and he is clearly enjoying it. He is clearly more motivated to win than Anand, and it can be seen from the way he is playing. Boris dismissed a question about him not being experienced enough and being unused to handling the pressure of such a match by saying he doesnt feel any special pressure. He is not afraid to answer even the most provocative questions. His opening repertoire is more flexible too. While Vishy is playing for a draw with Black and a minimal advantage with White, Boris is ready to seize the initiative with any color.
The critical point of the classical part of the match was game 8. Boris was obviously feeling that Anand had lost his balance. He decided to finish his opponent off: its very hard to come back after two losses at this level and in such a short match. After having played the opening in a creative way, he got into a situation where he had to play very precisely in order not to get a significantly worse position. Looking quite satisfied, he played the horrible move 14..Qf6?, thus implying that he thought he was winning. Anand reacted almost instantly; he had seen the trap coming a while ago. Nonetheless, one has to give credit to Boris: he wasnt demolished by such a blunder.
Summarizing, before game 8, psychology was on the Challengers side. Now Gelfand and Anand are about equal in this respect. This will make the tie-break even more exciting. Who do you think will win?
Today I would like to annotate for you game #7. Anands loss was caused by his lack of self-confidence. In a somewhat inferior position he talked himself into believing that he was hopelessly lost already and started making one bad move after the other, not even trying to put up any defense.
Pogonina.com offers you a selection of some of the most informative and entertaining chess tweets from last week:
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Ilya Odesskij: Finally passed the 1000 likes threshold on PlayChess. A trifle thing, but still nice.
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This should be exciting!
Self-critical Stuart, as always
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The title of "World Champion" is the most coveted award in chess. It is desired by millions, but reached by only the chosen few. Behind each champion there is a story of years of hard work. Some great chess players never became world champions for one reason or another. Traditionally, the fate of the title is decided in a match between the champion and the challenger. At certain points in history knock-out events and tournaments were used to determine the champion, but I believe that a match is the most exciting and attractive way to find out who the worlds #1 player is.
The 2012 WCC match is taking place in Moscow, Russia in the famous Tretyakov Art Gallery. The quality of the video broadcast is, as usually, unmatched. Over a dozen of top GMs have been invited to commentate on the match at the official website in both Russian and English. Even more of them are scattered all over the other chess media. Every day there are press conferences with celebrity guests; simuls for children and other interesting events. The organization of the tournament is actually beyond praise. The only thing that is getting widely criticized is the art & commercial breaks that are very long and sometimes occur at the critical moments. The idea to entertain the viewers and educate them about arts is generally good, but the implementation hasnt received much positive comments. Make sure you visit the official website of the WCC if you havent bookmarked it already.
Viswanathan Anand has a unique record of having won the title under all the three systems: knock-out, tournament, match. He has been holding the title since 2007 and defended it in 2008 against Kramnik and in 2010 against Topalov. This time he is being challenged by Boris Gelfand, who had to win first the World Cup and then the Candidates Matches to qualify. They are of about the same age; both are very experienced. Dont be misled by their relatively modest ratings: 4th and 20th. Clearly, both of them were focused on the WCC match and didnt show their best during other tournaments. As a result, both have lost quite a few rating points.
To prepare for a WCC match one has to undertake a tremendous amount of work. Gelfand has been known to study up to 12 hours a day. We dont have the relevant information about Anand, but its clear that he wasnt idling either. A critical component of success is finding the right team of seconds. These people must get along well with each other, be truly motivated to help, ready to work hard and be innovative and creative enough to generate top-level ideas in the opening.
The pressure on them is extremely high. Usually they are not even getting enough sleep, not to mention any other pleasures. Few grandmasters can handle it. To get a sense of the atmosphere, you can read a frank book by Bareev and Levitov called From London to Elista, which is dedicated to Kramniks WCC matches against Kasparov, Leko and Topalov.
A common practice is to prepare a new opening specifically for the match in order to surprise the opponent. The other team must try to anticipate such surprises. After the first half of the match it became obvious that both Anands and Gelfands teams have worked very well on the repertoire for Black. Also, both teams have failed to predict what the other side has prepared. Anand was clearly not ready to face the Gruenfeld and the Sveshnikov, while Gelfand hasnt foreseen that Anand will employ the hybrid of Chebanenko and Meran in the Slav.
At first glance it looks like Gelfand has some advantage after the first half of the match. He is taking more risks and obviously enjoying the games while, at the same time, not falling for gambling ideas. The price of making a mistake in this match is very high. Anand looks very tense and sapless. His posture is saying dont beat me and reminds of a diligent student who hasnt learnt his lesson. When he faces risky continuations, he replies very carefully, trying to avoid risks at all costs. We havent seen the real Anand so far witty, sharp-eyed, unpredictable, swift!
The first 6 games in the match were drawn, and only in the third game one of the opponents had real winning chances.
Game #7 stands alone in the sense that Anand played very strangely. Unlike normally, I could hardly guess his moves at all while commentating on the game online. A few mistakes untypical of Vishys level, and the duel was decided in Boris favor.
Update: in game 8 both partners have demonstrated interesting ideas in the opening (Nh5 for Gelfand, Qd2 for Anand). Alas, the struggle ended on move 17 after a terrible blunder by Boris This seems to be an anti-record: the shortest loss in the history of the WCC matches!
I would like to annotate for you game #3 of the match. It was a good fighting game which Anand could have won if he hadnt gotten into time trouble. Usually he is playing very quickly, so this was a bad sign for Vishy. Game #7 has confirmed the diagnosis: Anand is in a bad chess shape.
Pogonina.com offers you a selection of some of the most informative and entertaining chess tweets from last week:
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The basics of World Chess Championship match play by Levon Aronian
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Moschess: The chess players are not used to overworking anymore. If we make them play 24 games, I wonder if they will survive...
Nicki Minaj and Missy Elliot - watch out!
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When referring to general chess principles, approaches and structures in my articles I always add a disclaimer warning that a lot depends on the particular situation. A certain method might work in 9 cases out of 9, only to fail in the 10th. A general evaluation of the position is not sufficient for choosing the right plan and move. Chess engines have revolutionized our understanding of the game; many opening lines have been reconsidered. Some positions that were previously considered strategically hopeless are now being saved by precise play. Other variations turned out to be winning. By analyzing at home using engines modern chess players are often opting for strategically risky positions if they know they can back up their play with some concrete lines.
Of course, this doesnt mean that one shouldnt study the classical strategic principles anymore. We cant rely on brute force and try to calculate and evaluate all the possible continuations. And even the most uncommon and odd moves are based on some strategic concepts. Strong moves cant be illogical.
A concrete approach is, first and foremost, not relying on platitudes. Here and there we have people claiming a two bishop advantage, all rook endgames being drawn, a bishop better than a knight in an open position and so on without even carefully assessing whats happening on the board. Yes, one has to take note of all those factors, but it is also important to check if the calculations and your impression of what the game is going to be like support the principles. Some weaknesses might turn out to be strengths, and vice versa.
The more complicated the position, the more important it is to apply a concrete approach. The simpler it is, the more critical positional understanding is. That is one of the main reasons why young and sharp-eyed players love tactical struggles, while the seasoned veterans prefer grinding out technical endgames that are well-known to them.
The position after 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 d5 5. a3 Bc3+ 6. Qc3 0-0 7. Bg5 or 4 0-0 5. a3 Bc3+ 6. Qc3 d5 7. Bg5 has been known from the year 1930. Black has tried a lot of moves here, but only in 2009 the novelty 75 was introduced. It is based on a pawn sacrifice in the main line and on severely damaging the pawn structure in one of the variations. The author of this move is Anands second Radoslav Wojtaszek, who used it against Alexei Dreev (both players are of 2700+ calibre). Up to this moment over 30 games have been played in this variation, including some of the very top-level ones. Below you can view a recent game of mine featuring this line:
