Carlsen – Anand updates will be published every 15 minutes all day long, refresh the page for the latest news
Hello everyone and welcome to the live countdown to the Carlsen – Anand 2014 World Chess Championship match on Chessdom.com! Starting today and up until the first move on the 8th of November we will be keeping you informed about the latest developments around the match with minute by minute updates.
All you have to do to get the latest news around the match is refresh this page. News will be appearing on this page every 15 minutes all day long in a reverse chronological order. Expect also experts opinions, interviews with top players, polls, photos, videos, and more.
Before we start, an answer to the two most important questions: the schedule and the live games. The match opening ceremony will be on the 7th of November and the first game starts 8th of November at 15:00 local time (13:00 CET, 07:00 EST) see the full schedule and details here. The games will be shown live with triple engine analysis by the Top Computer Chess Championship engines Komodo, Stockfish, and Houdini at the Carlsen – Anand 2014 live games page and with chat at the Carlsen – Anand TCEC page
If you have a website, you can also show the games live by simply copy/pasting this code in the code of your webpage:
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Minutes by minute updates begin here, enjoy!
10:00 CET
GM Harikrishna agrees with the thoughts of Anand shared for Firstpost and AS. He goes even further of the psychological analysis of the World Chess Championship 2014. In an interview for Chessdom earlier this week GM Harikrishna said, “He has been playing his natural chess without any pressure. I think after Chennai he is playing freely and this can be seen in results. The pressure will be on Magnus Carlsen as he has lot to prove in this match. So we have to wait and see, who will teach whom” (read the full interview here)
Harikrishna was referring to Magnus Carlsen’s words after last year’s match, when the young Norwegian said for Livemint, “To be honest, I think I’ve learnt a great deal from [Anand] in the past, both by playing against him and training with him. Previously, he could outplay me in certain positions, and he could do that in ways that no else could. But I think I showed him in a way that although he has taught me many things in the past, now it’s probably my turn to teach him.”
Exactly these words will be one of the nuances of the match that the chess fans will keep an eye on. “Who will teach whom” World Championship match starts on November 7th with the opening ceremony in the Olympic City of Sochi.
9:45 CET
The key word for Anand’s preparation for the match that he shared with the Spanish AS is “confidence”. This is what was lacking for Vishy in later games of the Chennai match. It was evident to everyone, and Anand himself described the story to Firstpost, “It was un-nerving in a sense made me question myself; made me question my chess. But then I came to the realisation that worry never helps you. The more you think about it, the more you get pulled down in the muck. It’s like quick sand – the more you struggle, the faster you sink.”
Now the story is different. The tiger seems to be ready to roar again after success in the Candidates Matches and Bilbao. He says, “I enjoyed training and preparing for Sochi. It doesn’t matter if you are challenger or a champion. It’s either him or me in Sochi. So I’m happy to take my chances”.
9:30 CET
Speaking to different national media about the World Championship 2014 rematch against Carlsen, Viswanathan Anand words vary depending on the audience. Although not very broad in explanations, Anand carefully chooses every word in his interviews.
One of the most emblematic talks of the day was with the Spanish sports newspaper AS. Here are a couple of the match related questions:
Q: Do you feel that you know Carlsen’s weak points?
A: Yes, I think so. I have some idea. And also I gained confidence, that is why I am optimistic
Q: Until where does your rivalry with Carlsen reach?
A: I am not his friend, I have better relations with others in chess. There is rivalry between us. Even when we joke there is certain tension
Q: What is the importance of computers in chess today [...] What would Spassky and Fischer do with these technologies
A: What happened before at a chess game was a mystery, now with the analysis it is not. They are very strong. Nakamura tried playing against one with a pawn advantage and the white pieces and lost… If they [Fischer and Spassky] played without the knowledge of computers, we would defeat them easily.
9:15 CET
The challenger Viswanathan Anand has already arrived in Sochi. He is now settled there with his wife Aruna and a part of his team. The view from his hotel room, although nice, does not give the slightest hint of the storm on the chess board that is about to start in a few days.
View from Anand’s room in Sochi (photo by Aruna Anand)
Did you ever wonder how the city of the World Chess Championship 2014 feels for the Indian chess star? Vishy Anand shared on twitter
Long walks yes minister fawlty towers watching wildlife documentaries.. weather tip bright sunny but still chilly ! Yes thats how we feel :)
— Viswanathan Anand (@vishy64theking) November 4, 2014
9:00 CET
We start our coverage with the developing story, the news that we will be following all day long. Today Magnus Carlsen travels to Sochi. If no delays, the whole trip with one change of aircraft will take six hours, and you will be seeing here at Chessdom the first photos of the World Champion arriving in the Winter Olympics city.