ANAND BIDS TO REGAIN WORLD CHESS TITLE
indiainteracts.com, India
Published on September 13, 2007
World no.1 Viswanathan Anand of India will try to regain the $1.3
million World Chess Championship when eight stalwarts lock horns
here from Thursday. Anand, who won the title in Tehran in 2000, will
compete with the likes of Russians world no. 3 Vladimir Kramnik and
Alexander Morozevich in what is being touted as the strongest ever
tornament held in the sport’s history.
Former world champion Garry Kasparov of Russia in a recent interview
had termed Anand as the favourite for the title.
The draw for the championship, which will be played on a double
round-robin format at the Sheraton Centro Historico Hotel, is yet
to be announced. The first four rounds will be played from Thursday
to Sunday.
The first of the three rest days will be Sep 17 while the 14th and
final round is scheduled for Sep 29. Sep 30 has been kept in case a
tiebreak is required as well as for the closing ceremony.
Anand starts with the highest elo rating of 2792 and with Kramnik at
2769, the competition is expected to be intense.
Anand was one of the four players who qualified directly for the
competition together with Kramnik, Peter Svidler of Russia and
Morozevich.
After arriving in Mexico, Anand came directly to the playing hall,
as he is no.1 in the FIDE rating list.
Lev Aronian of Armenia needed to go through tough qualifications
in Elista this year. He beat Magnus Carlsen of Norway on his way to
the final.
The other three who qualified were Peter Lekoof of Hungary, Boris
Gelfand of Israel and Russian Alexander Grischuk.
Several players arrived as much as a week ago to acclimatise themselves
to local conditions in Mexico, which is located at an altitude of
2,240 metres.
Also, the time difference between most players’ home countries and
Mexico is huge. For instance, the time difference between Mexico and
India is 11 and half hours.
The competitors:
Vishwanathan Anand (India), 2792, 1969 Vladimir Kramnik (Russia), 2769,
1975 Alexander Morozevich (Russia), 2758, 1977 Peter Leko (Hungary),
2751, 1979 Levon Aronian (Armenia), 2750, 1982 Peter Svidler (Russia),
2735, 1976 Boris Gelfand (Israel), 2733, 1968 Alexander Grischuk
(Russia), 2726, 1983
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
