Anand - Carlsen World Chess Championship 2013: Summary of Top News Stories

Chess Blog for Daily Chess News and Trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2013

Hello everyone,

As expected, the Anand - Carlsen World Chess Championship excitement has taken over chess media. We are flooded with chess features, chess news reports and chess interviews coming in from around the world. Here is a summary of what all is going on:

First, of course, we know that hectic work is on by the organisers in Chennai to ensure that all arrangements are the best possible. All details are being taken care of from players' security to playing area seating arrangements. "Anand and Carlsen will be out of bounds for the public, media before the start of the match. The duo will come in a separate elevator and go straight to the playing area. Their entry and exit points will be barricaded,” according to Fide vice-president DV Sundar.

“Only the chief arbiter and deputy arbiter can access the playing area apart from the players. Hotel staff will be allowed to serve refreshments to the players."

Then, there are reports about various Grandmasters commenting on the match. GM Parimarjan Negi says, “Carlsen definitely has the better chance. He is mentally very tough and that is one of his strongest points. The one thing working against him is that everybody expects him to win. His chances of winning are good, but definitely not as high as they are being made out to be. He showed some nerves during the recent Candidates tournament.”

GM Peter Svidler says, "A lot will depend on how smoothly openings work for Anand as there is only one "opening master" in this match. If such an opening balance will be maintained then the match will be interesting and approximately equal. If Magnus has worked precisely on that part and if he manages to "catch" Anand in the opening as white, I should say it will be a hard life for Vishy. From the pure playing point of view Magnus is stronger and he has more energy. [...] Nonetheless, Anand is certainly experienced in not only playing the matches but in preparing to them. I guess it won't be easy to fight with his opening preparation. And then anything is possible. Well, we'll see.. It should be interesting!"

Magnus Carlsen will be accompanied by a Norwegian team that would include a bodyguard. Viswanathan Anand has said, for him, every match is the most important yet. 

Also, the World Chess Championship will be shown in its entirety on the Indian national television channel Doordarshan Sports apart from live broadcast on the official website.

World Chess Champion Viswanathan Anand is not too much on social media, but Magnus Carlsen has been tweeting a fortune cookie (that suggests success for him!) and fashion photos as well. 

The first game of this historic world chess championship is barely two weeks away. Stay tuned for all the quick chess updates - if you don't have time to scourge the Internet - from Chennai right here at Chess Blog. Two other cool sites you might like to see: Mate in Chennai by Eric van Reem (a Vishy Anand team member) and WorldChessChampionship2013.com.

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