Here’s the evidence: Two adult tickets – 11th December 2010. Anand, the moment of truth…and yes, this will be my second too. Watch this space for the photos…[click the image for a larger view] Anand is my favourite and I do look forward to seeing him in action. Edit: Sadly, I couldn’t attend the event due to illness!
Viswanathan Anand became the undisputed world chess champion in 2007 and has since defended the title twice in matches with Vladimir Kramnik in 2008 and Veselin Topalov in 2010. In an age when more and more players are playing professional chess, with infinitely more sophisticated training resources and information available to them, his achievement in defending the top spot from all comers is as impressive as any of the successes of his championship predecessors.
Vishy, as he is affectionately known to colleagues and fans, is a hero in his native India, putting him on a par with the nation’s top cricketers. From Tamil Nadu, he was taught the game by his mother when he was six and made rapid progress. His intuitive sight of the board and super-fast speed on the move marked him out as a future champion from his mid-teens. He became national champion in 1985, world junior champion in 1987 and a grandmaster in 1988.
Anand joined the chess super-elite in the early 1990s and he qualified to play Garry Kasparov in the PCA World Championship of 1995. Against all the odds he took the lead in the match in the ninth game but eventually ran out the loser by 7½-10½. Vishy pursued the FIDE version of the title and had a near miss in 1999 against Anatoly Karpov despite some unfortunate tournament scheduling which required him to play the final match immediately after a gruelling qualification event. In 2000 he won the FIDE version of the title in Tehran and held it until 2002.
Following the reunification of the chess world championship in 2006, Anand won a world championship match-tournament in 2007 ahead of the reigning world champion Vladimir Kramnik. Though the latter graciously ceded all claim on the title to his rival, many purists amongst pundits and fans longed to see the championship decided under traditional matchplay rules. Their wish was granted in 2008 when Anand and Kramnik played a match in Bonn. The Indian made no mistake, defeating his Russian opponent fair and square, and thus becoming only the second world champion ever to have won the world title in both tournament and match formats. Anand duly defended his title in a match in 2010 against world number two Veselin Topalov, on his opponent’s home ground in Bulgaria. His next challenge is due in 2012, when it is hoped that the match will be played in London.
Some past world champions have become known to the general public for their off-board eccentricities and personal rivalries but not so Viswanathan Anand. Throughout his career he has shown himself to be the perfect Indian gentleman who dispels attempts to provoke or upset him with a disarming smile. Indeed, one of the major difficulties facing his rivals is that he is simply impossible to dislike! For example, when preparing for his 2010 world title match, his behind-the-scenes assistants included the previous champion Vladimir Kramnik, whom Anand had defeated two years earlier, and Magnus Carlsen. With the charm of Capablanca, the industriousness of Botvinnik and the natural talent of Kasparov, Anand will be a hard man to beat in London in 2010. He lives in Spain with his wife Aruna, who is also his manager.
Please click HERE for the Official site and to read about the other players.
The Players:
Chess is Free for Children at the London Classic 2010 [Read on the link of the Official site more about it – on their homepage]
dear nikita,
just dropped by for such a long time. have a very good chessy-filled weekend. all the best to you.
Hi Hames! It’s so good to see you around again. I haven’t forgotten about your fantastic poetry and save it for the holiday. I’m so busy at my school, it’s pure madness. I have 3 trips in the next week and apart from that, all the assessment, so 3am in the morning for bedtime is nothing new to me the past 2 weeks. I will definitely come and enjoy your poetry when I’m more relaxed after the 18th. Thanks for your message, I do look forward to just a relaxing day with just chess!
Ek wonder net hoekom al die waardige vrouens (daarmee ek anders ‘n briefwisseling graag wou voer) so besig is! Weet iemand? 🙂
In elk geval, Krista, is ek bly vir jou!
Hallo Eugene! Ja toe! jy het baie tyd vir emails sit en skryf heeldag. Wens ek kon net dit doen. 🙂
Ag nee! Nie heeldag nie — maar ek moet my Afrikaans mos oefen! Dit is glad anders, hoor; dis besigheid, ne? 🙂
hi Eugene, vir besigheid het ek ook min tyd…jy het mos gesien! Jy moet die blogs lees/volg/kommentaar los, jy gaan meer oefening in Afrikaans daardeur kry as deur my LOL!
of doen wat Verdant doen…sien sy bloglink op my sidebar.
What do they mean by Don’t Just Watch, Play? That you are going to be in the pictures? :-))
hi Kop, They mean you can play too, but in different tournaments in the same building on the same day/event. These masters are playing in the auditorium, whereas the other games/tournaments take place in the halls [East Hall, e.g. – I don’t know the names of all the halls.] It’s large halls and many people do play and take part, I prefer to watch only – you can play [like us last year] in the lobby [and if you’re lucky, you get photographed – like us 😉 – I think our pic [with others ] is somewhere on chessbase….but you can hardly make out it is us..we know as I could see hubby on the pic 🙂
Ag nee, Krista — niks sal ooit die goeie oue briefwisseling met ‘n intelligente vrou opvolg nie… 😉
Oukei, as jy gaan speel, — STERKTE! 🙂
Eugene, jy is lus vir gesels, ek ken jou al. 🙂 Nee, ek gaan nie speel nie, sal seker net vir die lekkerte met manlief speel – soos ons laas in die portaal gespeel het, niks ernstigs nie, net totdat Anand-hulle 2pm gaan begin.
🙂
does the parrot go free | does the parrot go free | does the parrot go free | does the parrot go free | does the parrot go free | does the parrot go free | does the parrot go free |
yes, the parrot goes free|yes, the parrot goes free|yes, the parrot goes free|yes, the parrot goes free|yes, the parrot goes free|yes, the parrot goes free| 🙂
Verdwyder hierdie pampoenkop 🙂
🙂
Goeie antwoord, hoor!
My ava op Twitter is ‘n parrot wat skaakspeel – dis die dat hy my daarmee terg. 🙂
_Probeer_ jou te terg, wil jy se? Nogtans pampoenkop en trol. (Ons sê: Wanner ‘n kater niks het om te maak nie, hy sy balle lek (=domste dinge maak)).
Nee, jong, maar jy IS mos ‘n doring! 🙂 Tien uit tien! Tjiers!
Eugene! Jy is nou lus vir – soos ek dit altyd stel – bolle rol! [jy weet wat party mense doen as hul “grawe” vir “skatte” en dan dit so wegskiet van hul af – ek het ‘n onnie gehad wat dit gedoen het toe ek op laerskool was! hehe] jy rol nou bolle…die hele dag al – LOL! nee, ek meen nou jy’s lus vir nonsies gesels – saam met LittleIndian – jul altwee. 🙂
Feitlik nee. 🙂 Ek is nou besig om ‘n lang (220 bl.) hotelbestuurooreenkoms te vertaal. Ek sit hier en skryf en af en toe se my mailbox ek het ‘n nuwe e-pos (ek het op jou nuwe entries ingeteken). Dit maak ‘n welcome change. 🙂
Jy weet Eugene, Ek glo nog steeds jy is 100% Afrikaans…hehe..jy ploeg met Russies. 🙂
I apologise if you too feel I have trolled your site.
It never was the intention.
Hi Little Indian…not at all! you didn’t! I said to this other “creature” that you were “teasing” me with the twitter parrot 🙂
Too many chiefs and only one (little) indian?
Hi Peet, Little Indian is a friend of mine – blogger-friend and I do enjoy his presence on the blog/twitter. About the chiefs? not sure if you refer to ‘others’ around here.
I used receive an e-mail with a link to the latest Chessallee posting at my previous e-mail address. I have changed e-mail addresses. How do I arrange to continue to receive these e-mails? My old e-address was mikeboyley@absamail.co.za. My new e-maill address is now mikewb@webmail.co.za
Edit: Hi Mike – there is now a ‘follow’ – option – top right of the blog, under the search box. 🙂
https://chessaleeinlondon.wordpress.com/feed/
Hi Mike – this link comes from the far right corner of my blog – top right – it has an orange icon – with the word: Feeds: posts comments. You then click on posts – and it takes you to this link above. There is a drop-down arrow…please follow the instructions – choose your email-option from there. If there is still a problem, please let me know and I will add a ‘subscribe’-box to the blog. Let me know if it helps, thanks!