Sometimes I think it’s odd that I’m interested in chess even though I have no desire to play the game myself. But I don’t want to play baseball and I like watching that game, too. I guess what I like best about chess is that there seems to be no way for a great player to lose, yet tiny margins exist and are capitalized on. The biggest match in a decade is upon us, as world champion Viswanathan Anand is set to meet Magnus Carlsen. The opening of a portrait of the former by James Crabtree in the Financial Times Magazine:
“Sitting in his modest home in the southern Indian city of Chennai, Viswanathan Anand – five times world chess champion – is describing the psychological pressure that bears down on top-level chess players. ‘What happens to you at the board begins to feel like it’s happening to you in person,’ he says quietly, before pausing and frowning, as if reliving an especially gruelling game. ‘When you lose, you really feel a sense of self … You actually feel that you are being taken apart, rather than just your pieces.’
Such intense feelings creep in during major tournaments, where many elite performers do battle. But at the very pinnacle of the game, in a world championship match, just two combatants grapple for the slenderest advantage in a brutal duel for supremacy. ‘A [world title] match has that feeling much more strongly because it’s the same guy doing it over and over and over … When you play a single person, it becomes narrower because you are so focused on each other. It is a lot more personal.’
Next week, Anand, or ‘Vishy’ as he is known, will walk out on to a stage at Chennai’s Hyatt hotel to defend his world title. It should be a triumphant homecoming. Anand is widely acknowledged as one of the true greats of the modern game, competing to retain his crown in the city where he learnt to play as a child. The match will be front-page news, reflecting his position as one of India’s few world-beating sportsmen. Yet, rather than starting as favourite, their champion will begin as the overwhelming underdog, reflecting the formidable reputation of his youthful opponent – Norway’s 22-year-old prodigy Magnus Carlsen.
The forthcoming contest will be Carlsen’s first stab at the title, making the 12-game match arguably the most anticipated chess event in more than a decade.”