I want Anand to win, but believe Topalov will carry the field. I do not feel recent tournament results are anything to go by in measuring opponents' strengths, both were taking no chances in revealing their pre-match preparations. I prefer Anand as he simply appears to be the classier, more gentlemanly individual.

Smyslov_Fan wrote on 04/20/10 at 03:42:58:

 
Chess fans spending money in Sofia? Wouldn't want to feed too many mouths on that income even without the volcano 

My impression is the following: Anand has been giving the organisators the deaf ear during the last week or so. And they are a bit frustrated by that. 

While I don't really like their tone I do unsterstand them a bit. They have put out a lot of cash and I would think the whole thing would be rather big in Bulgaria, presswise. Any delay will probably throw off a whole schedule of dignitaries make the first move and press coverage et all. Anand apparantly hasn't really communicated except for his request.

Still I hope they can reach a decent compromise. One day extra shouldn't be impossible. 

At the risk of offending any Bulgarians, I wonder if there isn't some problem with translating Bulgarian into English.  I've noticed many times that the Bulgarian text comes across as excessively strident.  Here, for instance the Bulgarians were "bitterly disappointed" over Anand's behavior, but not over the inconvenience the volcano has had on everyone else, including the fans who might spend money in Sofia.

The claim by the organizing committee that there has never been a postponement by professional sports teams because of a Force Majeur is patent rubbish.  After 9/11, there were many sporting postponements. After Hurricane Katrina, there were major postponements. After the Glasgow Celtics plane crash, there was a postponement, and after this volcano in Iceland, there's a good chance that there were several professional sporting events that were postponed. The European Women's Championship match was rescheduled, and there's still quite a bit of discussion about the men's four(!)European Semifinal matches.

Even Obama and Merkel had to cancel their trips to Poland this week.  

And so it begins:

Anand, stuck in Frankfurt due to the Joe Cool  Volcano (ok, so Eyjafjallajokull isn't even pronounced Joe Kool), asked for a postponement.  The officials, being reasonable people, declined.  Anand is expected to arrive on Friday, April 23rd.  The first game is scheduled for.... April 23rd.

The Bulgarian Chess Federation states that the opening ceremonies can't be rescheduled, and they will consider Anand's request for a postponement.  Will Anand have to burn a time-out because of a volcano?

Oh, and just to disabuse anyone of the thought that the BCF isn't above gamesmanship, there have been problems securing Anand's rooms at the hotel. 

Huh?   That should have been the easy part!

I voted for Topalov win with + 1. I predict a very close match between two strong players who play fun interesting chess. However I would rather have seen a WCH match between Anand and Carlsen.

I am hoping for lots of Najdorf games and that Topalov tries to surprise Anand by playing 1 dragon game , perhaps in Topalovs own system agianst Bc4 yugoslav.

I am rooting for Topalov, but I think it will be a tight match, even though the result may not reflect that (as with one point behind in the last two games they make take too much risks).

I dont see much of the home advantage. We are talking about players who are abroad 90% of their time. Plus I dont see the correlation. Eg when Kramnik was having "my brain was not working" he was having the home advantage and it didnt do Short much good either.

Here's my take on the two players:

Anand: Doesnt lose much, has major experience in matches against the absolute best (the 3 last WC's) and is a pure profesional. He can adapt quickly when needs arrive and doesnt panic. He can get into trouble when put under constant pressure during the game.

Toplalov: He can get into a "flow", sees possibilities which others neglect in particular in material inbalalances in the middle game and he apparently has the Fischer/Tal/Kasparov psychologic pressure where his opponent starts believing in him. His disadvantages are that he often creates the mayhem, but gets lost himself and has trouble when his opponent channels the game into  a technical avenue.

I will predict this much: The match will be won wth a 2-points difference and if Topalov wins he will lose the title quite quickly.

I admit that it is a little hard for me to understand the home country advantage myself. But I have never played chess at the world championship level. So when I hear top players saying that the home country advantage is real, I have to take their word for it. I am sure they are not making it up. There are many aspects of the psychological battle surrounding a world championship match that most of us will never understand.