17 moves??? What a disaster! 

That was quick

Completely agree, Gelfand qualified in a knockout tournament for this match, he is not to blame that aronian got knocked out or that carlsen felt that he was not ready for the tournament ...
I think the qualification cycle with the match structure was very fair, and if he should win the match vs. Anand he has rightfully become world champion. Chess is not like football where you can win with pure luck like the teams chelsea or italy.
As world champion he should not be questionend ... Carlsen, Aronian, etc. will probably get their shot in 2 years ... and tbh. I am not that sure they can win a match, a match is different from round robin tournaments.

Keano wrote on 05/21/12 at 08:10:17:

akita wrote on 05/20/12 at 20:30:02:


I listened to the Kasparov press conference and what he said is that Anand has historically been the better player. But that is a different thing to being the better player at this moment, and he pointed out, as we have all seen, that Anand's performances in tournaments over the last few years have been pretty poor by his standards.

I think people need to look at it from Gelfand's point of view though also, he was a rising star as a Junior and great things were predicted for him. For some reason he never reached the great heights that were predicted and failed to get invites for the big all-star round robins for a very very long time. Now in his later career he has taken great strides to recover the situation and must be given full credit for this. Its very easy for people to look back in history but what counts is the present. If Gelfand wins he deserves full credit, because it will be well earned and earned the hard way.

so much for Anand's +4.

great game today, Anand looked tired.

Hi All

I am afraid Ggary Kasparov has it right. Anand is almost unrecognisable from the player who played Kramnik. He is the better player than Gelfand according to Gary which is correct. However he is up against a very respectable opponent. Not in the class of say Ivanchuk,Carlsen, Kramnik or Aronian burt decent. His strategy is clear avoid risks. The mistake Anand has made is also the same avoid risks.He should have taken Gelfand on from the start and showed his undoubted superiority. However, read Gary insightful comments and I think you will find the problem with Anand!

He may still win the match but he needs to wake up and not be afraid, else we will have a World Champion whom many will regard as not worthy of the title.

Akita 

Is Anand in freefall?
After his loss against Gelfand his liverating is just 2779,7 points, so right now he´s nr. 6 in the world and with an other draw, Karjakin would overtake him.
If Anand losses his match against Gelfand, I expect he´ll retire.