LostTactic wrote on 11/24/13 at 22:48:55:


You are trying to defend the indefensible, it was an excellent question by Anastasia and pure lack of class from Anand.

This was Anastasia's exact question: "But actually you spent also a lot of time after this ...b3 move. Did you try really to calculate all these complications, all these variations, until the end somehow, or this was possible?"

Anand "No I was thinking what to eat tonight"

It's probably worth saying what Anand actually said for those who don't know. His response to Anastasia's question about whether he was analysing during his 40 minute think (on move 28) was: "I was thinking of what to eat tonight". It was discussed briefly on chess.com's aftergame show for game 9 by; IM Daniel Rensch, GM Ben Finegold and journalist Peter Doggers. They all thought it was a humorous response given what happened in the game. Personally I thought it was a stupid question in the first place. What is he suppose to say? "Yes I was analysing during those 40mins". I think Anastasia realised herself after Anand's response it was a dumb question.

3 cheers to Magnus Carlsen from my part! Our style of play is deifferent but I always enjoyed and found somewhat inspiring his games..

Maybe the match was not so 'easy' or 'straightforward' as many people imply here - don't forget that Carlsen had no previous experience in playing a WCh..

ghenghisclown wrote on 11/24/13 at 02:56:32:


Well I think Anand pinned his hopes on getting an advantage out of the opening. When that didn't happen he kind of let Carlsen get in his head. Anish Giri noticed that Anand seemed to underestimate his middlegame prospects in the early part of the match.   

trw wrote on 11/23/13 at 21:20:45:



I do. It turned out to be about exhausting an out of form Anand.

So much to say, don't no where to start, so I'll try to keep it brief.

A) Carlsen is indeed the best player of his generation.

B) Is Carlsen the best player of all time, this would be better answered at the end of his career.

C) His moves correlate with engines more than the Champions of the past because he trains with them and that has inevitably factored into his thought process and style. Run Fischer's immortal game through a strong engine, the results will blow your mind.

D) I think both players handled the post game press conferences as well as could be reasonably expected under the circumstances. Could you imagine a Kasparov vs Ivanchuk Wch match where press conferences were required after every game, and with provocative questions being asked. 

E) @ John Cox - What does Anand's being 43 have to do with his responses to annoying questions, after extremely painful losses in a wch match. The strain of the whole world watching live, critiquing every move with engine analysis and evaluations, coupled with the pressure of playing at home with all the expectations that entails, and finally not being able to show your best form is enough for anyone to snap in a post game press conference. 

F) Before he lost a game and was in a better mood, Anand gave one of the most clever responses to a Reporter's dumb post game question that i've heard in the match. If memory serves, the exchange went roughly something like this:

REPORTER: Mr. Anand could you tell us what you think Carlsen's weaknesses are, and how you and your team intend to exploit them going forward.

Anand: I'm flattered that you think that I would answer such a question.          

That was priceless, so much so that in a later interview Carlsen adopted the same answer to an equally inappropriate question.

G) Odds are Carlsen would have won this match in the end anyway, but it has to be said that Anand's loss was more self inflicted than a result of being outplayed. The two early games that Anand lost, should have been drawn and he should not have lost game 9 either. It would have been interesting to see how Carlsen would have rebounded had Anand won game 3 and took the early lead, especially as Carlsen's opening play in this match was distinctly unimpressive. Nevertheless hindsight is 20/20, and what is done is done, the match is over.   

I now keenly look forward to future battles between Carlsen and whoever emerges from the elite to challenge him. I'm also very interested to see how Anand proceeds from here, as he is still a very strong player, quite capable of a successsful comeback if motivated, even at 43 years young.

Nothing left for me to say now except congratulations to Magnus, and long live the new king.

Toppy

I agree, it is nonsense. There's no rule or convention that says you have to stay at the board.

I don't want to re-litigate Toilet gate...but Kramnik was and is a great player. In my view, He and Aronian are the only ones, really, that can challenge our newly-crowned Champ.