Guess Who Will Be Seconding Anand?
Wednesday, December 23, 2009 at 6:37PM When Viswanathan Anand played his world championship match against Vladimir Kramnik, he spent some time working with Magnus Carlsen, but Carlsen wasn't one of his official seconds during the match. This time, however, for his April 2010 match against Veselin Topalov, Carlsen will be. (So says Anand himself, here.) It's a funny world we live in, where the greatest player of all time seconds the strongest active player, and where the strongest active player in turn seconds the world champion.
It's also extremely interesting to think about who gets what information. Is this a way for Anand to get grandfathered into big sections of the Kasparov-Carlsen database? I'm not sure who benefits the most from this between Carlsen and Anand, or whether "grampa" K. is likely to be fond of this idea. What is clear is that it's a nightmare for Topalov. A pity, that. (On the other hand, if he can win over the team made up of Anand, Carlsen, and Kasparov's ghost, it's an incredible achievement.)
Dennis Monokroussos
Oops, never mind! The Indian paper got it wrong - have a look here. This makes a LOT more sense, and undoubtedly makes Topalov feel a whole lot better.
Anand, Carlsen in Anand-Topalov 2010
Reader Comments (4)
It's not hard to imagine that much of the professional chess world is on Anand's side here. I read where someone said that a Topolov win, on his home turf with the inevitable hints of Danailov pulling dirty tricks, would be a disaster for Chess.
If Kasparov is helping Anand out, through Carlsen as an intermediary or not, it would make sense. Maybe they're coy about declaring Carlsen as The Second, but would we be surprised if the legendary Kasparov database was put in service of Anand's team?
Yes, we should be hugely surprised if it was, especially now that Kasparov has committed himself to Carlsen. As I wrote in the update, it was a false alarm, and that's exactly what we should expect at this point with Carlsen at #1 and working with GK.
The Hindu carried an interview where Anand was asked about seconds. Carlsen was not one of them. There were hints of Ganguly and Nielsen. The only mentio of Carlsen was when Anand said "Carlsen is the best in the world today. He has been playing much better chass than any of us in the past few months." Speaks of the humility of Anand- cannot imagine Topalov dmitting as much. But- no second!
It turns out that Kasparov and Carlsen (along with Giri and Kramnik(!)) did help out Anand in his match with Topalov.
http://www.chessvibes.com/reports/carlsen-giri-kasparov-and-kramnik-all-helped-anand/