Dreev, Svidler and Vitiugov on the Anand-Carlsen Match
Thomas Richter emailed to let me know about some comments by Russian players on the upcoming world championship match between Viswanathan Anand and Magnus Carlsen. Here's what he wrote, with some comments by me in parentheses:
Some things complementary to interviews by Anand and Carlsen themselves. The first is easy as it was already in English:
Dreev – “Anand is motivated and Carlsen is also very strong. Both are great players and have chances.” – saying nothing and a lot at the same time? Source http://chessbase.com/Home/TabId/211/PostId/4011565/dreev-wins-indonesia-open-2013-181013.aspx
[DM: I'm more inclined to the "nothing" interpretation.]
The rest is originally in Russian (on request, pointed out to me by Colin McGourty) and Google translation does a relatively poor job, at least I needed to read that version two or three times before understanding or thinking to understand:
http://russiachess.org/news/report/petr_svidler_turnir_mog_nachatsya_sovcem_inache/
http://chesspro.ru/interview/svidler_vitiugov_interview
Svidler said, if he had to pick a favorite, it’s still Carlsen – but only by 60-40 or rather 55-45.
[DM: Google Translate was more helpful to me - maybe you were going from Russian to German, and then translating from that to English? In particular, it renders Svidler as saying that 60-40 is if Carlsen is in top form, 55-45 if he is only in good form.]
His main rationales are that Anand, unlike Carlsen, is a “debyutchik” (opening specialist), and that Anand the match player vs. Anand the tournament player are quite different persons. He also said that the risk of food poisoning in a 5-star hotel in India is as high/low as the risk of food poisoning in a 5-star hotel anywhere.
Vitiugov seems to have a stronger preference for Carlsen, but takes Svidler’s points (the second interview is a joint one, and Svidler was asked first).
The interviews were mainly about the Russian championship, just one short Svidler quote: “Strange as it seems because he lost two games and I lost none, but I think Volodya [Kramnik] played brighter than me.” Compare this to Carlsen after the candidates event: “Kramnik was impressive, but I deserved to win because I played the best chess.”
I wrote an own article on this but it’s in German: http://www.schach-welt.de/BLOG/Blog/RussischeStimmenzurWM.
Reader Comments (2)
Some additions/clarifications:
About Dreev saying "nothing and a lot", I meant with respect to others who consider Carlsen the clear favorite in the match. At an earlier occasion, Dreev had said (paraphrasing rather than literal quote): "Karjakin tries to outplay his opponents, Carlsen just waits for their mistakes, I prefer Karjakin" - another indication that he isn't an unconditional Carlsen fan.
Google translations: No, I did use Russian to English (Russian to German is complete garbage). The part Dennis refers to literally reads "from my point of view, the preponderance Carlsen on top form against Anand in top form in the match no more than 60 to 40. And in the good, I think 55 to 45." - Dennis' interpretation is that it refers to good (rather than top) form by Carlsen, mine is rather that 60-40 is maximum, and 55-45 seems more realistic. It's ambiguous, it's best I could do (without double-checking with Colin McGourty or anyone else fluent in Russian).
The torture has ended.. Look at the link below for the official English version of the Svidler interview
"http://chess-news.ru/en/node/13713"