Interesting Thoughts of Anand in Defeat |
| Written by Administrator | ||||
| Wednesday, 11 December 2013 | ||||
 By GM Daniel Gormally, England, FIDE 2504   Anand drew wise conclusions from the match. An interesting interview with Vishy Anand, about his reaction to losing his world championship crown to Magnus Carlsen, can be found here. I think one of the things that stands out in the match is Carlsen's mature psychological approach to it. He didn't try to change anything, he simply went in with this attitude that I've been dominating by this approach where I don't concentrate on the opening, where my main strengths are displayed in the middlegame and endgame, and that worked very well in the match as well. The majority of people, when confronted by a wholly new situation, will try to change something. It shows fantastic self-belief that Carlsen did not fall into that trap. I think Anand expected that Carlsen would come very well-prepared in the main-lines; that he would try to take on Anand in the opening phase, but that just didn't happen. As soon as he could, he would steer the games way from well-trodden paths. Anand was unable to really combat that strategy. And he was surprised that someone would come into a world championship match with that game-plan, as since the day's of Kasparov and Fischer it's generally been agreed that opening preparation is all important, at the very highest level. But not anymore. Speaking to a friend of mine last night, that was due to play a higher-rated opponent today, I told him that he shouldn't try to change anything. He's been playing well so if it's not broke, why change it? A lot of people when they go up a level, go into panic mode and think they need to do something radical. But if what has taken you to that point has worked well so far, it's a mistake in my view to try to change too much. So when I said earlier in this blog that "Carlsen, is this all he has?" crabbing him for his choice of the Reti, I was rather missing the point. That was all he needed to have, because it was enough. An important lesson for us all, no doubt. Originally published in GM Danny Gormally's blog Other posts by GM Danny Gormally: London Chess Classic Preview Losing your motivation Playing blitz chess online & all the computer cheats Anand-Carlsen borefest continues Magnus, is this all he has? A clash of kings Do we overrate ourselves? Computers and their all-pervading influence on modern chess From Russia with love The England Chess Team & Jack Wilshire Should the grandmaster title be scrapped? ECF Book of the Year? Is being a chess pro worth it - continued? Is being a chess pro worth it? An Elitist Game? Does hard work in chess pay off? World Cup Final preview World Chess Cup Semi-Final preview World Chess Cup Quarter-Final preview World Chess Cup 1/8-final preview Why are Russians so good at chess? British Champs-2013 Ghent and now the British I'll never be fat again! Lessons learnt! The sad case of Borislav Ivanov: Part II Does Anyone Have a Cure for Anger Problems? The Depth of Chess Fundraising in chess Nurturing a Chess Prodigy The Sad Case of Borislav Ivanov 4NCL Impressions: no country for old men - Part II 4NCL Impressions: no country for old men One move, one line - Part II One move, one line Candidates Final Review & Preview of Upcoming World Championship Match Would Carlsen have beaten Capablanca?
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