World Chess Championship 2010

Well, we're less than a month away now from the 2010 championship match between Anand and Topalov, so here's my question. Does anybody here have any predictions for the match? Either a winner/loser kind of thing or just the general way you expect the match to go.

Also, do you think Topalov's manager is going to stick his nose in this one too, like the match with Kramnik, or will he stay out of it for once?

I would like to see Topalov win it.
Any websites showing the games live and free?

Originally posted by Tactics and Endgames
I would like to see Topalov win it.
Any websites showing the games live and free?

They'll most likely be relayed on FICS. That's free.

Any better websites with a better user interface?
Using fics is like stepping through a time machine and coming out in 1982.

The official website says it will relay games. http://www.anand-topalov.com/

Thanks! 😵

I think Topalov will win it. Anand hasn't been very active for the past year or two. I guess the upside to this is that he must have a massive amount of fresh material. Anyways, I think it will be a real close one. I'd rather see Carlsen and Kramnik battle it out for the world championship though. Hopefully that will happen someday.

Originally posted by JDChess

Also, do you think Topalov's manager is going to stick his nose in this one too, like the match with Kramnik, or will he stay out of it for once?

You're kidding, of course 😉 The guy makes himself far too visually obvious, whether it's just merely wandering aimlessly around the perimeters of a stage or, perhaps, he'll be in one of his 'hand, mouth or facial gesturing' moods. Quite what he's gesturing ( and to whom ) is another story entirely 😉
I do like the play of his charge mind you...yes, Topalov for me 🙂

This may sound a little strange, but I am pulling for Anand in part because I think it will bring a little more attention to Mir Sultan Khan, a great and gifted player who was born in the wrong place and in the wrong time.

Here is a passage written by Reuben Fine about Mir Sultan Khan, and it will break the heart of any modern civilized player (taken from Wikipedia):

"The story of the Indian Sultan Khan turned out to be a most unusual one. The "Sultan" was not the term of status that we supposed it to be; it was merely a first name. In fact, Sultan Khan was actually a kind of serf on the estate of a maharajah when his chess genius was discovered. He spoke English poorly, and kept score in Hindustani. It was said that he could not even read the European notations.

After the tournament [the 1933 Folkestone Olympiad] the American team was invited to the home of Sultan Khan's master in London. When we were ushered in we were greeted by the maharajah with the remark, "It is an honor for you to be here; ordinarily I converse only with my greyhounds." Although he was a Mohammedan, the maharajah had been granted special permission to drink intoxicating beverages, and he made liberal use of this dispensation. He presented us with a four-page printed biography telling of his life and exploits; so far as we could see his greatest achievement was to have been born a maharajah. In the meantime Sultan Khan, who was our real entrée to his presence, was treated as a servant by the maharajah (which in fact he was according to Indian law), and we found ourselves in the peculiar position of being waited on at table by a chess grand master."

His "master" later took him back to India, and he was never heard from again.

Paul

Originally posted by Paul Leggett
This may sound a little strange, but I am pulling for Anand in part because I think it will bring a little more attention to Mir Sultan Khan, a great and gifted player who was born in the wrong place and in the wrong time.

Here is a passage written by Reuben Fine about Mir Sultan Khan, and it will break the heart of any modern civilized player (taken
His "master" later took him back to India, and he was never heard from again.

Paul

it was India at the time, now Pakistan. He actually never taught his children chess but wanted them to learn something 'worthwhile'. I just read today that Chigorin apparently 'burned', his chess pieces near the end of his life. I dont think it was a sacrificial offering a la Jimi Hendrix when he burnt his stratocaster, more out of, well, who can tell? I also want Anand to win, he simply out played Kramnik last time, plus Topalovs manager deserves to be tied to a whipping post and soundly thrashed around the ears with a copy of the brutish chess magazine

Originally posted by Paul Leggett
This may sound a little strange, but I am pulling for Anand in part because I think it will bring a little more attention to Mir Sultan Khan, a great and gifted player who was born in the wrong place and in the wrong time.

Here is a passage written by Reuben Fine about Mir Sultan Khan, and it will break the heart of any modern civilized player (taken ...[text shortened]...
His "master" later took him back to India, and he was never heard from again.

Paul

I'd like Anand to win too, simply because he seems like a great guy.

I've also read a lot about Sultan Khan and his story is impressive. He was one of the world's best players and he couldnt really read, which means his openings were terrible and his talent came all from natural ability. Also, in the variation of chess played in India, the pawns could only move up one square at a time, which makes the speed of his adaptation extra impressive.

From Wikipedia, Hooper and Whyld write of him:

''When Sultan Khan first travelled to Europe his English was so rudimentary that he needed an interpreter. Unable to read or write, he never studied any books on the game, and he was put into the hands of trainers who were also his rivals in play. He never mastered openings which, by nature empirical, cannot be learned by the application of common sense alone. Under these adverse circumstances, and having known international chess for a mere seven years, only half of which was spent in Europe, Sultan Khan nevertheless had few peers in the middlegame, was among the world's best two or three endgame players, and one of the world's best ten players. This achievement brought admiration from Capablanca who called him a genius, an accolade he rarely bestowed. ''

Any tournaments he win, or enter, against our known greats?
So we can compare or just admire...

Originally posted by Tactics and Endgames
Any tournaments he win, or enter, against our known greats?
So we can compare or just admire...

- I think his best tournament performances were 2nd at Liège behind Tartakower and 3rd at Hastings 1931 behind Max Euwe and Capablanca. (He WON Capablanca in that one)

-In matches he defeated Tartakower in 1931 (four wins, five draws, and three losses) and narrowly lost to Flohr in 1932 (one win, three draws, and two losses).

-He won the british championship in 1932 and 1933.

His journey in international chess was just too short, and his complete lack of theoretical knowledge showed itself against the greats.

Cool, I'll look them games up.

plus Topalovs manager deserves to be tied to a whipping post and soundly thrashed around the ears with a copy of the brutish chess magazine[/b]

Oh, yeah, me too, for that reason!