What an exciting month for chess! Of course, tomorrow we will see the first game of the world championship match, Kramnik versus Anand. From everything I’ve read it should be a pretty even match, but with a vivid contrast in styles. Because it’s a short match (only 12 games) every win is going to be especially important.
According to the ChessPro website, Anand has a plus score against Kramnik, but that includes a fairly large number of quick games, blindfold games (at Melody Amber), etc. When you look only at games played at a “classical” time control, Kramnik leads the series with 6 wins, 4 losses, and 41 draws!
I think that I would slightly favor Kramnik, first of all because he has more experience in very high-pressure matches, and he has shown his ability to win under those circumstances. Anand has never been through anything like the Kramnik-Kasparov, Kramnik-Leko, or Kramnik-Topalov matches. Also, according to GM Mikhail Golubev’s preview on ChessPro, Anand psychologically has a harder time dealing with losses than Kramnik does. If that’s true, and if Kramnik notches an early victory, then the match might be over.
We seem to be in a “first among equals” era among the top grandmasters, very reminiscent of the 1950s to early 1960s. Kramnik reminds me of Botvinnik, who never really was much better than his opponents, but was so tenacious that he remained champion for most of that era.
Anyway, it should be an exciting match. For chess fans, it will be a pleasure if we can just get through the match with no scandals about bathrooms, yogurt, or hidden transmitters …
