Top StoriesMay’s sharp fall in jobless numbers added to the greenness of the ‘recovery’ (or less bad) thesis; overnight June’s unemployment figures were so awful that they could have stunted at least, the wavering shoots.
World championship chess: Kramnik fights back
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The trophy had been polished, the tablecloths at the Bonn Hilton had been starched ready for the closing banquet and journalists were jostling for Tuesday interview slots with the soon-to-be new World Chess Champion Viswanathan Anand. The television cameramen had turned up in droves, many fresh off the plane from India. The Hindu, the dominant English-language newspaper in Anand’s home town of Chennai, had its front page story and photo ready to go as soon the formality known as the tenth game was concluded. Only one person seemed unaware that the World Chess Championship was supposed to be all over — Vladimir Kramnik. The 33-year-old Russian had come from behind in his two previous world title matches but trailing by three points with three games to play was surely too much. Not having won a game so far in the 2008 contest, Kramnik could not hold off the Indian challenge to his world match title any longer. Russian or Soviet born players have held the top chess title for all but three years of the past 70 — Bobby Fischer interrupting the sequence — but that era seemed to be coming to an end. Yet on Monday Kramnik played as if he was the one three points ahead, demolishing his bemused opponent in only 29 moves. It was a perfect game by Kramnik, the masterpiece which ‘The Painter’ must long have dreamed of creating. “I didn’t have to do anything and the position was winning,” Kramnik mused. At the post-game press conference 38-year-old Anand seemed in a daze. He was unable to identify where he had gone wrong and in answering one question even seemed to forget that the Festival of Diwali was about to begin. Kramnik accepted that he remained the underdog. “I am just happy that I play one more game,” the Russian said when asked about his chances in the match. “I will try to play well — it is better not to think about what my chances are. Still I know they are less than 50%!” Could Anand, leading 6-4, lose the match from here? Three days earlier Anand had admitted to nerves as the title he has long dreamed of drew closer but now those nerves must be tinged with fear. Anand has world knock-out, tournament and rapid titles on his CV but his only previous challenge for the world match title — against Garry Kasparov in 1995 — ended in collapse after losing a dramatic tenth game. To allow Kramnik to force the match to tiebreakers Anand would have to lose three games in a row — something he has never done since becoming a Grandmaster. However Anand does have a number of meltdowns on his record, including throwing away a World Championship semi-final when two up with three to play. In contrast to the first half of the contest, Kramnik is playing great chess while Anand has lost his mojo. With one day to recover psychologically before the next battle, the odds are still on an Indian victory, but Kramnik has shown that he won’t give up the title he has held since beating Kasparov in 2000 without a fight.
Watch the game (soundtrack is Fighback — the DJ Polique Club mix — by Raptile) here:
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3 Comments
I’m obviously a luddite, but I’ll admit that I first assumed that this series of articles was a prank. After all, how does chess rate more coloumn space than the demise of the Austalian National Academy of Music or failings of the NT Intervention? Not to mention having almost equal weight to the US Presidential race?
I wonder what proportion of the population gets hot and sweaty over competitive chess? Why isn’t there more of it on commercial TV?
Is there a closet-grand master within the Crikey ranks?
OK.You win, its not a slow news week eg: the economy is a glittering stone and George W doesnt know what the G 20 is. Why would anyone want to know chess moves from the Grandmaster , if Vladimir Kramnik has come from behind twice, thats his business but hey, give us neanderthals a chance and tell us something we can be interested in. I’d rather sit in a corner and eat a bowl of hair…..:)))
When you have two of the best players of a game that is often used in analogy to indicate intelligence, then the world needs to take notice. As a patzer player of this game, I can only gasp at the astonishing depth and intrigue contained in the games of the 2008 World Championship. I thank crikey.com for bringing GM Rogers comments to us, not only is he Australian, he would be one of the best analytical minds of the game of chess.