Posted in World Championships on Apr 25th, 2010 No Comments »
Veselin Topalov and Viswanathan Anand begin the 2010 World Championship. Photo © ChessVibes. The match was finally underway. Fans and pundits wondered what Veselin Topalov would play in the first encounter against Viswanathan Anand… 1.e4, 1.d4 or 1.Nf3. The Bulgarian played 1.d4 and the World Champion offered the Grunfeld. What happened next was a tremendous [...]
Posted in Africa, Asia, India, South Africa on Sep 2nd, 2009 1 Comment »
African chess experienced a brush with greatness the past week. Viswanathan Anand’s recent visit to Africa has been the subject of conversation this past week. What was not emphasized in the media was his short stop in the Kwa-Zulu Natal province in South Africa prior to Botswana. The World Champion stopped in Durban, a city [...]
Posted in Africa, Asia, Botswana, India, Media Stories on Aug 29th, 2009 5 Comments »
CHESS DRUM EXCLUSIVE! World Champion Grandmaster Viswanathan Anand lands in Botswana by Kenneth Boikhutswane Anand arrives in Gaborone, Botswana. The reigning World Chess Champion, Grandmaster (GM) Viswanathan Anand of India, touched down this afternoon at 1640hrs local time. The GM was afforded the status befitting of a player of his status, this signified by that [...]
Posted in Africa, Asia, Botswana, India, Opinion/Editorials on Aug 27th, 2009 35 Comments »
Tomorrow Viswanathan Anand will set foot down on the African continent. This is reportedly his first visit which is significant for a number of reasons. First, no other sitting World Champion has visited the continent in recent memory (or perhaps ever). This is revolutionary for a number of reasons and may represent a “homecoming” of [...]
Posted in Africa, Botswana, India, Media Stories on Aug 11th, 2009 12 Comments »
World Champion Viswanathan Anand This is announcement of a pending visit to Africa by World Champion Viswanathan Anand. This may mark the first time a World Champion has traveled to the continent. Botswana has previously hosted GM Judit Polgar, one of the strongest players in history… female or otherwise. Kenneth Boikhutswame told The Chess Drum [...]
Posted in Asia, India on Mar 17th, 2009 11 Comments »
Garry Kasparov had an interesting interview with Indian television where he talked about, among other things, Viswanathan Anand’s reign as World Champion. The topic is very interesting since much is being made of the youth movement in chess lead by a cadre of teens. Kasparov doubts that Anand can keep competing at such a high [...]
Posted in Asia, India, Media Stories on Feb 19th, 2009 5 Comments »
There is a very interesting indepth interview on World Champion Viswanathan Anand. It has been conducted by Sriram Srinivasan and Jaideep Unudurti and part one of the interview appeared on ChessBase. It details Anand’s beginning as never before. The intricate details of his boyhood endeavors and his subsequent rise give the reader an understanding of [...]
Posted in India, Media Stories, Switzerland, Videos on Feb 3rd, 2009 4 Comments »
World Champion Viswanathan Anand has been attending the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland and gave his impressions in a short video. Dr. Kenneth Rogoff, an American Grandmaster as well as top economist, was interviewed and gave his impression about his interactions with Indian politicians and business executives. While Rogoff didn’t meet the Indian star, [...]
Posted in FIDE on Jan 1st, 2009 No Comments »
GM Veselin Topalov enroute to winning Pearl Spring. Photo by Sina Sport. Veselin Topalov (2796, +5) remains atop the FIDE rating list at 2796. Many project that he will vault back over 2800 in the next list. At the FIDE General Assembly, it was voted that these lists be produced every two months instead of [...]
Posted in Asia, India, Tournaments, World Championships on Oct 29th, 2008 2 Comments »
Viswanathan Anand of India has retained his world championship title by accepting a draw from Vladimir Kramnik.This World Chess Championship further unifies the championship cycle using the match system The game was surprising in that all the games had begun with 1.d4, but Anand trotted out his traditional 1.e4. There was an expectation that Kramnik [...]
Posted in Tournaments, World Championships on Oct 27th, 2008 No Comments »
Vladimir Kramnik came roaring back with a convincing victory over Viswanathan Anand in an interesting Nimzo-Indian. All pundits were speculating that Anand could close the deal with a draw, but the game entered a sharp middlegame where Anand went astray and his position collapsed in only a few moves. It appeared that Anand had a [...]
Posted in Tournaments, World Championships on Oct 26th, 2008 No Comments »
Viswanathan Anand and Vladimir Kramnik pawn off. Photo by Frederic Friedel (ChessBase). “I thought I was lost,” stated Viswanathan Anand during the press conference of the World Chess Championship in Bonn, Germany. Indeed. Fans near and far thought this was Vladimir Kramnik’s chance to close the gap. There are a lot of questions being asked [...]
Posted in Tournaments, World Championships on Oct 25th, 2008 No Comments »
Vladimir Kramnik went into this highly-anticipated match with a reputation as a superb match player. While his reputation is more legend than fact (having lost several matches), he is the only player to have beaten Garry Kasparov in a match. Kramnik was actually a slight favorite in this match, but no one felt the former [...]
Posted in India, Tournaments on Oct 21st, 2008 No Comments »
Viswanathan Anand has built what would purport to be an insurmountable lead over Vladimir Kramnik in the World Chess Championship being held in Bonn, Germany. After Anand’s win in impressive style today, Kramnik must be wondering how he has dug himself into a 4½-1½ deficit. Anand first two victories (games 3 and 5) were due [...]
Posted in India, Tournaments, World Championships on Oct 18th, 2008 1 Comment »
Viswanathan Anand is known as the ‘Tiger from Chennai’. On Friday he showed his strength after he took the lead in a highly anticipated match with former World Champion Vladimir Kramnik. Game three featured a complicated Meran variation in which Anand unfurled a novelty in 14…Bb7! This pawn sacrifice helped Anand gain fluidity in the [...]
Posted in India, Russia, Tournaments, Videos, World Championships on Oct 11th, 2008 52 Comments »
The big downdown will commence in Bonn, Germany in a few days. World Champion Viswanathan Anand will play in perhaps the biggest match of his life and a chance to cement his legacy among the world’s greatest players in chess history. His opponent… Vladimir Kramnik, who defeated Garry Kasparov in a match to become the [...]
Posted in FIDE on Oct 2nd, 2008 1 Comment »
There was a lot of suspense leading up to the October 2008 rating list with many suspecting that Norwegian phenom Magnus Carlsen would vault to the number one spot and set an age record for the top rating. That moment would be short-lived. Carlsen faltered at the end of the Bilboa tournament and dropped from [...]
Posted in Iceland, Media Stories, Videos on Jan 19th, 2008 No Comments »
A story from the Iceland’s Morgunbladid has stated that Bobby Fischer desired one last match with Garry Kasparov and/or Viswanathan Anand. This is a very interesting development since Fischer has disassociated himself with the chess world since his 1992 match in Yugoslavia. In interviews he stated that he would only play Fischer Random, but there [...]
Posted in India, Videos on Oct 21st, 2007 3 Comments »
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