Schacksnack

Världsmästaren Vis. Anand Nanjing 2010. Foto Olle Persson.

Han kallar det ”demokratisering” av schacket, en idrottslig revolution, om du vill, detta till följd av Internet som garanterar att människor inte behöver vara födda i Moskva för att lyckas, som det brukade vara för några år sedan. Det är andra fenomen Anand nämner. Spelare som han, Ivanchuk och Boris Gelfand kommer från en generation som inte föddes med datorer. ”Vi var tvungna att börja använda dem under sena tonår för att inte missa tåget, säger Anand. ”I motsats till Carlsen, som inte vet hur det är att spela (förbereda sig) utan datorer. Så perspektivet är annorlunda. ”

Detta är ett utdrag ur en intressant artikel i ”The Wall Street Journal”, signerad Arun Janarhdan och daterad i dag, där Världsmästaren Vis. Anand tala om fenomen inom schacket…. I slutet på artikelen nämns att han mötte Bobby Fischer men då led Bobby av svåra psykiska problem så det blev tydligen mest prat om indiska restauranger…

World chess champion Anand believes the game is more competitive than ever. He’s now helping athletes in other sports hone their competitive streak.

The list of distinguished gentlemen at the top of world ratings given by the World Chess Federation (FIDE) is an indicator of two phenomena Viswanathan Anand speaks of. There’s little separating the players in rating points and at least one player in the top five was born in each of the last four decades, giving the competition unique variety.

Anand (2817 rating), Magnus Carlsen (Norway, 2815), Levon Aronian (Armenia, 2808), Vladimir Kramnik (Russia, 2785) and Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukraine, 2779) occupy the first five slots in the March list. Anand and Ivanchuk are the oldest at 41; Kramnik was born in 1975, Aronian in 1982, and Carlsen in 1990.

Anand says it’s never been more competitive at the top, with players bringing in a range of skills that are a combination of the modern and the experienced.

“There are three people within 3-4 points of each other chasing the No. 1 spot,” says Anand, who will play the Melody Amber Chess in Monaco starting 11 March and the Leon Masters against Alexei Shirov in June. “Most tournaments are heavily contested, you have three- or four-way ties. When I go to tournaments, I am never the favourite—there is no single favourite. You are forced to fight for every game. That may be one of the big changes in chess.”

He calls it the “democratization” of chess, a sporting revolution, if you like, brought about by the Internet that ensures people don’t have to be born in Moscow to succeed, as used to be the case some years ago. It’s the second phenomenon Anand mentions. Players like him, Ivanchuk and Boris Gelfand (No. 16, 2733) come from a generation that was not born into computers; they had to adapt. “We had to start using them in our late teens and get on to the bandwagon,” says Anand. “Then you have Carlsen, who has never known chess without computers. So the perspective is different.”

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