Latest news with #ClashofGenerations'
Hindustan Times
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Hindustan Times
‘You don't know which format will be more important in a couple of years'
Stavanger: Indian chess legend Viswanathan Anand says he likes of compartmentalize the various hats he currently wears. Over the last 10 days in Stavanger, though, he's been a busy man. Amidst his daily commentary gig with Norway Chess, Anand made a quick dash for the 'Clash of Generations' exhibition game in Italy, and was among the speakers at the Norway Summit on Wednesday. Sitting down with members of Indian media here ahead of that, the five-time world champion spoke on a range of issues — from Gukesh's performance in the tournament to Magnus Carlsen's fist bang. On Gukesh's tests of survival in Norway Chess It is nothing that wasn't unknown to me. He is tough, quite tenacious. He copes pretty well with setbacks. Obviously, this is a higher test, a more intense tournament. He seems to be under pressure every day, but several days he came out well. Yesterday (on Tuesday, in the loss against Hikaru Nakamura) he flipped a little bit. Suddenly too much success, perhaps two days of getting lucky — of course, you make your luck — and something was off with him. But, that happens. On whether Gukesh is playing too much It depends on what you want to try. And also, you have to grab opportunities. Maybe, going forward, careers won't be as long. But yes, you have to schedule some tournaments. It's good that after this, he gets some break. He has to enjoy those moments as well. I mean, there's no use if the brain refuses to switch off. On his advice to Indian youngsters in dealing with playing all formats (classical, rapid, freestyle), and the risk of burnout Not only is it difficult to compare, the situation is also not the same. I no longer feel my advice is what's the right mix is necessarily the only one. But I know that you cannot cope by taking in everything. And at some point you have to stop, and say these are things that I'll leave out and these I'll prioritize. Because that's the way we do things. Beyond that, the scenario is changing so much. You don't know which format will be more important in a couple of years. A lot of this is decided by public opinion and what they want to watch. On the Gukesh-Grzegorz Gajewski partnership I guess it's a normal relationship. But they've had to deal with such wild swings. I don't think they expected Toronto (Candidates). Obviously without Toronto, you can't expect Singapore (World Championships), and you can't expect this kind of meteoric rise. So they're also adjusting to it. On whether he's seen extreme reactions like Carlsen's fist bang on the table before Yes, enough anger. All this has been around for a while, people screaming and cursing. The only difference is the cameras. The other thing I would say is that this was very intense. Maybe Magnus isn't that excited about classical chess, but he has certainly taken on Gukesh. Or if not that, (to) show that he can fight the youngsters. A lot of stuff (that was) probably going on in his head, and it came out. So those two games (against Gukesh), he took very intensely and seriously. That's kind of partially what brought it on. And that he essentially threw away a carefully nursed game in half a second. On comments by Carlsen and Nakamura in Norway speculating their classical future They've been saying this for some time. Hiraku doesn't play much anyway. He is really quite busy with his other commitments. Same with Magnus, and he's mentioned it many times. You can't ask what the future is every time someone tries to dial it down. I mean, nobody asked me — I had also dialled it down. The sport goes on. There are hundreds of new talents. In this case, we had a lot of warnings. On Nakamura's comments here that chess needs more personalities to sell, and whether that also applies to the current Indians in the elite bunch People are supposed to do what they do best, focus on the best outcomes, and that is supposed to be interesting. You're not supposed to go out there and make being interesting separate from what you do. They (the likes of Gukesh, R Praggnanandhaa and Arjun Erigaisi) are all also very young. Hikaru is able to bring his experience over many years into this, and he's been someone who has done things on the online platform and has a good sense of what people react to and like to watch. That's something he has managed to leverage well. They (Indian players) are welcome to take advice from him, but how they implement it is on them.
Indian Express
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Indian Express
Viswanathan Anand wins ‘Clash of Generations' exhibition match after beating Faustino Oro 2-0 in Tuscany
The one-of-a-kind 'Clash of Generations' exhibition game played between five-time World Champion, India's Viswanathan Anand and 'Messi of chess' Argentina's 11-year-old prodigy Faustino Oro was concluded on Monday in Tuscany, Italy. Anand defeated Oro 2-0 to sweep in what was largely a one-sided match. Although Oro displayed maturity and calmness far beyond his age, the Argentine was no match for a semi-retired Anand. In what was tipped as 'a meeting between the past and the future of chess,' Anand was pitted against Oro, one of the most promising stars on the circuit. The youngest-ever International Master in chess history, the Argentinian prodigy became one of only three players to achieve the title before turning 11. Anand had the white pieces in the first game, and it took him 57 moves to force resignation from Oro in the Morphy Defense of the Ruy López Opening, where he had three extra pawns. In the second game, Anand had the black pieces in the French Defense game. By the 48th move, he had an active rook for Oro's passive knight, where the Argentine resigned. The match was played in rapid time control of 10+3. On Monday, in a unique opening ceremony, both Anand and Oro were brought to the match venue in a specially designed horse-drawn carriage. After the exhibition one-on-one match, both players played in a simul (simultaneous) exhibition game, with each facing 10 invited guests. Both Anand and Oro ended up winning all the simul games. The exhibition game was organised by Unichess and conceived by Grandmaster Roberto Mogranzini and Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli, who is also a chess lover. The exhibition game is part of the Pietrasanta and Versilia Chess Roads project, which took place at Italy's La Versiliana. The event sees a unique exhibition from June 2 to 15 called Chess Roads, which features 40 rare and original chess sets from Asia and Europe. The exhibition event will see chess pieces in ivory, wood, and bronze, ranging from the late 1700s to the present. On Sunday, the Chess Roads Festival began in Pietrasanta with a grand and cultural procession with players and guests arriving at Villa La Versiliana in traditional horse-drawn carriages. The parade then passed through Forte dei Marmi and Pietrasanta.
