Vishy Anand may be defending his title from Moscow at home but the stark difference in Elo ratings between him and the challenger more than makes up for home advantage. Magnus Carlsen hasn't earned the moniker of the "Mozart" of chess for nothing. He was a GM as 14 and has a world record rating higher than that of the erstwhile king Kasparov. That he comes from the Scandinavian region not known for its chess prowess is just another marker to the fact that he is a special talent not made by the system but in spite of it. On the other hand, Anand has been a world champ in all formats of the game and is an established legend of the game. Having kept up with the grueling asks of the 64 squares for so long and having stood up to a number of pretenders, he locks horns with the wonder kid in what is probably the biggest threat to his throne. At the time of logging this, the two have already played out two tame draws. These looked like reconnaissance sorties for the full blown attack to come and both seemed to be wary of getting into uncharted waters early in the match. While Carlsen is credited with bringing in fresh ideas and attitude to chess, Vishy with his experience and adaptability is always game for a challenge. Can the younger man score over the reigning champion? The pundits seem to think so but then the man who defends his crown has gone on to prove them all wrong on more occasions than one. Short games would only help him conserve energy against Magnus who is known to grind his opponents down into making mistakes while he keeps making his methodical moves. If this goes into a tie break, the odds of the title changing hands would go down significantly. Till we know who gets crowned, lets sit back and enjoy the cerebral fight between the king and his successor.
The ATP tour finals are under way and while the two men at the top of the game won all their round robin encounters as expected, the two Swiss knights stand in their way to the finals. This has been a nightmarish year for the master Federer and a sort of break through one for his compatriot Stan Wawrinka. That both have made the semis and face Nadal and Djokovic respectively makes for an intriguing line up. Stan has had a few interesting encounters with the Djoker this year and while he hasn't been able to score, he has run the defending champion close. Roger blew hot and cold in this bid to preserve his record of making the last four of the year end championships every time. He did manage to pull his best game out though to get past the battling Argentine Del Potro. Rafa, however is an altogether different kettle of fish and it would take a miracle for the older man to get through to the finals. Another slug fest between the two top ranked players on the tour is in the offing and it could not get more deserving than that.
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