Viswanathan Anand will have a tough time against Veselin Topalov in the world chess championship match starting in Sofia on Saturday because the Bulgarian has made it clear that he won't entertain any draw offers from the world champion.
Toplaov has said that he would stick to what is known as the 'Sofia rule' in chess (practised at Mtel Masters tournament) where if you need a draw you have to go to the chief arbiter and not offer it to your opponent. Anand may already be feeling the heat of alien conditions but he dismissed Topalov's rule saying, "a world championship should be played with world championship rules".
As he starts his 12-game series against Topalov with black pieces (for a prize fund of two million euros) in the Bulgarian's home city, Anand might be wondering whether he would have been better off in Indian conditions than in Sofia. While Anand's match statistics will not suggest that he has any weaknesses on this count, Topalov has repeatedly maintained that for him "home" is a disadvantage because of the expectations.
"Anand did not lift a finger". This was what Topalov complained while referring to India's inability to host this year's WCC match and for this he felt Anand was responsible as in his view the World champion had enough backing in his own country where money is being spent left and right in sporting events.
Whether Anand "lifting his finger" would have made any difference to the course of the match is debatable, the fact remains that the home advantage is no longer a crucial factor as it used to be in the 20th century when the Russians attached so much significance to the venue, playing conditions and the kind of external influences, most of which were the offshoots of their political milieu.
It was not because Anand did not lift his finger that the match did not come to India. The world champion may have reasons to say that the All India Chess Federation did not lift its finger to have the match here or the Indian sponsors did not come forward to help host it. But Anand knows that the concept of home is in the mind rather than in geographical considerations and for somebody who has his base in Spain, home is where you are most comfortable.If you thought Anand alone has such a universal concept of home, well, listen to his opponent, Topalov.
"We were ready to play in India, the entire match or half of it, but Anand did not lift a finger to do something in this direction," the Bulgarian told a chess website ahead of the match. Records will back Anand as a better player away from home (do we find parallels in Sunil Gavaskar, Rahul Dravid and Sachin who have done better "away" while batting) but that is only because he has not played that regularly at home.
Anand's experience at home is limited to two Candidates matches in the 1990s and a World championship tournament in 2000. Against Alexei Dreev of Russia he won a match comfortably at Chennai in 1991 and then he lost a most crucial quarterfinal match against Gata Kamsky at Sanghinagar in 1993. He won the WCC tournament in New Delhi in 2000 but the final against Alexei Shirov of Spain was played in Tehran, so the World champion has a plus-one record at home, which does not reflect his overall record.
The Sofia rule:
The MTel Masters tournament in Sofia had an interesting rule to minimise draws and encourage fighting chess.
The rule is: The players should not offer draws directly to their opponents. Draw-offers will be allowed only through the chief arbiter in three cases: a triple-repitition of the position, a perpetual check and in theoretically drawn positions.
After the 2005 and '06 editions, amendments were considered such as draw offer can be made after a certain number of moves have been completed.
Every win is encouraged by financial incentive. The players receive parts of the prize fund not according to their final standing, but according to the number of games won. A change in the point system: 3 points for a win, one point for a draw, and no point for a loss.
Toplaov has said that he would stick to what is known as the 'Sofia rule' in chess (practised at Mtel Masters tournament) where if you need a draw you have to go to the chief arbiter and not offer it to your opponent. Anand may already be feeling the heat of alien conditions but he dismissed Topalov's rule saying, "a world championship should be played with world championship rules".
As he starts his 12-game series against Topalov with black pieces (for a prize fund of two million euros) in the Bulgarian's home city, Anand might be wondering whether he would have been better off in Indian conditions than in Sofia. While Anand's match statistics will not suggest that he has any weaknesses on this count, Topalov has repeatedly maintained that for him "home" is a disadvantage because of the expectations.
"Anand did not lift a finger". This was what Topalov complained while referring to India's inability to host this year's WCC match and for this he felt Anand was responsible as in his view the World champion had enough backing in his own country where money is being spent left and right in sporting events.
Whether Anand "lifting his finger" would have made any difference to the course of the match is debatable, the fact remains that the home advantage is no longer a crucial factor as it used to be in the 20th century when the Russians attached so much significance to the venue, playing conditions and the kind of external influences, most of which were the offshoots of their political milieu.
It was not because Anand did not lift his finger that the match did not come to India. The world champion may have reasons to say that the All India Chess Federation did not lift its finger to have the match here or the Indian sponsors did not come forward to help host it. But Anand knows that the concept of home is in the mind rather than in geographical considerations and for somebody who has his base in Spain, home is where you are most comfortable.If you thought Anand alone has such a universal concept of home, well, listen to his opponent, Topalov.
"We were ready to play in India, the entire match or half of it, but Anand did not lift a finger to do something in this direction," the Bulgarian told a chess website ahead of the match. Records will back Anand as a better player away from home (do we find parallels in Sunil Gavaskar, Rahul Dravid and Sachin who have done better "away" while batting) but that is only because he has not played that regularly at home.
Anand's experience at home is limited to two Candidates matches in the 1990s and a World championship tournament in 2000. Against Alexei Dreev of Russia he won a match comfortably at Chennai in 1991 and then he lost a most crucial quarterfinal match against Gata Kamsky at Sanghinagar in 1993. He won the WCC tournament in New Delhi in 2000 but the final against Alexei Shirov of Spain was played in Tehran, so the World champion has a plus-one record at home, which does not reflect his overall record.
The Sofia rule:
The MTel Masters tournament in Sofia had an interesting rule to minimise draws and encourage fighting chess.
The rule is: The players should not offer draws directly to their opponents. Draw-offers will be allowed only through the chief arbiter in three cases: a triple-repitition of the position, a perpetual check and in theoretically drawn positions.
After the 2005 and '06 editions, amendments were considered such as draw offer can be made after a certain number of moves have been completed.
Every win is encouraged by financial incentive. The players receive parts of the prize fund not according to their final standing, but according to the number of games won. A change in the point system: 3 points for a win, one point for a draw, and no point for a loss.
Source : Times of India
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