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Times of India
March 26 2011
Armenian threat for Anand now
Hari Hara Nandanan, TNN | Mar 26, 2011, 06.10am IST
MUMBAI: Magnus Carlsen is being touted as Viswanathan Anand's main
challenger for the world chess title but a closer look at the
contenders will reveal that it is not the Norwegian who is likely to
pose a serious threat to the World champion but Levon Aronian of
Armenia, who has just won his third Amber tournament in four years.
Winning the Amber does not make Aronian an instant threat to Anand
because it is a random event that combines rapid and blindfold
varieties of chess and which has absolutely no bearing on a chess
player's ranking or strength in the Classical format. But Aronian's
overall record against Anand is probably not matched by any of his
competitors including Carlsen.
Since 2004, Anand and Aronian have played 34 games in all formats.
Aronian has an enviable 9-4 record (with 21 draws) against the Indian
and a 5-1 Classical score that is even more significant.
In contrast, Anand has almost a similar plus record against Carlsen in
the 48 meetings between them since 2005. Anand leads 14-9 (with 25
draws) and a majority of those wins were in Classical. Aronian
dominated the Amber in its farewell edition right from the beginning
and one of his wins was against Anand.
The 29-year old Armenian is currently the No. 3 ranked player in the
world and recently crossed the 2800 rating (in the latest list he is
at 2808). In the 2008 Amber, Aronian bagged first place by a whopping
margin, 2.5 points ahead of Vladimir Kramnik, Veselin Topalov, Peter
Leko and Magnus Carlsen . The next year, he edged out Anand and
Kramnik by half a point to win the title.
Aronian won the FIDE Grand Prix in 2009 and is currently in the
Candidates tournament (May, 2011), the qualifier for the 2012 World
championship.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/sports/more-sports/chess/Armenian-threat-for-Anand-now/articleshow/7790815.cms
From: A. Papazian
March 26 2011
Armenian threat for Anand now
Hari Hara Nandanan, TNN | Mar 26, 2011, 06.10am IST
MUMBAI: Magnus Carlsen is being touted as Viswanathan Anand's main
challenger for the world chess title but a closer look at the
contenders will reveal that it is not the Norwegian who is likely to
pose a serious threat to the World champion but Levon Aronian of
Armenia, who has just won his third Amber tournament in four years.
Winning the Amber does not make Aronian an instant threat to Anand
because it is a random event that combines rapid and blindfold
varieties of chess and which has absolutely no bearing on a chess
player's ranking or strength in the Classical format. But Aronian's
overall record against Anand is probably not matched by any of his
competitors including Carlsen.
Since 2004, Anand and Aronian have played 34 games in all formats.
Aronian has an enviable 9-4 record (with 21 draws) against the Indian
and a 5-1 Classical score that is even more significant.
In contrast, Anand has almost a similar plus record against Carlsen in
the 48 meetings between them since 2005. Anand leads 14-9 (with 25
draws) and a majority of those wins were in Classical. Aronian
dominated the Amber in its farewell edition right from the beginning
and one of his wins was against Anand.
The 29-year old Armenian is currently the No. 3 ranked player in the
world and recently crossed the 2800 rating (in the latest list he is
at 2808). In the 2008 Amber, Aronian bagged first place by a whopping
margin, 2.5 points ahead of Vladimir Kramnik, Veselin Topalov, Peter
Leko and Magnus Carlsen . The next year, he edged out Anand and
Kramnik by half a point to win the title.
Aronian won the FIDE Grand Prix in 2009 and is currently in the
Candidates tournament (May, 2011), the qualifier for the 2012 World
championship.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/sports/more-sports/chess/Armenian-threat-for-Anand-now/articleshow/7790815.cms
From: A. Papazian