One of the top Grandmasters in India Krishnan Sasikiran feels his compatriot and former world champion Viswanathan Anand will do better against holder Magnus Carlsen of Norway, in the World Chess Championship next month at Sochi, Russia.
Sasikiran, who was a part of Anand’s team of ‘seconds’ in the last edition where Anand lost to Carlsen, said the Indian champion could not grab the chances that came his way last time. Sasikiran said although it appeared that Anand was outplayed by Carlsen the final result did not reflect the true nature of the conflict.
“I think Anand will put up a better challenge against Carlsen this time. I feel he made some uncharacteristic mistakes last time, but we should not forget that Anand had his chances against Carlsen in one or two games,” said Sasikiran, who was in the city to inaugurate the Chess for Youth tournament organised by Dibyendu Barua Chess Academy.
Sasikiran said the form Anand showed in winning the Candidates event to ensure the rematch against Carlsen indicates the Indian is in good touch. “He (Anand) made a good comeback by winning the Candidates meet. And he is playing quite well now which is evident in the way he won the Bilbao Masters recently. So we definitely have reasons to be optimistic,” Sasikiarn said.
The 33-year-old Grandmaster said India winning the historic bronze in the recently Chess Olympiad recently will surely give more reason to the sponsors to support the game. “We are regularly doing well at the world stage. I hope this will encourage the sponsors and we will be able to stage big events or closed tournaments.” he said.
