The Team Anand “war room” in Sofia- Pictured clockwise from bottom left are GM Surya Ganguly, GM Radoslaw Wotjasek, GM Peter Heine Nielsen, and GM Rustam Kasimdzhanov. Photo by Eric van Reem
This week on Perpetual Chess, we break from format a bit, as 5 time Danish Champion and world-class chess trainer, GM Peter Heine Nielsen, takes us behind the scenes of the night before a decisive game in a World Championship Match. The Match in question, was the 2010 World Championship between GM Viswanathan Anand and GM Veselin Topalov in Sofia, Bulgaria. The game was game 12, the final game of the “classical portion” of the match, with Peter Heine Nielsen and his fellow “ Team Anand” members, preparing Vishy to take the Black pieces against GM Topalov in a tied match with the World Championship and $1.2 million Euro prize for the winner.
How is it decided which opening will be played? How is work delegated among the team members? Why did 2 former World Champions and other chess heavyweights also pitch in to help with preparation this night? How did it feel when GM Anand won the game? GM Peter Heine Nielsen answers all of these questions and many more in a very fun and detailed conversation about a landmark game in modern chess history. You might want to play through the game in question before you listen, then sit back and enjoy the interview. More notes, timestamps and details can be found below.
Click here to download the episode
0:00- We begin by discussing a bit of background about the match, with discussion of other relevant background information, and of how GM Anand and his team felt as they were going into the deciding game of the match.
Mentioned: Team Anand Members: GM Peter Heine Nielsen, GM Rustam Kasimdzhanov, GM Radoslav Wojtazek, and GM Surya Ganguly, Mind Master by GM Viswanathan Anand, 2008 FIDE Anand-Kramnik World Chess Championship in Bonn, Germany For more background on this match, you can listen to the following Perpetual Chess Interviews with:
FM Michiel Abeln, GM Vishy Anand, GM Ivan Cheparinov, GM Rustam Kasimdzhanov
10:00- What factored into GM Anand’s decision to surprise Topalov with the Queen’s Gambit Declined in Game 12?
21:30- Friend and supporter of the podcast, IM Kåre Kristensen, writes in to ask about the role that the “supercomputer” played in the match. It was rumored, though not confirmed, that Team Topalov was accessing a turbo charged chess engine to help with preparation.
Mentioned:
24:30- None other than World Champion, GM Magnus Carlsen has a free lesson available on Chessable.com, called “The Magnus Touch.” To check it out, go here:
https://www.chessable.com/the-magnus-touch-free-strategy-lesson/course/40115/
25:00- Once the opening for the Game 12 was chosen how was work delegated among the Team Anand members? How did former World Champion Kramnik end up voluntarily helping Team Anand, what about GM Kasparov?
Mentioned: Lasker Variation of Queen’s Gambit Declined, The Catalan, 2006 Kramnik-Topalov World Championship Match, aka Toilet Gate , GM Gata Kamsky, GM Magnus Carlsen, Topalov’s Manager Silvio Danailov, GM Anatoly Karpov, GM Boris Gelfand, “Elista Ending” of the Slav, as seen in Game 3 of the 2012 Match
40:45- Peter delves into the nature of the help given to Team Anand by then 19 year old GM Magnus Carlsen, and the unsung hero for prepping that night, British GM Luke McShane.
Mentioned: GM Elizbar Ubilava, The “problem” line that Peter mentions and that Luke McShane solved, can be seen in Peter Heine Nielsen’s tweet here.
58:30- After all of this stressful prep, what did Peter and the other seconds do once Game 12 actually started?
Mentioned: GM Anish Giri’s annotations can be seen here: https://share.chessbase.com/SharedGames/share/?p=ZwNTGxiK5g4jm8Ba5hiyjQg4B+imvQdy6OM469Al0wHO6syTLjEAW3HQ0haiyTYd
1:15:30- Thanks so much to GM Peter Heine Nielsen for regaling us with his experiences. You can follow him on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/PHChess
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