2013 World Chess Championship

Viswanathan Anand

The 2013 World Chess Championship is underway with two games completed between World Champion Viswanathan Anand and challenger Magnus Carlsen.  Anand is the current World Champion and has been so since 2007 when he won the World Championship in a double round-robin tournament.  Vladamir Kramnik was then the reigning World Chess Champion since 2005 when FIDE announced that the World Champion would be decided by a double round-robin tournament.  Kramnik refused to take part in 2005 but did so in 2007 and recognized that the tournament would decide the World Champion.  Anand won the tournament and the title, being the only undefeated player in the tournament.  In 2007, FIDE announced that future World Champions would be decided via matches between the Champion and a challenger.

Magnus Carlsen

Fast forward to the World Championship 2013.  Magnus Carlsen is the highest rated player in the world and earned the ability to play Anand after winning the 2013 Candidates Tournament through tie-breaker rules against Vladamir Kramnik that allowed the player with greater wins to be the World Champion challenger.

In classical chess matches, Carlsen and Anand have played against one another 29 times with Anand winning six and Carlsen three.  Twenty matches ended in draws.  The 2013 World Championship is being held in Chennai, India providing Anand with a homefield advantage.  Given their history, my money is Anand, however, I hope Magnus pulls this off as he is the higher rated player.

Chennai is in southeastern India.

Their will be 12 matches with 120 minutes for the first 40 moves, 60 minutes for moves 41-60, and sudden death in 15 minutes for the remaining moves with 30 second increments.  Increments increase a players time by 30 seconds for each subsequent move.  Rest Days include November 11, 14, 17, 20, and 23.

Results:

		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Points
	Rating	9 Nov.	10 Nov.	12 Nov.	13 Nov.	15 Nov.	16 Nov.	18 Nov.	19 Nov.	21 Nov.	22 Nov.	24 Nov.	26 Nov.
Viswanathan Anand	2775	½	½	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	1
Magnus Carlsen	2870	½	½	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	1

Game 1

Game 2