Magnus Carlsen confident of beating Anand for world title

Chennai: World number One Chess Grandmaster Magnus Carlsen today expressed satisfaction at the arrangements made for his World Championship match against Indian great Viswanathan Anand as he inspected the venue along with his team here. 22-year-old Carlsen was accompanied by his manager Espen Agdestein and his father Henrik Carlsen. “I am happy with the arrangements and look forward to playing against Anand. I respect him a lot,” Carlsen said. [caption id=“attachment_1045999” align=“aligncenter” width=“380”]  Magnus Carlsen will take on Viswanathan Anand for the world title in Chennai. Getty Images[/caption] Carlsen said his November 7-28 contest against Anand will be very interesting and that it would be one of the finest matches in the history of Chess. The Norwegian said he was confident of snatching the World title from Anand. “When playing a World Championship match, you should have supreme confidence in your abilities,” Carlsen said in his reply to a question about his chances in the match. When a reporter queried about his role in helping Anand in his match against Vaselien Topalov in 2010, Carlsen was quick to respond that he did not have any major role to play in that match. But Carlson said he worked with Anand during 2007-2008 in his World Championship matches. Carlsen did not answer some uncomfortable questions, particularly on Garry Kasparov’s help in his match against Anand. About the role of Peter Heine Nielsen, one of the key members of Anand’s team, Carsen said that Nielsen has been his coach-cum-trainer in his formative years but it won’t matter much. “As such, Nielsen shall not have any role in this match as he has been close to both the players. Though Anand will have the advantage of playing in his home turf, his recent encounters against me has given him enough confidence.” To another question about GM Vladimir Kramnik’s opinion that Anand is maybe scared of him, Carlsen simply rubbished his opinion and claimed that Anand is simply too great a player. Earlier, Carlsen took on 20 top talents from Tamilnadu in the age group of six to 17 years, simultaneously at MOP Vaishnav College, Nungambakkam. Carlsen spent around two and a half hours in these simultaneous matches. He won 10 games and drew against six players. Four of Tamilnadu youngsters had the honour of defeating the World No.1. 10-year-old FM L N Ram Aravind, multiple National Champion R Vaishali, National Under 13 Champion N R Visakh and Commonwealth Bronze medallist G Jaswant forced the World Championship challenger to throw in his towel in their games. After the games, Carlsen marveled at the strength of the talent available in the state. PTI