Anand to play white in World Championships opener

Sochi (Russia), November 8, 2014 (PTI) Indian chess wizard Viswanathan Anand will open his campaign with white pieces against defending champion Magnus Carlsen of Norway in the first game of the World Championship that gets underway in Sochi. Given the first choice, Carlsen drew out a black coloured balloon out of a magician’s box especially prepared for the occasion while Anand got the second remaining white one.

The balloon was then punctured by the magician and there appeared black and white coloured birds in the middle of a colourful opening ceremony. Contrary to the last time, when Anand opened with the black pieces and even though held a playable position, agreed for a quick draw barely 90 minutes into the game.

The Indian ace, who has silenced his critics with some



remarkable performances this year, is still the underdog but his chances seems to have improved greatly as compared to last time. The match, to be played over 12-games, will have the Classical time control with 120 minutes for the first 40 moves, 60 minutes for the next 20 and then fifteen minutes each with a 30 second increment from move 61 onwards.

In case of a tied result after 12-games, four rapid games will be played to determine the winner and if the scores are still tied, the match will be fought over in a series of blitz games till a clear winner emerges. The winner will get 60 per cent from the total prize fund of 1 million Euros (Approx. Rs. 7.6 Crores).For Anand it will be a new challenge under better conditions than the last time when the Indian was struggling before the match took place.