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Chennai: A day after Garry Kasparov arrived in Chennai and spoke at length about his visit to the ongoing world chess title match, the former world champion on Tuesday turned completely silent and surprisingly refused to comment on the third drawn game between Viswanathan Anand and Magnus Carlsen, in which the Indian grandmaster appeared to have missed winning chances.
After having completely ignored Kasparov, the organizers of the world chess title match made amends by treating him as a guest on Tuesday. He was seen escorted to the playing hall by D.V. Sundar, vice-president of the World Chess Federation, capping speculation that Kasparov might have to stand in a queue to obtain a ticket.
Oddly, he distanced himself from the media thereafter.
Kasparov, who earlier in the day obliged hundreds of autograph-hunters, would have normally had a lot to say about the 51-move draw on Tuesday, in which world champion Anand was seen by most experts and chess programs as winning. But, at the end of the four-hour game, Kasparov was escorted out of the playing hall and taken to his room at the Hyatt Regency hotel by security guards who refused to let journalists ask him any question.
“I don’t want to get into politics,” said Carlsen, speaking about his former coach Kasparov, “but he should be treated with respect.” Though Carlsen trained under Kasparov for a few months in 2009, he said he hadn’t met him since he reached Chennai on Monday. Kasparov had previously said he had come to wish Carlsen luck in his first world title match.
“It is good that a legend is here to watch the match,” Carlsen said on Tuesday.
Speaking about Tuesday’s game, the Norwegian challenger to Anand’s world title said he was “happy to survive” after he made “a couple of misjudgments”. But Anand said he felt his opponent had sufficient “counter-play” though he seemed to be calling the shots in the middle of the game.
Some programs were of the view that though Anand seemed to be playing for a win, passing up an opportunity to force a quick draw by repeating moves, he was cautious and avoided lines of play that were complicated but looked promising for him.
Carlsen, who spent the break on Monday playing outdoor games such as football and basketball, said Tuesday’s outing was disappointing, though it was “not a disaster” to settle for a draw for the second time with white pieces. Playing white is considered an advantage at this level of competitive chess.
With scores tied at 1.5 points each at the end of three straight draws, Anand plays white in Wednesday’s fourth game of the 12-game match.
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