Let's talk a bit about the Chess World Championship 2014 in Sochi

I've been following the Anand vs. Carlsen match quite a bit now, and while there have been interesting games, the match as a whole somehow has failed to exite me as much as I had hoped.

What are your impressions ?

Let's talk about this match, impressions, games, analysis, psychology or whatever else you guys want to discuss about it.

Maybe some fresh views will finally get me a bit more exited about it .

I've been following the match as well, and I've been getting bored by all of the draws. I want Carlsen to win, but it looks like Anand is a good match for him. There is definitely a psychological aspect to it, but the psychological advantage seems to be bouncing between Carlsen and Anand. I would defintely be excited if in a year or two there was a Carlsen-Caruana WCC match, though!

It's interesting because it's really a battle of two Capablanca-like child prodigies: both mastered chess at a very young age, and for both it seemed to come naturally. The other end of the spectrum is Alexander Alekhine who, while of course gifted, was driven as well, to an almost demonic intensity, and studied the game endlessly. That is why, for me, the most dramatic world championship victory was Alekhine over Capa.

Success is a combination of talent and hard work. The prodigies worked hard too, but they just wanted to make it look like they effortlessly played the best chess in the world. Alekhine liked showing that he worked hard. All serious chess players are clearly highly driven, but how the world percieves them depends on whether they show that they work hard.

Capablanca did not work hard, and did not think about chess in between matches. He didn't bother to prepare for his WC match with Alekhine. The polar opposite of Alekhine. There is a reason they called him "the chess machine."

I watched game 6 aand 7 on VGtv, with GM Agdestein as the highest rated commentator. I really liked game 6 very much, and the commentator was fantastic.

I got slightly bored in game 7. They played very good, but I lost focus.

Glad to hear there are more good commentators our there.

I watch it on chess24.com with Peter Svidler and Sopiko Guramishvili commenting, and I really really like how its less talk about engine analysis and much more about personal analysis.

Peter isn't a Super GM for nothing, and it's very enlightening to hear his thought process during a whole game.

Sopiko is smart and delightful to listen to. She also easily lightens up the mood when Peter goes on too long on some technical aspect of the game.

So as far as coverage of the event is concerned, I'm very happy with it. Now if only the match could be a bit more exiting. Not that its bad or anything, but it certainly isn't a Fisher vs Spassky or (my personal favorite) Kasparov vs Karpov.

I have enjoyed watching the match. I am cheering for Anand, but I expect Carlsen to win. Carlsen is just too good. 

Carlsen won!!!!!!!!

I was rooting for Carlsen, so I am happy...but with all of those draws, Anand seemed to be a good match for him.

yes, very

Well, the better player won and Anand managed to give a better show of his skills than last year, so it was a decently good match I think.

I hope the next challenger will bring Magnus to his limit whoever it will be.

Personally, I'd like to see Carlsen vs Caruana

So would I. Caruana's performance at the Sinquefield Cup was just phenomenal. I hadn't even really known about Caruana before the 2014 Sinquefield Cup, but now I'm tracking his performance in tournaments and seeing how he does against Carlsen. I really hope he can challenge Carlsen for the title at some point.

Same here! It would be awesome to see them go head to head.