Anand beats Karpov 3.5-0.5, 2nd rapid match Kasparov-Karpov cancelled

Part of this year's Corsican Circuit was a rapid match of four games, held in both Bastia (games 1 and 2) and Ajaccio (games 3 and 4), between Viswanathan Anand and Anatoly Karpov. Anand won the match 3.5-0.5 on the same day that the 2nd Kasparov-Karpov rapid match, scheduled for December in Paris, was cancelled.

Photo Leo Battesti, Corsican Circuit

As part of the Corsican Circuit 2009, Anand and Karpov started with 32-board simuls on Saturday, October 31st. Reigning World Champion Anand won all his games, 12th World Champion Anatoly Karpov conceded one draw to 15-year-old Francis Xavier Vincenti.

Then the two played a four-game rapid match with a time control of 15 minutes per game plus 3 seconds increment per move. The first two games were played on Sunday in Bastia; the second part of the match took place in Corsica's capital Ajaccio.

Like in his match against Kasparov in September in Valencia, Karpov was not a shadow of the player he used to be. Only in the second game he managed to draw but Anand won the other three games relatively easily. We agree with Mark Crowther that Karpov "really does have to do at least some remedial work on his game if he is to play any more of these exhibitions."

Speaking of which. One of those exhibitions, the second rapid match against Kasparov, scheduled for December 11-13 in Paris, was cancelled today. Well, cancelled, as we understood this match was never officially confirmed. Anyway, apparently one of the main sponsors pleaded to couple this event with the year of Russia in France, beginning in March 2010. So hopefully it's a postponement which will give Karpov some extra time to warm up.

Game viewer

Game viewer by ChessTempo

Links

• Official website
• Games in PGN: Anand-Karpov | Corsica Masters | Simuls