So what was it? The worst world championship in history, as many fans say — or the best ever, according to computers?
Garry Kasparov seemed to favor the first view when he said that in the just-completed match, winner Vishy Anand “played terribly” against Boris Gelfand. “The quality of the tie- break games was beneath criticism,” the former world champion told crestbook.com.
But IM Ken Regan, a computer authority, found that the moves of the 12 games played at regular speeds averaged a spectacular 2962 rating in strength. That’s the highest quality ever, topping the average of 2918 in the 2000 Kasparov-vs.- Vladimir Kramnik title match, he found.
Anand said Kasparov’s comments were sour grapes from a retiree who misses the limelight “and has been trying to make me retire since 2011.”
Other grandmasters reacted to the match on Twitter. Gata Kamsky of the US tweeted, “Looking at the last few world chess champ matches, it makes me sad that chess at present is 80% preparation and only 20% is about the game.”
The match was decided by the tiebreaker position in the diagram. Challenger Gelfand said in “999 out of 1,000 times” he would have found the right move, which would have tied the match. But he didn’t this time.