-4

As far as I remember, Anand was(is) primarily an 1.e4 player throughout his career. Yet in the first game of the Carlsen-Anand match he opted to open with 1.d4. What are the potential benefits of such an opening choice in a situation like this? Is Anand simply wary of having to face the Berlin Defense, or is there another benefit to choosing 1.d4?

DTR
  • 3,259
  • 1
  • 17
  • 41
MikhailTal
  • 3,371
  • 4
  • 24
  • 50
  • Why the downvote? – MikhailTal Nov 08 '14 at 21:15
  • 3
    not the downvoter, but this is the question, which is impossible to answer reliably if you are not Anand. – Salvador Dali Nov 08 '14 at 21:32
  • Only Anand knows why. We can only speculate. My guess is that it is because 1. e4 didn't work for him in his last match with Carlsen. The only game where he had Carlsen in some sort of trouble playing White was when he played 1. d4. So it's logical for Anand to play 1. d4 in this match. – NM Wesley Falcao Nov 08 '14 at 23:56
  • 1
    I didn't downvote, but this is indeed a very subjective question. – NM Wesley Falcao Nov 08 '14 at 23:57
  • 2
    Leaving aside the subjectivity, there are extremely few top players that consistently choose an opening move over the rest. The first one that comes to mind is Mamedyarov, but nowadays Anand plays `1.e4` as much as `1.d4`. – Pablo S. Ocal Nov 09 '14 at 00:34
  • 1
    I'm suggesting an edit that might help to make this question less subjective/reliant on Anand's preference by asking instead what the benefits are of choosing 1.d4 instead of 1.e4 at the start of a WC match. – DTR Nov 09 '14 at 10:00
  • This question was too subjective anyway, can an full moderator close it? – MikhailTal Nov 09 '14 at 12:05
  • Can you delete it instead? It is pointless to lose points by downvotes, especially since you worked so hard to earn them. The question will never be rephrased into useful one anyway :( – AlwaysLearningNewStuff Nov 09 '14 at 18:30
  • @AlwaysLearningNewStuff I cannot, since it has an answer. I need a mod to do it. – MikhailTal Nov 09 '14 at 18:37
  • I don't think the question is so bad, but I'll vote to close it since the original poster has requested it. – dfan Nov 10 '14 at 03:48

1 Answers1

5

Anand primarily played 1. d4 in each of his 3 successful world championship matches between 2008 and 2012. In his 2013 match vs. Carlsen he favored 1. e4 before switching to 1. d4 for his last white of the match (game 9). Given the disastrous result of the 2013 match for him, I don't think it's surprising that he is apparently relying on 1. d4 this time.

Cleveland
  • 7,564
  • 1
  • 28
  • 39