Viswanathan Anand
World Champion Viswanathan Anand revealed in an interview with The Times of India that Peter-Heine Nielsen will not work for either of the players at the next World Championship match.
“Nielsen will not be in either team,” said Anand here on Thursday. “That’s the deal. In fact, he told me that he won’t be in either team if Magnus is my rival. So I leave it at that. Nielsen is a man of integrity. So I expect that to be the case.”
The mainstream newspaper also explained the importance of a second at this level:
Chess seconds know sensitive information about players’ preparation. Anand’s decision to prepare and opt for queen-pawn opening against Vladimir Kramnik was a closelyguarded secret which hampered the Russian’s chances big way at Bonn in 2008. Garry Kasparov had roped in ‘off venue’ second Vladimir Kramnik in his World title match against Anand in 1995, especially for Slav defence. There was speculation that Magnus Carlsen worked for Anand during his match against Kramnik; and Kramnik, Kasparov and Carlsen offered informal help to Anand for his match against Veselin Topalov in 2010.
Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com
