With the big match a month away, we might as well start talking about it.

I like both players about equally well. I think Anand has at least a 3/4 chance of retaining, but personally, I wouldn't mind either one of them won. My biggest question is what it would do to the credibility of the World Title if the #22 player won it. I know Kasimdzhanov was #48 when he won whatever it was he won, but that was a joke title that few took seriously. This time it's for THE World Title, and there are no others out there. For years, our immediate I-want-it-now society seems to have been preferring the more immediate results of the rating system (now updated daily, at least in unofficially) over the title. I've even seen people on chessgames sneering at Anand for being #4, what will they do if the champ is #22? I feel like I ought to root for Anand, just for that reason alone. Or should I?

Petro - I am not sure you ought to root for Anand. If you like both players equally well, then root for a good match and a well run event that positively promotes chess. In the end, if Mr. Mitzvah beats Anand and people seem to think there is a flaw in the system that #22 won the World Championship, they don't understand what effort and strength it took to beat Anand in a match! People said Kramnik wasn't worthy, but history will show he beat Kasparov without losing!

If Mr. Mitzvah beats Anand, he will have completed the journey to the throne and will be a deserved champion. He might not be the best player in the world, but he beat the champ in a match and that's all we can ask for.

I do think Anand will win by a +2 or +3 score. I hope it is not any bigger than that. I would like to see Gelfand get at least 1 win (hopefully early in the match) and I would like to see Anand be behind in the match for a while to test his mettle.

I just hope its some high quality chess without major howler type blunders. Both seem to be great sportsman so I expect a classy affair. I am happy that Gelfand has earned a chance. He has had a very nice career.

Hear! Hear! (I turned English just for that lovely post, ChessOutpost.com)

I root for the stronger player, simple as that. It remains to be seen who that will be.

I think Vishy Anand ( i do not know what two sheds has got to do with ) will teach something to Gelfand, that he did not learn in the Soviet school of chess.

As they would say, the Hindu will crush the Jew.

Right on, brother! (And I just turned American to add my +1 to Inky's. )

That's what makes it complicated. I'm a fan of both players, but I'm also a fan of the World Title itself. I see two contests here: Two Sheds vs. Mitzvah, and World Title vs. Top Rated Player. In the first contest, I don't have a strong preference, but in the second one I do (I definitely consider the World Championship to be more meaningful than having the #1 rating). I think an Anand victory would be preferable, as he'd have more credibility than Gelfand against the Top Rated player.

If you don't know who the stronger player is until after the match, how do you know who to root for during the match?


"Two Sheds" is my nickname for Vishy. I thought he needed a nickname if he was going to play title matches, since we already had nicknames for Kramnik and Topalov ("The Painter" and "The Dodger").

"Two Sheds" derives from Anand's love of Monty Python (there was a time when Anand would reference Python in almost every interview). It comes from this Python sketch about nicknames:

Arthur "Two Sheds" Jackson

Mr. Mitzvah is the name of a Jewish-themed superhero in Season 2 of Who Wants To Be a Superhero? I gave Gelfand that name after his great showing in the Mexico City Championship tournament. I had no idea at the time that he'd play a title match some day, but it's lucky that Anand's opponent already has a nickname, so I don't need to scramble to come up with one at the last minute.

I didn't use nicknames in 2004. I wonder what a good nickname would be for Leko? We did have jokes about "I am a Leko, not to be confused with Geico" (a parody of a famous commercial), but that's not a nickname as such.


I'm neither Hindu nor Jewish, so if I rooted for people based on their ethnicity, I'd have no interest in this match at all.

And it's a good opportunity to reuse my Gelfand poster:



I'd make one for Anand too, but I'm not sure how a Two Sheds poster should look like.

Okay, here's one, but it's kind of lame. Maybe someone can come up with something better? If not we can always stick with the Tiger of Madras version.

Those are AWESOME! The only thing awesomer would be for Anand to get wind of it and say in an interview that he heard there were actually people on the internet who called him Two Sheds. (because I bet he'd be tickled pink if he knew).