Chennai: Predicting a close finish in the ongoing World Chess Championship between Viswanathan Anand and Magnus Carlsen, chess legend Gary Kasparov on Monday said the massive hype and publicity surrounding the match could revive the game across the globe.
"I am amazed by the publicity for the match and reminds me of my match with Anatoly Karpov and the Spassky-Fischer game. I hope Anand vs Carlsen match will be the revival of chess, it shows the importance of the title and is an amazing clash of generations," said Kasparov who arrived here on Monday to watch the 12-game match.
Having worked with Carlsen earlier, Kasparov felt the 22-year-old Norwegian challenger has a slight edge but said the experience of the 43-year-old defending champion Anand could come into play.
"I have a very good relation with Carlsen and his team but my talk will be limited to wishing him good luck. I cannot hide the fact that my sympathies are with Carlsen, not because we have worked before but because I believe that I am believer that future belongs to younger generation and Carlsen is half of Vishy's age," said the 50-year-old Russian.
"Having said that, World Championship is a highly unpredictable event and Vishy has plenty of experience and is on his home turf. The match will be very close and I would not share the optimism of many commentators saying Carlsen will have an easy job. There is no easy walk to World Championship," he said.
Kasparov, a former world champion, also would not read too much in the first two games ending in quick draws and said that match will become exciting later on.
"I wasn't critical because there is too much at stake. When you look at heavyweight boxing it very often starts slow.
It could be dramatic but normally they find to find a weakness but eventually it gets faster. Nobody wants to make a mistake or give the opponent an early lead. The match will become exciting," said Kasparov who is contesting the 2014 FIDE Presidential elections.
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