Candidates Tournament 2014: Second match against Aronian was tensest – Anand

It was all the same for me that, prior to the tournament, the experts showed Levon Aronian and Vladimir Kramnik as the favorites. I had just come to play; I knew that the chances were equal. Former World Chess Champion, Grandmaster (GM) Viswanathan Anand (India), who won the Candidates Tournament 2014 in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia, told the aforementioned to Sport Express.

“The tensest match was with Levon. At that time we had equal points and were playing in the eighth round. He was very determined, but Aronian was unlucky in the beginning. I sacrificed my pawn and took the initiative. Then he just wanted to end everything. “After going ahead on points, I was trying to play chess and not focus on the other matches. [But] I primarily followed Aronian all through the tournament,” the 44-year-old GM specifically said.

As reported earlier, GM Levon Aronian—who plays first board for the three-time World Chess Olympiad champions and the previous World Team Chess champions, Armenia, and who is second in the World Chess Federation (FIDE) rankings—placed penultimate sixth in the Candidates Tournament 2014. The GM who won this tournament became the official World Chess Champion candidate, and therefore he will compete against reining World Chess Champion, GM Magnus Carlsen (Norway), who