Viswanathan Anand deserved better, what else can you say?
He won three games and both his losses were quite avoidable. Anand lost one-and-a-half points in endgames and still scored +1. Garry Kasparov shared a similar fate, letting several excellent positions turn into draws. It’s hard not to think that the second-round loss from a winning position against Radjabov really rocked him. Kasparov pushed very hard to get a win in the final rounds, but it was not to be. Anand and Kasparov did not play with the confidence we are used to seeing from them. Only a half-point separated the top four and you need every ounce of skill, will, and magic to break out in such a tough field. This was the end of one of the greatest chess streaks of all time, in my opinion. From Corus Wijk aan Zee 1999 to Linares 2002, Kasparov won 10 consecutive supertournaments. (Just one shared first.) Ten! It is also worth noting that much of the chat you hear now about Kasparov’s age is exactly what some people were saying right before that streak started after he finished th
