Garry Kasparov just cannot be ignored. Even at Viswanathan Anand and Magnus Carlsen’s post-match press conference.
However, the champion and challenger did not take the journalists’ bait, as they stressed more on what was happening on the board rather than off it.
Carlsen said he had not had the time to speak to Kasparov, his former trainer. “I think today’s game at the World championship itself had plenty of content,” he said. “So there is no need to talk about anything else. This match will be decided over the board, not off it.”
Anand was not very keen either to clarify whether his team had requested FIDE not to allow Kasparov to sit in the front row to watch the match, a claim made by the FIDE deputy president Georgios Makropoulos earlier in the day.
As for their battle — the longest yet — both said it was pretty tough.
“I didn’t count my moves,” said Anand when he was asked about the trend of increasing number of moves as the match progressed.
Carlsen said he was happy to play a long game.
Both players said they planned to relax on Thursday, the second rest day of the match.
