Watch Carlsen and Anand fight to be World Chess Champion

The FIDE World Chess Championship kicked off today in Chennai, India.

Reigning champ Visanathan Anand from India faces 22-year-old Norwegian wunderkind Magnus Carlsen.

Yes, that’s right – no Eastern Europeans are up for the champ title this time around. How novel is that? :)

Carlsen drew white for the opening game, which ended fairly quickly in a draw by repetition after 16 moves.

  [Date "2013.11.09"]  [Round "1"]  [White "Carlsen, Magnus"]  [Black "Vishanathan, Anand"]  [Result "1/2-1/2"]  [ECO "A07"]  [Opening "Reti: KIA"]   1.Nf3 d5 2.g3 g6 3.Bg2 Bg7 4.d4 c6 5.O-O Nf6 6.b3 O-O 7.Bb2 Bf5 8.c4 Nbd7  9.Nc3 dxc4 10.bxc4 Nb6 11.c5 Nc4 12.Bc1 Nd5 13.Qb3 Na5 14.Qa3 Nc4 15.Qb3 Na5  16.Qa3 Nc4 {#D} 1/2-1/2  

Hardly the thrill that any of us were hoping for.

If you want to follow the games, you don’t have to be India of course. You can watch the games unfold online via a variety of sources.

Here are some choices:

• YouTube
• The official FIDE World Championship website
• Infinity Chess (via Twitch TV)
• Chess.com (via LiveStream)

Separately, here’s an interesting article that argues that even though Magnus Carlsen is the world’s best chess player, he shouldn’t be the world champion.

If you have a view, or a preferred way to follow the World Chess Championship, leave a comment below.