Pythia

12th World Chess Champion Anatoly Yevgenyevich Karpov, interviewed by La Vanguardia of October 28, 2018, made a prediction about who will win the World Chess Championship match in London: “It will be an exciting match between two players of different styles who are also the best in the world. Carlsen, like Capablanca, was able to become World Chess Champion coming from a country with not much tradition in chess. Caruana formed himself according to the model of the famous Soviet chess school and shows great depth in openings, but Carlsen is very competitive, calm and able to improvise in solving problems, including openings. I believe overall that Carlsen enjoys a slight advantage over Caruana”. 13th World Chess Champion Garry Kimovich Kasparov, too, interviewed by Avishek Roy for Hindustan Times of October 21, 2018, made a bet on Carlsen to win: “I feel Magnus is slightly favourite. But it would very tough. Caruana is in good shape and Magnus’ latest performance in European Cup show that he is nervous. Proving everyday that you are the best is enormous challenge. I know that. Magnus is now just learning. When you stay on top for so long, something is in the air like a virus. Public wants to see a new face and even subconsciously it affects your game“. President of the Russian Chess Federation Andrey Vasilievich Filatov, instead, interviewed by Timur Ganeev and Alexander Nevzgova for Izvestia of October 24, 2018, bestowed his blessing on Caruana: “I think that Caruana has more chances to win. I’d say the odds are approximately 60 to 40 in favour of the American. The main reason for this prediction is that Fabiano understood how he could annihilate Magnus’ personality”.