Anand plays out gruelling draw in World Championship opener
SOCHI (RUSSIA): Viswanathan Anand played out a fighting draw against defending champion Magnus Carlsen of Norway in the first game of the World Chess championship, here on Saturday.
Having drawn white pieces, Anand attacked on expected lines but Carlsen, after some initial problems in the Grunfeld defence, came out with flying colours and gave the five-time former world champion a tough time towards the end.
With one of the preparations backfiring, it will be up to team Anand to look for remedial measures especially, as even though the Indian was up by almost 30 minutes on the clock in the opening phase, the advantage was gradually neutralised by Carlsen. Anand, in fact, had less time than Carlsen when the game reached the first time control.
It was a good opening for Anand as white in the topical exchange variation. Anand apparently took cue from a couple of recent games played by Ragger Markus and Alexander Moiseenko and even though their final results were uninspiring, the position did offer the kind of volatility Anand was hoping to get.
Carlsen, to his credit, was in his elements and showed no fatigue whatsoever when he was posed with a difficult position to solve.
While things seem to be favouring Anand thanks to his speed in executing his moves till move 13, the next one from Carlsen apparently took the Indian by surprise as he spent no less than 23 minutes on it.
Soon afterwards Anand embarked on a principled decision, one that dented his pawn structure forever, but something that still gave him hope to fight for the initiative. However, as the game progressed it became clear that Carlsen had judged the position better and slowly but surely, white’s advantage – and hope – disappeared.