Anand Lets Carlsen Escape With A Draw

Anand Lets Carlsen Escape With A Draw
By Arvind Aaron

World champion Viswanathan Anand was impressive to get a pawn advantage in game three but in the time pressure, the presence of opposite colour bishops helped challenger Magnus Carlsen of Norway to escape with a draw after 51 moves.

Scores are level at 1.5-1.5 after this draw. “I missed a lot of actics and was nervous,” said Carlsen who refused to disclose the moment in which he was nervous. Anand said white generated plenty of play on the a-file and it was not easy for black to win the game.

Game three started with the first two moves from game one. Carlsen varied on move three from game one and forced the game into a different variation.

By move 15, black forced white to part a bishop for knight. Black was left with a double bishop advantage. White had lost the advantage of making the first move. Black’s advantage was in space and in the double bishop advantage.

White was restricted to a small area. Black could make a draw if he wanted on move 23 by perpetually attacking the white queen. Anand played for initiative and by move 27, the white queen was placed behind the g2 bishop on h1.

White’s bold 28.e3 break looked dangerous and double-edged. Carlsen may have seen something which the computers and the experts had not foreseen.

For the time control, Anand’s time advantage quickly translated into a pawn advantage by move 33. With the white queen sitting on the edge of the board, spectators knew that Anand was calling the shots.

The presence of opposite colour bishops guaranteed drawing chances for Carlsen though. After 40 moves the position on the board was a dead draw with queen’s and opposite colour bishops on the board. After 51 moves, the players had one bishop each and they agreed for a fighting draw.

With the twenty-five percent of the match completed, nine games remain to be played in this Tamil Nadu Government sponsored FIDE World Chess Championship match that is taking place at Hyatt Regency Hotel in Chennai.

“I do not want to be drawn into politics, but the world champion deserves to be treated with respect,” said Carlsen when asked that officials did not receive him well in Chennai. FIDE Press Officer Anastasia Karlovich replied saying that Monday was a free day and not allowing Kasparov into the pressroom was not an issue.

Spectators had plenty of value for money in game three. Anand has the advantage of playing five white games in the remaining nine.

Both players said they did not meet or see Kasparov and the question of playing a fighting game on the day of his arrival here did not arise. Anand defended his decision to allow exchange of the second rook and reeled out variations in defence for white.

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Former world chess champion (from 1985-2000) Garry Kasparov had come to Chennai for a holiday with his wife and was received by Ignatius Leong, FIDE General Secretary. Kasparov had formally trained Carlsen in 2009 at Croatia and since then the Norwegian gained rapid success in elite competitions. Carlsen also surpassed all-time high rating of 2851 earlier this year. In 2010, Kasparov helped Anand in the match against Topalov. Kasparov, it is learnt will be in Chennai to witness two games.

Kasparov attracted more media attention than the players. He was escorted into the playing hall by J.C.D. Prabhakar, President, AICF and D.V. Sundar, Vice President, FIDE.

As a surprise, more tickets were sold today than the two opening days. Kasparov was taken to the premium seats behind the Corporate Box seats but ahead of the Standard seats. On the last row of the Standard seats were Aruna Anand and the Anand team mambers. Behind them were the the standing spectators who enter into the hall for some time and leave. “About 20 seats were unsold today,” said Shrinidhi Sathiyanarayanan, who worked at the ticket counter.

“I like the ticket system used here,” said German journalist Stefan Loffler of Frankfurt Allgemeine. “The arrangements for the press here are super,” said the International Master, one of the many titled players covering this match.

“Watching these world chess championship games live was an experience of a lifetime,” said Woman Grand Master Nisha Mohota of Kolkata. Many other woman players like Kiran Mohanty, Soumya Swaminathan were present to watch the games.

What are the players wearing? The players wear a regular trousers, sleeves shirt and a coat without a tie. Within 15 minutes they remove the jacket and wrap it around the back of the chair and continue the game. Anand has brought coffee to the table.

Excited at seeing so many video cameras, Carlsen has now started to get used to them. Both players are relaxed at the press conferences. May be this could change when we see decisive games.

Eminent international problemist C.G.S. Narayanan of Chennai is conducting a daily problem solving competition with attractive prizes. This is happening at the lobby of the Hyatt Regency Hotel.

The Norwegian delegation led by the Carlsen’s father and manager are always busy talking to the Indian and Norwegian media.

The moves:

White: Magnis Carlsen
Black: Viswanathan Anand
Reti Opening A09
1. Nf3 d5 2. g3 g6 3. c4 dxc4 4. Qa4+ Nc6 5. Bg2 Bg7 6. Nc3 e5 7. Qxc4 Nge7 8. O-O O-O 9. d3 h6 10. Bd2 Nd4 11. Nxd4 exd4 12. Ne4 c6 13. Bb4 Be6 14. Qc1 Bd5 15. a4 b6 16. Bxe7 Qxe7 17. a5 Rab8 18. Re1 Rfc8 19. axb6 axb6 20. Qf4 Rd8 21. h4 Kh7 22. Nd2 Be5 23. Qg4 h5 24. Qh3 Be6 25. Qh1 c5 26. Ne4 Kg7 27. Ng5 b5 28. e3 dxe3 29. Rxe3 Bd4 30. Re2 c4 31. Nxe6+ fxe6 32. Be4 cxd3 33. Rd2 Qb4 34. Rad1 Bxb2 35. Qf3 Bf6 36. Rxd3 Rxd3 37. Rxd3 Rd8 38. Rxd8 Bxd8 39. Bd3 Qd4 40.Bxb5 Qf6 41. Qb7+ Be7 42. Kg2 g5 43. hxg5 Qxg5 44. Bc4 h4 45. Qc7 hxg3 46. Qxg3 e5 47. Kf3 Qxg3+ 48. fxg3 Bc5 49. Ke4 Bd4 50. Kf5 Bf2 51. Kxe5 Bxg3+ 1/2-1/2