Viswanathan Anand made Magnus Carlsen do something which the Norwegian is not known to do when playing with white pieces — force a short draw by opting for a three-fold repetition of moves!
The 20-move deadlock in Game 9 of the World chess championship at Sochi may have helped Carlsen retain his lead at 5-4, but it hugely boosted Anand’s confidence in his search for the equaliser in the remaining three games, including two with white.
The game lasted just 64 minutes, with Anand using up only 15 minutes of allotted time on the clock.
It was clear that Anand was far better prepared, a fact acknowledged by a visibly-disappointed Carlsen during the press conference.
“It is always better to be able to press a bit with white. But on the other hand, every half a point brings me, half a point closer to 6.5 (needed to win the title). So that’s not too bad. It’s a tough match. Right now, it looks like it is going the distance,” said Carlsen striking an optimistic note.
Like in the marathon Game 7 that lasted 122 moves, Anand chose for the ‘Berlin’ set up in Ruy Lopez.
After he played his 13th move, the position was identical to the one seen in the 2012 Spanish Team Championship game between Leinier Domniguez Perez and former World champion Ruslan Ponomariov.
“Lot of this (line) is known. You try to be prepared for everything. (After Move 14) I knew it was comfortable for black,” said Anand and explained, “I knew this check-and-check (line) but when it happened, there is not much that black can do. You have to play the position you get, the situation you get. I can count, I know the score and I have a few more chances.”
Time trouble The first sign of Carlsen’s discomfort appeared on the 13th move where the World champion spent 13 minutes. On the following move, Carlsen needed 16 minutes and another 10 for the 15th move.
All along, Anand responded like a man well-versed with the position. Falling behind on the time reflected on the clocks, Carlsen chose to force a draw by perpetual checks.
After playing his 20th move, that put the black king under a knight-check for the third time in succession, Carlsen looked at Anand in anticipation of an acceptance of the draw-offer. Anand nodded and extended his hand to signal the end of one of the shortest draws, in terms of time taken, in World championship history. “Apparently, it (my game) was not good but it is not a disaster,” said Carlsen.
It may be recalled that in Game 1 of the 2013 World chess championship, Anand and Carlsen drew in just 16 moves. On that occasion, it was Anand, playing black, who started the sequence of three-fold repetition of moves.
Explaining his choice of moves on this day, Carlsen said, “Obviously it is comfortable playing this Berlin endgame when you are up. In general, I just try to play the lines I feel good and suit my style. Today, he was better prepared than I was and I didn’t see anything to do. If there is any disappointment with a short draw with white, then it is easier to swallow when you are up in the match.”
On his part, Anand was quietly confident after “an easy draw like this with black.” He reiterated the obvious by saying, “Well, I’ll have tojust try harder with white.”
Boosted by the quick draw, Anand is expected to consolidate the psychological gain by pushing Carlsen with white pieces on Friday.
Game 9: The Moves:
Carlsen (W)-Anand (B): 1. e4 e5, 2. Nf3 Nc6, 3. Bb5 Nf6, 4. O-O Nxe4, 5. d4 Nd6, 6. Bxc6 dxc6, 7.dxe5 Nf5, 8. Qxd8+ Kxd8, 9. h3 Ke8, 10.Nc3 h5, 11. Ne2 b6, 12. Rd1 Ba6, 13. Nf4 Bb7, 14. e6 Bd6, 15. exf7+ Kxf7, 16. Ng5+ Kf6, 17. Ne4+ Kf7, 18. Ng5+ Kf6, 19. Ne4+ Kf7, 20. Ng5+. Draw Agreed
(Diagram shows final position)
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