World Chess Championship: The battle heats up

The 12-game encounter between Viwanathan Anand and Magnus Carlsen is now tied 2-2 and poised for a photo finish.

Carlsen starts with white pieces in game five on Friday.

So far, the five-time world champion has played it safe without taking risks, while the world no. 1 is still waiting for a mistake from Anand. The non-capture of a pawn by the Indian in Game Three even now rattles chess players, who are waiting with bated breath to see the first win in the keenly contested battle of brains.

While Anand thwarted Carlsen’s usual play in Game One, the defending champion bailed himself out in Game Two, as he was surprised by the challenger’s opening choice.

The third game gave Anand hopes of beating the Norwegian, but he was unable to find the right moves.

The world no.1 returned the compliment in Game Four, when he failed to convert his material advantage into a win.

“So far, Anand and Carlsen are evenly matched. Most people favour Anand, if he could survive in the first six games,” said GM-elect Ashwin Jayaram. He added that Game Four was unusual, because unlike irregular variations in the first three games, Carlsen played a proper opening.

“It could have surprised Anand,” he said.

Ashwin also added that with every sub-variation analysed deeply nowadays, it is difficult for both

the players to remember everything.

“In Game Two, Anand had the choice of playing ambitiously, but since it was a surprise opening, he didn’t remember his analysis,” he said, adding that it would be difficult for common man to find the win that the two masters talk about in the press conference.

Rajasthan GM Abhijeet Gupta said that the match was slowly moving towards an interesting stage.

“Both players are trying to get their type of positions and the games are expected to get more aggressive from now onwards,” he said.

Georgia WGM Keti Tsatsalashvili added that more surprises would be in store from both the players in the coming rounds.

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