Magnus Carlsen retains a one point lead going into the final three games of the defence of his world title in Sochi against Viswanathan Anand. Carlsen used 49 minutes and Anand only 14 in a session that lasted just over an hour. before the draw was agreed. The Berlin Defense to the Spanish is one of the hardest nuts to crack for players of 1.e4 and has also been Carlsens choice against stronger opposition. Some have speculated that Anands choice of 1.d4 with white is precisely due to the difficulty in generating chances against this variation if black knows the theory. Carlsen managed a surprise in the same opening in game 7 where he pressed win for a win for a long time before accepting a draw after. 122 moves. Today Carlsen didnt see anything better than to repeat moves and agree a draw after just over an hours play. Carlsen deviated from game 7 with 11.Ne2 to which Anand chose the reply 11...b6. Whist this move isnt quite as common as 11...Be7 there have been high level games using this. 13.Nf4 was played after some deliberation by Carlsen and he admitted that following 13...Bb7 he couldnt see any advantage for white. Anand said about the position after 14...Bd6 I knew at least this was comfortable for black. The match remains in the balance. Anand will have two games with the white pieces to try and get an advantage against Carlsen. Anand may have a single use weapon with black in game 11 if he thinks it is time to try and win with black too. Neither player seemed all that concerned by todays result and both can be reasonably happy. Score after 9 of the scheduled 12 games Carlsen 5 Anand 4. First to 6.5 points or if tied 6-6 there will be rapid tie-breaks followed by blitz. Game 10 Friday 20th November 2014 3pm local time 12pm GMT: Anand - Carlsen.
Posted on: Thu, 20 Nov 2014 21:10:41 +0000
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