BackViswanathan Anand plays out tame draw against Carlsen in Game 7
With just five games to go in the 12-game match for the world chess title, Carlsen retains his two point lead over Anand
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Belying expectations, world chess champion Viswanathan Anand played safely despite trailing his challenger Magnus Carlsen by two points and was held to a tame draw in the seventh game of the ongoing world title match on Monday.
Anand, playing with white pieces, was expected to push for a win, but never in the game which ended in a little over two hours, could he create any annoying complication for his opponent. Anand’s repertoire has been found to be surprisingly uninspiring in this match, say experts.
It is understandable that Anand wanted to avoid loss “at all costs", former world champion Garry Kasparov said on Twitter commenting on the seventh game, but “Anand played like he is the one with a two-game lead".
Despite having the advantage of making the first move, Anand chose a line of play, which, in his own words, led to a “very slow manoeuvring game". He said he was hoping that he would be able to “press a little bit", but his opening moves didn’t “materialise into anything big".
The game ended in 32 moves in a completely sterile position.
“It suited me just fine," said Carlsen, who needs only two points from the remaining five games to claim the world title. It means he can win the match even with four draws going forward.
Former world champion Gary Kasparov expects Carlsen to win the match with two games to spare, which means he expects the 22-year old Norwegian to win at least one of the next three games, two of which he will play with white pieces.
Coming after two “unpleasant" losses in games 5 and 6, Anand said it was “nice" to draw the seventh game, but clearly in the current match situation, his fans were expecting him to be more aggressive.
The path the Indian grandmaster chose for Monday’s game led to a position, which was “a tiny bit more pleasant for white (Anand)", Carlsen said, but didn’t have any promise of exciting play.
Though Kasparov had said on Twitter before Monday’s game that Anand’s desperation could lead to “more losses than wins", experts didn’t expect him to be so cautious.
Carlsen plays white in Tuesday’s eighth game. According to Kasparov, the match is over for Anand, unless Carlsen gets nervous. “No doubt Carlsen will suffer some nerves as the end nears—it is unavoidable," Kasparov said on Twitter on Monday.
Asked if he still felt butterflies in his tummy, Carlsen said on Monday, “They are still there… unavoidable."
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