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Business News/ Industry / Media/  World chess championship: Game 1 ends in a draw
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World chess championship: Game 1 ends in a draw

The game ended in a little over four hours after a probing battle in which both Carlsen and Anand came up with the best solutions in problematic situations

A file photo from a game between Viswanathan Anand (left) and Magnus Carlsen last year in Chennai. Photo: Sai Sen/Mint Premium
A file photo from a game between Viswanathan Anand (left) and Magnus Carlsen last year in Chennai. Photo: Sai Sen/Mint

Sochi, Russia: The first game of the world chess championship match ended in a draw on Saturday, but the world champion—Norway’s Magnus Carlsen—made his Indian challenger, Viswanathan Anand, earn it with accurate defence under intense pressure.

The game ended in a little over four hours after a probing battle in which both Carlsen and Anand came up with the best solutions in problematic situations.

Playing with white pieces, Anand started aggressively and held a comfortable position in the first couple of hours of the game. That’s pretty much what experts said he should be looking to do, learning from his mistake of playing defensively against Carlsen a year ago.

That match in Chennai last year cost Anand his world title.

In the third hour of play on Saturday, however, tables turned as Carlsen regrouped and neutralized Anand’s advantage. Asked if he missed something that would have strengthened his control over the game, Anand said he couldn’t “pinpoint anything exactly".

At the same time, he admitted that he was a bit “wobbly for a few moves", which allowed Carlsen to claw back into the game and seize the driver’s seat.

The rest of the battle was “very annoying" as Anand put it, adding, “I am slightly relieved." Though Carlsen only had a slender edge over his opponent, Anand had to find the most accurate defence at all times to escape with a draw.

In his quintessential style, the world champion kept probing Anand’s defensive skills, piling pressure till the very end.

“I used to hate defending positions like this... It should be a draw, but one slip and you are dead meat," British grandmaster Nigel Short commented on Twitter as Anand struggled to keep his head out of water.

Asked if he was disappointed with the result, Carlsen said he did start fancying his chances at some point and had got a “little bit optimistic" but he wasn’t sure he missed anything that could have swung the game decisively in his favour.

The match continues on Sunday with Carlsen opening with white pieces in the second game. It starts at 5.30pm IST.

The Indian grandmaster is widely seen as the underdog because of his poorer rating and Carlsen’s stellar performance in the past few years. After winning the world chess championship in the classical format last year, he has extended his sway over the sport by seizing the world title in shorter variants of the game as well.

Most experts, however, see this match turning out to be more exciting than the one in Chennai, which Anand lost in 10 games, not being able to last even the full duration of the 12-game match.

Because Anand has the psychological edge as he has nothing to lose—no outcome could be worse than last year’s—experts see him playing to his true potential.

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Published: 08 Nov 2014, 07:18 PM IST
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