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Anand lets Carlsen off the hook, settles for draw
Press Trust of India | Shamkir (Azerbaijan)
April 17, 2015 Last Updated at 22:42 IST

Viswanthan Anand let a golden opportunity slip as he let reigning World Champion Magnus Carlsen off the hook and settled for a draw with the Norwegian in the first round of 2nd Vugar Gashimov Memorial chess tournament, here today.

Capitalising on an unforced error by Carlsen, five-time World Champion Anand enjoyed a pawn plus position for a long time but the Norwegian simply hung on there to salvage an important half point in the strongest super tournament of this year.

For Anand, the draw was a positive result but the Indian wijard must be wondering what went wrong in converting what looked like a pawn plus endgame with a decent advantage. The draw however made Anand open his account in a positive way and the Indian can take a cue from here to go down at other opponents.

It was a Marshall Gambit by Carlsen that the Norwegian uncorked for the first time against Anand. The die was cast early as Carlsen came up with a new idea in the opening but could not perturb Anand as he retained a small advantage.

Carlsen erred almost decisively in the middle game and responded in the best possible manner. The resulting end-game was a pawn plus for Anand and although the Indian got a chance to torment Carlsen for a long time, the winning move never came.

Full article here.

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