Sochi (Russia): After three close contests, Game 4 of the ongoing world chess title match between Magnus Carlsen and Viswanathan Anand ended in an uninspiring draw after a long battle of almost five hours.
After Sunday’s loss in Game 2 with black pieces, Anand switched to a new line of play on Wednesday and was able to easily neutralise Carlsen’s first mover’s advantage. What emerged from the first 90 minutes of play was an unthreatening balanced position, described by experts as dry.
However, Carlsen is good at dealing with such positions because of his ability to punish even small mistakes. With his endless stamina, he kept grinding on. He set small traps for Anand all along, but the Indian challenger to the world title didn’t let his guards down and played accurately.
“There wasn’t a moment when I was very concerned,” Anand said in the post match press conference, but “it was a difficult game”.
The final outcome was pretty much clear at the end of three-and-a-half hours of play with grandmasters Susan Polgar predicting a draw, but Carlsen kept probing Anand’s defensive skills.
The world champion from Norway, however, said he wasn’t impressed with his performance on Wednesday as well. No blunders, but “in general not good enough”, he said describing his own play in Game 4.
Carlsen lost Game 3 on Tuesday, allowing Anand to restore parity in score and regain confidence.
At this level of chess, most grandmasters would have been happy to settle for draw, conserving energy for the remaining eight games, but Carlsen played on, seeking, as it were, to squeeze “water from a stone” to borrow Polgar’s description.
Asked about the match situation and if it was any different from Chennai a year ago, Carlsen said scores were level after the fourth game even a year ago, so it wasn’t any different in Sochi. Carlsen went on win the match in Chennai in 10 games to claim the world title from Anand. He won Games 5 and 6 last year to seize an almost unassailable lead. Anand collapsed thereafter.
Source: http://www.livemint.com
Carlsen is a squeezer.