“When you don’t expect a gift, you don’t look for it”

Magnus Carlsen Wins the Sixth Game of the Match. The Score after the First Half is 3.5-2.5 in Favor of the World Champion

November 15, 2014 – The sixth game of the World Chess Championship match between Magnus Carlsen (Norway) and Viswanathan Anand (India) was played on November 15th in the Main Media Center in Sochi. The World Champion had White.

Carlsen was true to himself and opened the game with е2-е4. Anand went for the Sicilian defense with 2…е6, like in the game four. This time Carlsen did not deviate from the main theory, and soon the players arrived at the fashionable position of the Kan Sicilian. White can handle it in many different ways – either launch a direct attack, or use a more positional approach. The World Champion opted for the latter, allowing Black to develop his minor pieces quickly and create some pressure against White’s center.

As it often happens in games with early tension, it continued with multiple exchanges, and transposed to an ending with a small advantage to White. Anand maneuvered skilfully and created a tricky defensive setup: White could win a pawn on almost every move, but Black would gain sufficient counterplay every time.

Carlsen continued to strengthen his position, but suddenly committed a blunder on the move 26, giving Anand a chance to deliver a simple tactical blow, collecting two pawns. Anand, however, did not notice this chance and made an indifferent move fairly quickly. The World Champion lifted his head, found that his blunder was forgiven, and lowered his head again for about 10 seconds. At this very moment Anand realized their mutual errors, and it was a tough mental blow for him.

The rest of the game was played very accurately by Magnus, while Anand did not defend perfectly, and his position was ruined even before the time control. The World Champion won the game and took the lead in the match.

Vishy Anand: “When you don’t expect a gift, you don’t look for it”.

According to Magnus Carlsen, if 26…Nxe5 was played, the World Championship match might have been lost for him. After the blunder Anand started to play less confidently – the missed chance clearly affected his morale. The ex-World Champion agreed with this assessment.

Thus, the score in Carlsen-Anand match is now 3.5-2.5 in Carlsen’s favor. Sunday, November 16th is a day off. The seventh game is played on November 17th at 15.00. According to the regulations, the players don’t change color of their pieces in the 7th game, so Magnus Carlsen once again plays White. Admission is free of charge. The official website of the championship http://www.sochi2014.fide.com broadcasts live grandmaster commentary in Russian and English.

The World Chess Championship match consists of 12 games with a classical time control: 120 minutes for 40 moves, then 60 minutes for 20 moves, and then 15 minutes plus 30 second per move until the end of the game. If the match is tied, a tie-break will be played on November 27th.

The 2014 Chess Championship match between incumbent champion Magnus Carlsen and challenger Vishy Anand will take place between November 7 and 28 in Sochi, Russia. The World Chess Championship is the most followed event in the world of chess. There are about 600 million chess players all over the world, with such well-known enthusiasts as Sergey Brin, George Soros, Bill Gates and Mikhail Gorbachev.

Tickets for the match can be booked at sochi2014.fide.com.

For more information:
Masha Kunica
Media, World Chess Championship
media@agonlimited.com