Yada, yada, yada….

Viswanathan Anand – Still behind the Berlin wall
Raakesh Natraj : Chennai, Wed Nov 20 2013, 08:33 hrs

I played e4, he played Berlin, yada yada yada … let’s go to the doping controls.” Magnus Carlsen’s post-game comment might yet prove the most concise description of the action around game eight of the World Chess Championship.

The game itself was an insipid affair, ending in a draw after just 75 minutes of play. The only talking points were Viswanathan Anand’s choice of defence with black after Carlsen opened with e4 for the first time in the match and why the players took extraordinarily long to turn up for their post-match interaction with the media. Two points down and with just four games left after Tuesday’s game, it was widely expected that Anand would reply to 1. e4 with the Sicilian, statistically black’s most attacking response.

This was, however, not to be. After a bit of a ponder, Anand answered with the Berlin, which was puzzling on at least two counts. The Berlin is frequently used as a drawing tool by black. Why someone desperate to get back into the match would go for this approach remained unclear. Also, Carlsen, having played on the black side of the Berlin thrice already in the match, could be assumed to have an in-depth knowledge of the positions that could arise out of the opening. Anand would have had to come up with a strong novelty to surprise Carlsen and nothing of the sort happened.

Full article here.