(Photo from the official website)
As I write this post, I am mindful that the world chess championship match between world chess champion Anand s/o Viswanathan and chess challenger Magnus Carlsen is exactly one-third completed.
I have never been satisfied with short matches, especially at high levels of play such as the world chess championships, but I fully understand that long-drawn matches of the past will never be held again because of the huge expenses involved. We won't see any more 24-game matches, and 12-game matches like this own in Chennai are now much the norm.
With four games already completed, there are only eight left to play, which means that there is now very little room for either Anand or Carlsen to recover from any unexpected loss in their remaining games.
Like someone once told me, at their level of play, it is very easy for the two players to draw their games. They may finish a game quickly within two hours or they may fight it out in a six-hour game, but unless a gross blunder had been played, the game will more or less be evenly matched. Therefore, the first player to take a full point in the remaining eight games will very likely coast home and become the world chess champion.
As an Asian, I am definitely rooting for Anand to retain his world champion's title. He has the experience -- and the whole of India -- behind him. I am sure much of Europe will be rooting for Carlsen to bring the title to Europe. And the young Norwegian player may yet succeed, seeing how he continues fighting till the game in every game. This is bound to tire out the Indian eventually.
So far, though, they are even. The first two games were drawn quickly and only from the third game onwards did we see the first sign of both players getting serious enough. Both Anand and Carlsen got an advantage with the black pieces in the third and fourth games but their advantages never seemed enough to convert into full points.
The fifth game starts today at 0730 hours GMT (five o'clock, local time in Malaysia). I shall be watching live on the Internet from the official website. Other major websites are also carrying the games live, such as at the Internet Chess Club, Chessdom, Playchess, Chess.com and Chess & Bridge. Chessdom provides live feed to many chess blogs, such as Susan Polgar's.
[Event "WCh 2013"]
[Site "Chennai IND"]
[Date "2013.11.09"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[WhiteTitle "GM"]
[BlackTitle "GM"]
[WhiteElo "2870"]
[BlackElo "2775"]
[ECO "A07"]
[Opening "Reti"]
[Variation "King's Indian attack"]
[WhiteFideId "1503014"]
[BlackFideId "5000017"]
[EventDate "2013.11.09"]
1. Nf3 d5 2. g3 g6 3. Bg2 Bg7 4. d4 c6 5. O-O Nf6 6. b3 O-O 7. Bb2 Bf5 8. c4
Nbd7 9. Nc3 dxc4 10. bxc4 Nb6 11. c5 Nc4 12. Bc1 Nd5 13. Qb3 Na5 14. Qa3 Nc4 15.
Qb3 Na5 16. Qa3 Nc4 1/2-1/2
[Event "WCh 2013"]
[Site "Chennai IND"]
[Date "2013.11.10"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[WhiteTitle "GM"]
[BlackTitle "GM"]
[WhiteElo "2775"]
[BlackElo "2870"]
[ECO "B18"]
[Opening "Caro-Kann"]
[Variation "classical, 6.h4"]
[WhiteFideId "5000017"]
[BlackFideId "1503014"]
[EventDate "2013.11.09"]
1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Bf5 5. Ng3 Bg6 6. h4 h6 7. Nf3 e6 8. Ne5
Bh7 9. Bd3 Bxd3 10. Qxd3 Nd7 11. f4 Bb4+ 12. c3 Be7 13. Bd2 Ngf6 14. O-O-O O-O
15. Ne4 Nxe4 16. Qxe4 Nxe5 17. fxe5 Qd5 18. Qxd5 cxd5 19. h5 b5 20. Rh3 a5 21.
Rf1 Rac8 22. Rg3 Kh7 23. Rgf3 Kg8 24. Rg3 Kh7 25. Rgf3 Kg8 1/2-1/2
[Event "WCh 2013"]
[Site "Chennai IND"]
[Date "2013.11.12"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[WhiteTitle "GM"]
[BlackTitle "GM"]
[WhiteElo "2870"]
[BlackElo "2775"]
[ECO "A07"]
[Opening "Reti"]
[Variation "King's Indian attack"]
[WhiteFideId "1503014"]
[BlackFideId "5000017"]
[EventDate "2013.11.09"]
1. Nf3 d5 2. g3 g6 3. c4 dxc4 4. Qa4+ Nc6 5. Bg2 Bg7 6. Nc3 e5 7. Qxc4 Nge7 8.
O-O O-O 9. d3 h6 10. Bd2 Nd4 11. Nxd4 exd4 12. Ne4 c6 13. Bb4 Be6 14. Qc1 Bd5
15. a4 b6 16. Bxe7 Qxe7 17. a5 Rab8 18. Re1 Rfc8 19. axb6 axb6 20. Qf4 Rd8 21.
h4 Kh7 22. Nd2 Be5 23. Qg4 h5 24. Qh3 Be6 25. Qh1 c5 26. Ne4 Kg7 27. Ng5 b5 28.
e3 dxe3 29. Rxe3 Bd4 30. Re2 c4 31. Nxe6+ fxe6 32. Be4 cxd3 33. Rd2 Qb4 34. Rad1
Bxb2 35. Qf3 Bf6 36. Rxd3 Rxd3 37. Rxd3 Rd8 38. Rxd8 Bxd8 39. Bd3 Qd4 40. Bxb5
Qf6 41. Qb7+ Be7 42. Kg2 g5 43. hxg5 Qxg5 44. Bc4 h4 45. Qc7 hxg3 46. Qxg3 e5
47. Kf3 Qxg3+ 48. fxg3 Bc5 49. Ke4 Bd4 50. Kf5 Bf2 51. Kxe5 Bxg3+ 1/2-1/2
[Event "WCh 2013"]
[Site "Chennai IND"]
[Date "2013.11.13"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[WhiteTitle "GM"]
[BlackTitle "GM"]
[WhiteElo "2775"]
[BlackElo "2870"]
[ECO "C67"]
[Opening "Ruy Lopez"]
[Variation "Berlin defence, open variation"]
[WhiteFideId "5000017"]
[BlackFideId "1503014"]
[EventDate "2013.11.09"]
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. O-O Nxe4 5. d4 Nd6 6. Bxc6 dxc6 7. dxe5 Nf5 8.
Qxd8+ Kxd8 9. h3 Bd7 10. Rd1 Be7 11. Nc3 Kc8 12. Bg5 h6 13. Bxe7 Nxe7 14. Rd2 c5
15. Rad1 Be6 16. Ne1 Ng6 17. Nd3 b6 18. Ne2 Bxa2 19. b3 c4 20. Ndc1 cxb3 21.
cxb3 Bb1 22. f4 Kb7 23. Nc3 Bf5 24. g4 Bc8 25. Nd3 h5 26. f5 Ne7 27. Nb5 hxg4
28. hxg4 Rh4 29. Nf2 Nc6 30. Rc2 a5 31. Rc4 g6 32. Rdc1 Bd7 33. e6 fxe6 34. fxe6
Be8 35. Ne4 Rxg4+ 36. Kf2 Rf4+ 37. Ke3 Rf8 38. Nd4 Nxd4 39. Rxc7+ Ka6 40. Kxd4
Rd8+ 41. Kc3 Rf3+ 42. Kb2 Re3 43. Rc8 Rdd3 44. Ra8+ Kb7 45. Rxe8 Rxe4 46. e7 Rg3
47. Rc3 Re2+ 48. Rc2 Ree3 49. Ka2 g5 50. Rd2 Re5 51. Rd7+ Kc6 52. Red8 Rge3 53.
Rd6+ Kb7 54. R8d7+ Ka6 55. Rd5 Re2+ 56. Ka3 Re6 57. Rd8 g4 58. Rg5 Rxe7 59. Ra8+
Kb7 60. Rag8 a4 61. Rxg4 axb3 62. R8g7 Ka6 63. Rxe7 Rxe7 64. Kxb3 1/2-1/2
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