Cover Story / World Championship
KEY GAMES After two short draws, Anand had the chance to draw first
blood in game three, but faltered at the key moment ...
Reti Opening (A09) GM Magnus Carlsen (FIDE 2870, NOR) GM Viswanathan Anand (FIDE 2775, IND)
Chennai World Championship (Game 3)
1. Nf3 d5 2. g3 g6 3. c4 Carlsen is the first to deviate
from game one, but after Anand’s reply had his first small think for the game.
3. ... dxc4 4. Qa4+ Nc6 5. Bg2 Bg7 6. Nc3 e5 7. Qxc4
Kasparov pointed out that Chennai
The first world championship match to be held outside Europe since 1995 was played in the capital of the State of Tamil Nadu, a city on the southeastern coast of India, with a population of nine million.
The match was handed to Chennai by FIDE without allowing bids after Chennai’s bid for the 2012 title match was unsuccessful.
It was the decision of the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, Jayalalithaa Jayaram, to allocate 29 crore (about $6 million) of Tamil Nadu’s money to bringing the world title match to Chennai.
Jayalalithaa, a former movie star, used the match to promote herself, in preparation for a possible bid to become Indian prime minister.
Posters for the match were everywhere in Chennai, with slogans such as “You always make the right move,” “You are unbeaten king” and “You are always our champion.” But instead of any image of Viswanathan Anand or Magnus Carlsen, every poster contained the smiling visage of Jayalalithaa.
The opening ceremony at the Nehru indoor Stadium seemed to have become an election rally when 6,000 fans starting screaming as the arrival of Jayalalithaa’s car was shown on the giant video screens, though the cheers for Jayalalithaa were exceeded when Carlsen and Anand entered the stadium.
The match was played in the ballroom of Chennai’s Hyatt Regency hotel, a new luxury hotel. The ballroom had 400 seats in front of a stage, including corporate boxes named after the world champions. Normal tickets cost about 30 euros but there was gratis standing room for 100 at the back of the hall. The hall was close to full, even at the end of the longest games. The playing hall had soundproof glass but not one-way glass—the players could see the audience, so seconds and team members were not allowed to sit in the front row.
“I think Vishy missed 12. ...
Be6 13. Qc1!,” opined Kasparov. 13. Bb4?! “The wrong plan,” said
Kasparov. “White has to start with 13. Qc1! because after 13. ... Nf5, (Otherwise 14. Bb4 will be stronger than in the game.~IR) the f5-knight is on a useless square—it wants to
26 February 2014 | Chess Life
29. ... Bd4 “I felt that after 29. ... Bxb2
30. Rae1, and 31. Bh3 he would have full compensation for the
the trick 7. Nxe5 Bxe5 8. Bxc6+ bxc6 9. Qxc6+ Bd7 10. Qe4 f6 11. f4 fails to 11. ... Ne7! 12. fxe5 Bc6.
7. ... Nge7 8. 0-0 0-0 9. d3 h6!? 10. Bd2 (1.23)
A strangely innocuous move.
The main line runs 10. Qh4, hoping for an endgame advan - tage after 10. ... Nf5 11. Qxd8 or a winning attack after 10. ... g5? 11. Bxg5!.
10. ... Nd4 (1.33) “I didn't like this,” said
Kasparov. “I was considering 10. ... Nf5!?, with the idea to play ... Nd4 and retake with a knight.”
11. Nxd4 exd4 12. Ne4 c6
be on d5— and White can play 14. b4 followed by 15. a4.”
13. ... Be6 14. Qc1 Bd5 15. a4 b6! “Now Black is better,” said
Kasparov. Having spent 15 minutes on his previous move looking for a good plan, Carlsen probably agreed, since he now hands over the bishop pair to Anand to minimize his disad - vantage.
16. Bxe7 Qxe7 17. a5 Rab8! Trying to keep as many
pieces on the board as possible.
18. Re1 (1.00) Rfc8 (0.53) 19. axb6 axb6 20. Qf4 Rd8 Anand plays very carefully
over the next moves. “I thought if I could get c5, b5, c4 going then I thought it could be un - pleasant for White, though White has the a-file.”
21. h4 Kh7 22. Nd2 Be5 23. Qg4 h5
Played almost instantly.
Some pundits were expecting Anand to force a draw with 23. ... Be6 24. Qf3 Bd5 but White can avoid the draw if he wishes through 25. e4!.
24. Qh3 Be6 25. Qh1 (0.34) c5 (0.31) 26. Ne4 Kg7 27. Ng5 (0.28) b5 (0.24) 28. e3?! (0.16)
Objectively a mistake, though
the position after 28. Nxe6+ Qxe6 is rather depressing for White, with Black able to pre - pare ... c4 and White having nothing to do.
28. ... dxe3 (0.19) 29. Rxe3
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