Black is more than OK for Viswanathan Anand

Black is OK is a book by Hungarian Grandmaster Andras Adorjan. But in the World chess championship match here after three rounds, black seems to be getting more than OK with World champion Viswanathan Anand testing World No 1 Magnus Carlsen to the limit. The black draw in 51 moves and four hours in the third game should give Anand enough confidence to stretch his challenger in the remaining games.

The match is tied at 1.5-1.5 with nine games to be played in the next two weeks. Anand will have white on Wednesday.

Anand came five minutes before the game and waited for Carlsen. He had to because he had black. And it was different from the previous two games when the player with white came first. So Carlsen came first in the first game and Anand in the second.

Carlsen repeated his knight opening from the first game paving the way for Reti to surface. The father of the hyper-modern school, Richard Reti popularised this opening in the early 1900s when he told the chess world it was no longer important to take control of the centre with Queen-pawn and King-pawn openings. One could exert pressure on the centre from the flanks as well using the bishops.

Carlsen varied from the first game by mixing the elements of English with his third move. There was slow progress in the first 10 moves and by the time they castled on Kingside, they had consumed equal time on the clock. The critical position in the opening arose on move 10 when Anand placed his knight in the centre.

Carlsen thought for close to five minutes before deciding to exchange the knights in the centre. Former Women’s World champion Susan Polgar felt Carlsen was slightly better in that position because his bishop was active while Anand’s black-squared bishop was cut off from its line by his own pawn in the centre.

However, two moves later, Susan had second thoughts about her assessment as Anand posted his bishop in the centre. The World champion was threatening to create a pawn chain on the Queenside. Carlsen immediately sensed the danger and have his bishop to capture a knight.
Carlsen had to concede the bishop pair to Anand with that decision but then the Norwegian kept an active knight. Anand ‘s black-coloured bishop continued to be blocked by his own pawn.
By move 18, the players had consumed two hours, each taking more or less an hour, and more than the time taken in the first two games. Carlsen was obviously trying to get into a knight versus bishop ending where his piece would have an edge.

But then contrary to white’s expectations, Anand got a minor breakthrough on move 22. The bishops came into play forcing Carlsen’s Queen right back into a corner next to the King and Grandmasters present in the hall started giving Anand the edge in the endgame
Anand offered a draw after 40 moves but Carlsen did not agree. Finally, when the game was drawn after more exchanges, only the bishops remained on the board.

Carlsen said he made a couple of errors but he did not think they were decisive. He felt there was always some way out but he admitted he was nervous and had to make the accurate moves to get the draw. “I missed some simple things,” he said.

Anand defended his decision to go for the opposite-coloured bishop ending. “We are still in the match. I am making some impressions,’ he observed.

To a question whether the presence of former World champion Garry Kasparov in Chennai made for fighting chess, anand said he had not seen him (Kasparov) anywhere. In fact, he was reportedly not allowed to enter the press room. Reacting to this, Carlsen said. “I don’t wan’t to get into politics. He is a legend, he deserves to be treated with respect.”

Game 3 Analysis By FM. Mohammad Fahad Rahman

White: Carlsen, Magnus (NOR)
Black: Anand, Viswanathan (IND)
Date: Tue Nov 12 2013
Result: ½-½

 [A07: Reti Opening: New York and Capablanca Systems]

1.Nf3 d5 2.g3 g6 3.c4 dxc4 4.Qa4+ Nc6 5.Bg2 Bg7 6.Nc3 e5 7.Qxc4 Nge7 8.0–0 0–0 9.d3 h6 10.Bd2 Nd4N 11.Nxd4 exd4 12.Ne4 c6 13.Bb4 [13.Qc1 Nf5=] 13...Be6 [Black threatens to win material: Be6xc4] 14.Qc1 Bd5 15.a4 [15.Qc5 Nc8³] 15...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 [Black prepares the advance c4] 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+

Analysis By: FIDE Master Mohammad Fahad Rahman