Chess (#1124)

The World Championship ended with the exact score the rating difference predicted. Magnus Carlsen retained the title, beating Viswanathan Anand 6.5-4.5 with one game to spare. Carlsen won three games, while Anand won one.

Until late into Game 11, it seemed likely to go down to the wire. Anand had a good position with black and he seemed on the verge of breaking through to cause real damage. Then he had a brainstorm making an exchange sacrifice that he couldn't explain later.

Carlsen defended with the precision expected of a champion and frankly, it wasn't that hard to refute the sacrifice. As Anand admitted, Carlsen held his nerve and played better at key moments. The dual-blunder in Game 3 apart, what was apparent in the second half was Anand's lack of energy in superior middlegames.

The Indian Grandmaster was playing a point behind, but his preparation got him to good positions in Game 10 and Game 11. In Game 10, Anand allowed it to dissolve into a very quick draw when he could have retained long-term pressure. In Game 11, he was looking for a quick fix when the objective need was to grind away with a small advantage. That set the preconditions for a blunder.  

Anand's preparation held up well even though Carlsen had Garry Kasparov and Mickey Adams in his corner along with the usual suspects (Peter Heine Nielsen, Jon Ludvig Hammer, Laurent Fressinnet, Ian Nepomniachtchi and Valdimir Potkin). Anand also navigated steadily through endgames, including the 122-move epic in Game 7.

In those terms, Anand's play improved from Chennai where his preparation failed and so did his endgame skills. But Anand simply could not make superior middlegame positions count. Carlsen defended stubbornly and hung on for a draw almost every time he got into a worse position.

It may be time for the many fans of the 45-year-old former champion to acknowledge that his best is behind him. While he has no intentions of retiring and he's likely to remain in the top echelons of the circuit, he may not be capable of another credible title challenge. It's time for young GMs in Carlsen's age-group - Fabiano Caruana, Anish Giri, Hikaru Nakamura & company - to stake their claims.

The diagram, BLACK TO PLAY (White: Carlsen Vs Black: Anand, Game 11, World Championships, Sochi 2014) is of course, the point where Anand had his brainstorm. He played:

27. - Rb4? 28.Bxb4 cxb4 29.Nh5 Kb7 30.f4 gxf4 31.Nhxf4 Nxf4 32.Nxf4 Bxc4 33.Rd7 Ra6 34.Nd5 Rc6 35.Rxf7 Bc5 36.Rxc7+ Rxc7 37.Nxc7 Kc6 38.Nb5 Bxb5 39.axb5+ Kxb5 40.e6 b3 and (1-0, 45 moves). There are no guarantees but 27.- Rb3 or 27.- Be7 can both be cited as normal tries that keep an edge for black.

Devangshu Datta is an internationally rated chess and correspondence chess player