Game 10 ends in a draw, Carlsen closer to retain world title

World champion Magnus Carlsen edged a step closer to retaining the world title in his match against Viswanathan Anand as Game 10 ended in a draw after sharp but accurate play from both players. Carlsen leads the match by 5.5-4.5 with two games left to go.  

Anand needs to win one of those two games to equalise the match and force it into a tie-breaker. The Indian Grandmaster's best chances may come in Game 12 when he has the white pieces in the last game of the match.

Carlsen adopted the Gurnfeld Defence for the second time despite getting into some difficulties using the defence in Game One. Anand adopted a classical line with 5. Qb3, which is quite common and one of his seconds, Radek Wojtaszek has often played before.

Carlsen continued to play sharply adopting a defensive system, which used to be a favourite of his former coach, former world champion, Garry Kasparov. A very imbalanced position was reached despite the early exchange of queens. White had a central passed pawn and the bishop pair, but black had a more compact pawn structure and chances of rounding up the central passed pawn.

The position seemed to be dynamically balanced and neither side could make any clear progress. White forced his passed pawn forward with a combination where he sacrificed a bishop. However, black returned the piece to eliminate the passed pawn and an equal endgame with two rooks on each side was reached. The draw was agreed after 32 moves when there was no chance for either side.

White :Anand, Viswanathan  Vs Black:Carlsen, Magnus 
Game 10, World Championship Match Sochi 2014

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.Nf3 Bg7 5.Qb3 dxc4 6.Qxc4 0–0 7.e4 Na6 8.Be2 c5 9.d5 e6 10.0–0 exd5 11.exd5 Re8 12.Bg5 h6 13.Be3 Bf5 14.Rad1 Ne4 15.Nxe4 Bxe4 16.Qc1 Qf6 17.Bxh6 Qxb2 18.Qxb2 Bxb2 19.Ng5 Bd4 20.Nxe4 Rxe4 21.Bf3 Re7 22.d6 Rd7 23.Bf4 Nb4 24.Rd2 Re8 25.Rc1 Re6 26.h4 Be5 27.Bxe5 Rxe5 28.Bxb7 Rxb7 29.d7 Nc6 30.d8Q+ Nxd8 31.Rxd8+ Kg7 32.Rd2