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World Chess Championship Day 4: After game four, match tied at 2-2

The world champion had an unimpressive opening

Business Standard
An extremely exciting game went down to the wire before Magnus Carlsen and Viswanathan Anand headed into a technically drawn endgame where Carlsen still had practical winning chances. The game was eventually drawn in 64 moves and the world championship match remains tied 2-2 with eight games to come.

Carlsen held the upper hand for most of game four but he was unable to convert his apparent edge into a win against very resourceful defence from Viswanathan Anand. The world champion had an unimpressive opening. He was unable to garner any advantage with the white pieces when Carlsen defended the Berlin Variation of the Spanish Opening.

This is a highly theoretical line which Vladimir Kramnik popularised by adoption in his 2000 match against Garry Kasparov. In the main line that was played on Wednesday, queens are exchanged early. White has the better pawn structure but black has the bishop pair and he will get the better long-term prospects if he can survive white's short-term initiative. Anand played unconvincingly, allowing Carlsen to equalise easily. On move 18, Carlsen fearlessly snatched a pawn with 18-Bxa2. It looked at first glance as though the bishop is trapped but deep calculation proves it can escape. After that, white is struggling to prove that he has full compensation for the material deficit even though he has good piece coordination and more space.

The game reached a crisis around move 31-32, when it looked as though Carlsen was getting completely on top. Anand found a way to induce tactical complications. He sacrificed another pawn to activate his king and knight. Carlsen may have reacted in exactly in a very complex technical endgame.

Anand got some of his material back and reached a difficult but tenable rook endgame with a sharp tactical sequence. The world champion ran into intense time pressure calculating deep variations but after this, he kept the draw in hand. At the time of reporting, Carlsen was still a pawn ahead and Anand fought to maintain the balance. Finally the peace treaty was signed when the position liquidated to a dead draw.

  THE GAME SCORE
White: Anand Vs
Black: Carlsen
World Championship Match 2013 Chennai, Game # 4
  • 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.0-0 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 The pawn snatch is strong because the bishop escapes, keeping the material
     
  • 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 Anand finds ways to complicate a difficult position, with
     
  • 32.Rdc1 Bd7 33.e6 fxe6 34.fxe6 Be8 This is the diagrammed position. Anand found a sharp sacrifice that enabled him to come closer to a draw.
     
  • 35.Ne4! Rxg4+ 36.Kf2 Rf4+ 37.Ke3 Rf8 Carlsen may have had a more accurate response in the past few moves. Anand now has a drawing line with 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 (½-½) White is a pawn down but the position is a dead draw.

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First Published: Nov 14 2013 | 12:33 AM IST

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