I’m quite surprised that he is not playing ambitiously

World Chess: Game 7 between Anand and Carlsen ends in a draw
Amit Karmarkar, TNN | Nov 19, 2013, 05.06 AM IST

CHENNAI: Finally, V Anand got his kind of draw. Less than two hours of play, 32 moves of mostly theory, largely toothless and perhaps, too late in the day.

Anand vs Carlsen: Moves in Game 7 | Analysis by Parimrjan Negi

The seventh-round draw and the resultant half a point leaves Carlsen two points short of the World Championship crown. The Norwegian challenger will have three whites in remaining five games. For the neutral follower, the ghost of the 2012 Anand-Gelfand match revisited the board on Monday. But both players seemed happy with the outcome as they were about to repeat their moves thrice.

Needing two wins to make a match of it, Anand said : “Nice to break this sequence (of defeats ). I was hoping to press him a little bit, but could not manage.”

Anand got that half point that he sought. But it’s unclear if that has taken him closer to the title or farther. He has only two whites remaining in the remaining five games.

The 43-year-old was a bit relieved to stop the rut. It’s clear that he has kept his plans of allout attack for another day. It’s that much difficult to be imbalanced and needlessly adventurous for his age and experience.

“It almost seems like Anand has given up,” said GM Susan Polgar during the live webcast. “I’m quite surprised that he is not playing ambitiously.”

Calrsen, playing black, again opted for Ruy Lopez opening. And despite somewhat imperfect placing of his pieces, he attained equality. Both players deviated quickly from the previous games played by GMs in this opening.

For a change, Anand managed to keep queens on the board a little longer. “Swapping all the rooks gave him adequate counter-play.”

Carlsen said he was never in real danger in this game. “White’s pieces were more developed but there was no particular weakness in my pieces.”

On his two consecutive wins in games five and six and its effect on the match, Carlsen said : “You (player at the receiving end) have to move on but it’s not easy. I believe the outcome of Game 5 influenced the next game.”

Anand said they played a line of Bg4 (seventh move) on Monday. “There was slow manoeuvring of pieces. I kind of pressed with Ne2 (13th move) but it was not huge. I could not make it happen.”

It’s not often that the reigning champion has to prove that he is a worthy challenger in the title match. Sadly, five-time champion Anand is facing this delicate situation in his own backyard.

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com