World Chess Championship: This one threatens to slip away
Pravin Thipsay, Hindustan Times
November 19, 2013
Magnus Carlsen consolidated his position with an easy draw on Tuesday in the eighth game. It saw a well prepared Carlsen choosing the King Pawn opening – something he hadn’t done in this contest so far.
As expected, Anand replied with the Berlin Defence of the Ruy Lopez Spanish game, a solid defence the players had used against each other eight times before the meeting in Chennai.
Carlsen used a rare option of attacking the black knight with a rook on the fifth move, the move chosen by him against Anand twice before – in 2010. Anand deviated from their previous game on the seventh move but the significant strategic change came on move 8 when Carlsen chose to transfer his queenside knight to the kingside.
Speedy moves
Carlsen played very fast in this game, making the first 22 moves in just 11 minutes. It left Anand guessing as to what the challenger was up to – an unambitious middlegame or some hidden weapon under the disguise of a dull opening.
Therefore, Anand took his time in the opening and found the most accurate equalising moves, exchanging a rook and both bishops. But as he did, the position became extremely simple and both sides were left with only a queen, a rook, a knight and seven pawns each after a mere 21 moves.
Full article here.
Nakamura should have played Carlsen for the title.