Chennai G6: Carlsen wins second straight

FIDE World Chess Championship Anand-Carlsen 2013

The FIDE World Chess Championship match between defending champion Viswanathan Anand and his challenger world number one Magnus Carlsen is taking place from November 9 to 28 2013 in the the Hyatt Regency, Chennai, India. The match is over twelve games, with time controls of 120 minutes for the first 40 moves, 60 minutes for the next 20 moves and then 15 minutes for the rest of the game, with an increment of 30 seconds per move starting from move 61. The games start at 3:00 p.m. Indian Time, which is 4:30 a.m. Eastern Standard Time (New York), 10:30h Central European Time (Paris), 1:30 p.m. Moscow Standard Time. Find your local time here.

Round six report

Though they shook hands, there is a distinct lack of eye-contact

The opening was a solid, if uninspiring Spanish, that seemed to hold no magic. Ideas and plans were considered by grandmaster commentators to develop an advantage for White, or counterchances for Black, but as the number of pieces dropped, so did the enthusiasm, and a draw seemed in order.

Top players are all following and commenting the games

The opening did not seem to hold much, but that is just the way Carlsen likes it

When Magnus Carlsen avoided the queen exchange with 24…Qe7 as opposed to the standard 24…Qe6, GM Daniel King laughed, saying he was crazy, not because there was something inherently wrong with the move, but because it could only indicate he still hoped to try to win. This seemed borderline Never Never Land, since at move 35, when asked what Black could do to promote his ambitions, both GM Daniel King and GM Alejandro Ramirez admitted they had no clue, and if the world number one had a way, it was outside their ability to even conceive it.

Just when Black seemed out of ways to improve or increase the pressure, the world champion stunned the fans and pundits alike with 38.Qg3, effectively dropping a pawn, though forcing a rook endgame. As the surprise subsided, it became clear that the adage “all rook endgames are drawn” still applied here, though a new contest arose: what new ways would the challenger find to keep the game alive? It has become clear he has a fantastic talent for finding means to conjure up trouble for his opponents in even the driest and most innocuous positions.

Anand chose to sacrifice his h-pawn to shatter Black’s structure and neutralize any rolling pawn front he might have feared. In return, Carlsen gave back his b-pawn to activate his rook and king, playing for his last trap. When he played 59…f4, it was a bit of a shock for Vishy, as he admitted in the press conference, believing his position to be lost. It is perhaps this lapse in judgment, coupled by frayed nerves that has failed him these last two games.

The Norwegian box, instants before Magnus scored his second win (@lladini)

In game five, despite being with his back against the wall, he still held a theoretical draw in his hands up until move 51, and had he played 51…Re2! the entire match situation might have been different. Instead he rushed 51…Ke6? with very little thought, either believing he was already lost and nothing could change it, or wishing to end the nervous tension that had reached torturous proportions.

One gets the impression a similar thing happened today, since 59…f4 is not winning yet, though it does force White to come up with an only move: 60.b4! which still holds the draw. Instead, Vishy Anand spent an unusually short amount of time, rushing out 60.Ra4?  and costing him the game.

A disappointed Anand, sighs deeply just before the press conference

With a 4-2 lead after six games, Magnus Carlsen has a commanding lead, which will be very hard to surmount.

Score

Tournament details

Schedule: the match will be played over a maximum of twelve games, and the winner of the match will be the first player to score 6.5 points or more. If the winner scores 6.5 points in less than 12 games then the closing ceremony will take place on the day after the World Championship has been decided or one day thereafter.

Live commentary on Playchess in English

Live commentary in other languages

The commentary will commence around 30 minutes after the start of the games. The schedule and commentators may be changed before the start of the Championship on November 9th, with long and short castlings possible.