Chennai G8: Anand plays Berlin against Carlsen

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 eight report

After the disappointing draw yesterday, Anand’s hoard of fans had come hoping to see a violent skirmish as he strove the revert a very difficult situation. Even his most ardent supporters could only describe it as an ‘uphill battle’ at best.

The media interest has been nothing short of massive

Yesterday, Carlsen had arrived seconds before a potential 'zero tolerance' forfeit.
Today he arrived with three minutes to go, and avoided heartburn for his team.

Carlsen quickly whipped out 1.e4. In response, for a moment that hung like an eternity, Anand pondered his options. The eventual reply, 1...e5, led us to another Berlin. This time, a Rio Gambit Accepted. Prior to this game, Carlsen had held the white side of this opening nine times and, up to 7.Bf1,the moves were identical to a previous Carlsen-Anand encounter (Nanjing, 2010). Meanwhile, Anand, although no stranger to the Berlin, had only held the black side of today's opening ten times previously.

If he was planning on fighting for the full point, the Indian’s decision was a strange one, since although complications can come of it, a Berlin can just as easily head to positions that are as dry as the Gobi desert. When a journalist asked in the press conference whether he had considered playing a Sicilian, he replied it was a consideration but that even it could lead to dry positions. The explanation did not really satisfy, though there was little point pushing the point.

Carlsen surprised Anand with 1.e4 and left him wondering what is intentions were

The truth is that he was probably unprepared for Carlsen’s 1.e4 and under the circumstances fell back on what he had in store and could rely on. Carlsen had to know he was going to have to strike out, and by opening with 1.e4 he had basically announced his willingness to grab the bull by the horns. In this sense, Anand’s choice of the Berlin avoided any nasty opening preparation the Norwegian might have in store, leaving himself with two Whites ahead in the next games. Kasparov noted that at this level, playing for the win with white meant strong preparation and play, while playing for the win with black required a willing opponent and mistakes.

Susan Polgar takes viewers on a tour of the behind-the-scenes of Anand and Carlsen
(courtesy of Vijay Kumar)

Whatever the truth of it, the challenger was clearly unfazed by the choice of the Berlin and took roughly 30 seconds for each of his moves. When asked why, he explained the moves suggested themselves and there was little to think about. By the time they shook hands on move 33, barely 40 minutes of match time had passed.

Anand will be preparing his comeback plan for the next game

As Carlsen suggested, given his position in the match, he was happy with the outcome and in no particular mood to fight it out. Anand now sits three draws away from losing his world title and will need to shake things up with his second-last white on Thursday.

IM Andrew Martin analyzes game eight:

As Carlsen suggested, given his position in the match, he was happy with the outcome and in no particular mood to fight it out. Anand now sits three draws away from losing his world title and will need to shake things up with his second-last white on Thursday.

Wednesday is a rest and game nine will be played on Thursday. It will clearly be a make or break round, so do not miss it.

Report by Albert Silver and Michael von Keitz

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.