World Chess Championship 2013: Quick draw between Anand and Carlsen in Game 8, Norwegian maintains lead

Game 8 Anand vs Carlsen

Game 8 of the FIDE World Championship Match 2013 between Viswanathan Anand and Magnus Carlsen ended in a draw after 33 moves that lasted just an hour and 20 minutes.

Carlsen started the game with white pieces and went for an e4 opening to which Anand replied with an e5. Carlsen went for the Ruy Lopez opening and Anand replied with the Berlin Wall, a strategy that Carlsen has adopted through this match with the black pieces.

The game was played extremely quickly, especially by Carlsen as he used up just 20 minutes of his time for his 33 moves, while Anand took 55 minutes.

Soon, all the major pieces were off the board with the players exchanging pieces and just the King and a few pawns remained on the board. Carlsen, midway through, looked content with the draw, considering his healthy lead and Anand did not really have any openings to look at to try and mount a challenge.

With just four games remaining, Carlsen now holds a 5-3 lead in the match and time is running out for defending champion Anand to make a move.

Tomorrow is a rest day after which the players will resume with Game 9 on Thursday, November 21, when Anand will have the white pieces.

The moves from Game 8 are given below:
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. O-O Nxe4 5. Re1 Nd6 6. Nxe5 Be7 7. Bf1 Nxe5 8. Rxe5 O-O 9. d4 Bf6 10. Re1 Re8 11. c3 Rxe1 12. Qxe1 Ne8 13. Bf4 d5 14. Bd3 g6 15. Nd2 Ng7 16. Qe2 c6 17. Re1 Bf5 18. Bxf5 Nxf5 19. Nf3 Ng7 20. Be5 Ne6 21. Bxf6 Qxf6 22. Ne5 Re8 23. Ng4 Qd8 24. Qe5 Ng7 25. Qxe8+ Nxe8 26. Rxe8+ Qxe8 27. Nf6+ Kf8 28. Nxe8 Kxe8 29. f4 f5 30. Kf2 b5 31. b4 Kf7 32. h3 h6 33. h4 h5 ½-½