Magnificent Magnus is the new chess king

Chennai, Nov 22 (IANS) Norwegian Magnus Carlsen dethroned Viswanathan Anand as the World Chess Champion with a 65 move draw in the 10th game here Friday.

Carlsen, 22, becomes the first World Champion from Norway defeating the five-time champion Anand, 43, on his home turf.

The final tally stood at 6.5-3.5 in favour of Carlsen in the title match sponsored by the Tamil Nadu government. The winner takes home $1.53 million while Anand will settle for $1.02 million.

Giving full credit to Carlsen for his title victory Anand said his mistakes did not happen on their own.

He said he lost the plot in the fifth game.

“I would first take rest and take stock of what has happened at the match and come to terms. At the end of the day the match was disappointing. I was not able to execute the match strategy,” he said.

“I haven’t achieved any other thing I had aimed for,” he added.

According to Carlsen the third and fourth games made him feel that Anand was vulnerable.

“During the third and fourth games, I was able to settle down and realised that I don’t have to do anything special. I just have to play my natural game,” he said.

Asked about Anand’s mistakes, Carlsen said: “I would take the responsibility of that.

The results were decided on the board and there was no role for psychological play.”

The 10th game was once again a lesson in end game strategy for all chess players with Carlsen and Anand fighting till the end.

Carlsen opened the game by moving his king pawn two squares to which Anand replied pushing his pawn on c file two squares. Subsequent moves signalled the game was progressing to Sicilian defence unorthodox variation.

Chess grandmasters had expected Anand to play this variation after his two successive defeats so as to come back into the match putting pressure on Carlsen to play a longer middle game. But that did not happen then.

On move six Carlsen exchanged his bishop for Anand’s knight. Four moves later Carlsen took his king to safety by castling on his king side. Anand castled on his 11th move.

On the 14th move Carlsen again went for an exchange of pieces. He gave up his bishop for Anand’s knight.

At the end of the 19th move the position was slightly in favour of Carlsen who had attack on black’s king side.

Curiously on move 22 Anand shifted his queen to the king’s side Qh5 though experts said it was still an equal position.

The players went for another round of exchange of pieces, this time the bishops.

Carlsen was making his moves in a relaxed manner as he was just a draw away from the coveted chess title – World Chess Champion.

A flurry of moves saw the players trading their two rooks and their queens. Both the players had one knight on the board. The game entered the endgame phase at the end of the 35th move – the comfort zone for Carlsen.

After nearly four hours of the game on his 44th move Anand thrust forward his queen side pawns, aiming to create a passer.

To accelerate the game further Carlsen gave up his knight for Anand’s two queen side pawns. The subsequent moves saw Carlsen’s king gobbling up two of Anand’s queen side pawns.

The 56th move saw both the players queening their pawns. At this stage Carlsen had a queen, three pawns to defend his king while Anand had just his queen and knight to protect his king.

With a check to black’s king Carlsen forced queen’s exchange and two moves later both signed the peace pact.

White: Magnus Carlsen, Norway Black: V.Anand, India

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. Bb5+ Nd7 4. d4 cxd4 5. Qxd4 a6 6. Bxd7+ Bxd7 7. c4 Nf6 8. Bg5 e6 9. Nc3 Be7 10. O-O Bc6 11. Qd3 O-O 12. Nd4 Rc8 13. b3 Qc7 14. Nxc6 Qxc6 15. Rac1 h6 16. Be3 Nd7 17. Bd4 Rfd8 18. h3 Qc7 19. Rfd1 Qa5 20. Qd2 Kf8 21. Qb2 Kg8 22. a4 Qh5 23. Ne2 Bf6 24. Rc3 Bxd4 25. Rxd4 Qe5 26. Qd2 Nf6 27. Re3 Rd7 28. a5 Qg5 29. e5 Ne8 30. exd6 Rc6 31. f4 Qd8 32. Red3 Rcxd6 33. Rxd6 Rxd6 34. Rxd6 Qxd6 35. Qxd6 Nxd6 36. Kf2 Kf8 37. Ke3 Ke7 38. Kd4 Kd7 39. Kc5 Kc7 40. Nc3 Nf5 41. Ne4 Ne3 42. g3 f5 43. Nd6 g5 44. Ne8+ Kd7 45. Nf6+ Ke7 46. Ng8+ Kf8 47. Nxh6 gxf4 48. gxf4 Kg7 49. Nxf5+ exf5 50. Kb6 Ng2 51. Kxb7 Nxf4 52. Kxa6 Ne6 53. Kb6 f4 54. a6 f3 55. a7 f2 56. a8Q f1Q 57. Qd5 Qe1 58. Qd6 Qe3+ 59. Ka6 Nc5+ 60. Kb5 Nxb3 61. Qc7+ Kh6 62. Qb6+ Qxb6+ 63. Kxb6 Kh5 64. h4 Kxh4 65. c5 Nxc5 draw agreed.