World Chess Championship 2014: Viswanathan Anand holds Magnus Carlsen to a draw in an epic game 7
Game 7 was a splendid display of defensive technique by Viswanathan Anand as he held on to a draw in an epic 122 move battle that lasted for close to six and a half hours! The opening was the Berlin defense of the Ruy Lopez which is known as a solid opening for Black, however requires precise play in the endgame. Playing Black it seemed like Anand had made up his mind to equalise and get a draw today.
Magnus Carlsen was more than happy to face the Berlin defense as he got a dream position out of the opening with a slight edge for White. Anand was once again challenging Magnus in his area of expertise and fans around the world were about to be treated to another positional grind from the Norwegian.
The players made around 25 moves in 20 minutes. They're well prepared #CarlsenAnand @anandcarlsen14 Magnus will squeeze, Anand will hold.
— Susan Polgar (@SusanPolgar) November 17, 2014
The game followed the Anish Giri – Teimour Radjabov, 2014 game for 24 moves with Anand changing the course of the game with 25... Nf7. However, the move didn’t suprise Magnus as he was able to make his moves without consuming much time on the clock. The game reached a critical position after 28. Ng3 where Black had many lines to choose from, and Anand’s move came as a shock to many since his reply 28... Ne5 would be losing Black’s extra pawn advantage.
Anand took 25 minutes to play the relatively risky Ne5. But he should have played that move in Game 6! :) #CarlsenAnand
— Natalia Pogonina (@Pogonina) November 17, 2014
The move was not only a bold decision considering the Indian had consumed a lot of time for the move, but the follow-up to the move was unclear, and if there was no concrete plan going forward, then Anand would have been in dire straits. However, the Indian came up with a courageous Bishop sacrifice to get rid of White's connected passed pawns on the King-side. Chess engines showed a clear advantage for White, but the endgame position was ideally suited for analysis by humans.
WOW! Anand just sacrificed his bishop hoping it's enough for a draw. Comp evaluations don't mean anything here. #CarlsenAnand
— Tarjei J. Svensen (@TarjeiJS) November 17, 2014
The resulting position was once again something Magnus would relish playing, and fans were not optimistic about Anand's resistance considering the fact that he has cracked under pressure before in the match. Moreover the Norwegian had a huge time advantage and the position required precise defending from Black to hold on.
Today will be a long day, that's for sure! #torture #CarlsenAnand
— Anish Giri (@anishgiri) November 17, 2014
The amazing thing about the position was that Anand had built a neat fortress and the more you analyzed the position, the tougher it was for White to come-up with a winning plan. Magnus had realized this by now, and was simply shuffling his pieces around hoping for a blunder from the Indian.
Anand seems to be confident with his fortress. He is challenging Magnus to make progress #CarlsenAnand @anandcarlsen14
— Susan Polgar (@SusanPolgar) November 17, 2014
Magnus kept shuffling his pieces around for a long time, and soon it was obvious to the spectators that he was unable to find a winning plan and was simply shooting in the dark. The fighter that he is, the Norwegian as expected kept playing on and on, trying to induce an error by tiring out his older opponent.
The game is likely to last beyond 100 moves, and there's an outside chance it might get to 200 moves. #CarlsenAnand #seeyouontheotherside
— Jonathan Rowson (@Jonathan_Rowson) November 17, 2014
The grind continued till Anand played a brilliant forcing line leading to a drawn ending with 70... bxc4. White now had just a single pawn which he would have to defend from getting exchanged to avoid the ending Rook and Knight versus Rook which would have been a draw. Magnus was unable to stop Black from exchanging all the pawns, and it was only a matter of time before the game ended in a draw.
70...bxc4! played. Hats off to Vishy, a very tough move to even consider for a human. #CarlsenAnand #wellplayed #draw
— Jan Gustafsson (@GMJanGustafsson) November 17, 2014
The Norwegian's never say die attitude was getting boring by now, as he was trying to test Anand's elementary end-game skills in a Rook and Knight versus Rook ending. This surprised the commentators who were tired of the game being stretched for no reason, and decided to kill time by discussing non-chess topics to keep the fans entertained.
The only thing left to watch out for was the number of moves as they were closing in on the record of the longest World Championship game ( Viktor Korchnoi - Anatoly Karpov, 1978 ), but to the disappointment of the fans the game ended just three moves short of breaking the record.
At the end of the day, the game will be remembered as one of the toughest fought games in World Championship history. Anand seems to have made a bold statement that he can take on Magnus in his own den and come out of it alive. This game will give him a lot of confidence going into game eight where he will have the White pieces. The Indian might be trailing by one point, but with three Whites left in five remaining games, we can expect him to pull one back for sure.
Points Table
| Magnus Carlsen | 1/2 | 1 | 0 | 1/2 | 1/2 | 1 | 1/2 | 4 |
| Viswanthan Anand | 1/2 | 0 | 1 | 1/2 | 1/2 | 0 | 1/2 | 3 |