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Anand was aggressive at the start
The World Chess Championship got off to a blistering start with the players blitzing out the opening moves. Viswanathan Anand started off with the queen pawn opening, and it seems like he has ditched the king pawn opening for good after his opening debacle in the previous world championship. Magnus Carlsen replied with the Gruenfeld defense which is a very popular opening in World Chess Championships.
Anand came up with the first surprise by opting for a side variation not very popular at the elite level, with 5. Bd2, however Anand has tried this variation a few times. He made his aggressive intentions clear with the move 8.Qd2, planning to castle on the queen-side. Magnus sank into deep thought before playing 9... Bg4, opting for simplification early in the game, attempting to transpose into an endgame.
Magnus was in control, unperturbed by Anand’s opening surprise, and made the strategic break with 13... c6. Anand tried his best to keep the position complicated and take advantage of Mangus time shortage, however Magnus never looked in trouble in the middle-game and made sensible moves which aimed at simplifying into a favorable ending. Anand soon realised he didn’t have enough edge in the game to force anything and soon found himself in a bit of time trouble.
Magnus equalized easily and now was slowly but surely piling up pressure on Anand in his trademark style of grinding the opponent. Anand uncharacteristically made a weak move just before time-control with 40.Qf1 allowing Magnus to get the a4 bind. It was obvious now that there could be only two results either a Magnus win or a draw, furthermore going by the position Anand was in Magnus territory, hence required precise defending from the challenger.
Carlsen looked like sealing it
Magnus looked relaxed and the grin on his face summed up the position. Anand looked tense knowing that he needed to be at his best to wriggle out of this game with a draw. The major piece ending always favors the side which has better king safety and active pieces, hence Magnus had a superior position, and all he had to do was find forceful moves and build pressure on his opponent king to tie-up the white pieces.
The stage was set for Magnus Carlsen to display his clutch-style of grinding his opponent, the same opponent he had beaten in the previous championship,in a similar fashion. The engines showed a slight advantage for Carlsen and optically his position indeed looked much better. Unfortunately for Magnus, he made a relatively weak move with 42... Re2, and now it was a find-the-only-move time for Anand.
Anand was up to the challenge and was able to find the best defensive moves, and with 44... Qh1 a brilliant counter, Magnus had to settle for a draw. Anand and his fans were relieved at the end as he had just escaped from the jaws of a crocodile. This game will serve as a reminder to chess fans as to why the legendary world champion Garry Kasparov called Anand the best tactical defender in the world.
Game 1 was a preview of things to come, and chess fans around the world couldn’t have asked for a better start to the World Championship since the game consisted of agressive opening, complex middlegame, and some brilliant defending. One thing’s for sure that this will not be a repeat of what we saw in the previous World Championship where Magnus had simply steam-rolled Anand.
