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Carlsen fails to take advantage
Magnus Carlsen was unable to take advantage of playing with the White pieces as he couldn't exert enough pressure on Anand's Sicilian defense. Viswanathan Anand seems to have changed his strategy after the crushing win in the previous game as he was prepared for a sharp battle today. He opted for the Sicilian defense in reply to Magnus's king pawn opening.
Anand defended well against Carlsen’s strategy
The Norwegian as expected, shied away from the main lines and opted for a fianchetto setup. He forced the Indian to play with an isolated queen pawn by moving 8.Be3, however Anand was up to the challenge and was able to equalize easily in the opening. White's only plan was to keep the pressure in the center by targeting black's isolated queen pawn, but Black was never in danger as the pawn was well defended.
Magnus tried his best to trade off pieces and transpose to a favorable ending – White would have had winning chances in a Knight or a King and Pawn ending – however the Indian was wise enough, not to trade his Queen.
The Norwegian once again found himself short on time, with under a minute left for 3 moves to reach the first time control, he managed to make it easily without causing any harm to his position. The game soon reached a Queen ending after the Knights got exchanged, leaving Black with a dangerous passed pawn on d4.
Carlsen disappointed with his play
White tried creating some chances on the King side by advancing his h-pawn, but Black's d4 pawn was always a matter of concern, hence Magnus forced the draw by giving perpetual checks. He was very disappointed and used the word 'terrible' to describe his play during the press conference. Anand on the other hand looked cheerful and appeared more positive about his chances in the championship.
The Norwegian mentioned that the score is 2-2, same as it was in the previous championship and nothing had changed, trying to downplay Anand's victory, at the same time appear confident about his chances in the championship.
Tomorrow will be a rest day and it will be interesting to see how Anand reacts in game 5 to be played on Friday. The score might be tied 2-2, but the momentum is with the challenger.
