Posted on 11/09/2013 5:34:52 AM PST by fhayek
11/9/2013 It was an almost anti-climactic start for the world championship. Magnus Carlsen was white in game one and chose an offbeat double fianchetto to face Vishy Anands Gruenfeld. No doubt he was hoping for a war of attrition to outplay the champion, but instead found himself force to accept a draw by repetition in 16 moves. A moral victory for the champ as he easily holds the challenger to a draw with black.
(Excerpt) Read more at chessbase.com ...
Somewhat of a interesting opening for Carlsen. It might’ve thrown Anand off. If I was playing black, I’d have taken a draw, also.
I think the opening was just fine. Both sides had things to think about. I would have been nice to see the ideas played out instead of the draw in 16 moves (by repetition, no less). Both players will be less tentative in the future games, I’m sure.
“An offbeat double fianchetto”
Ohhhhhh.....I had one of those this morning with a muffin.
Actually, the first paragraph of the column nails it, in my opinion.
No kidding. A draw with black, against a guy rated 95 points higher. Anand is saving his energy.
I remember way back when Bobby Fisher played for the championship in Iceland..the whole county was hooked on chess..what was the guy’s name... Shelby something..the world’s first chess broadcaster...the moves would come in over the AP wire, and he’d post them on the board..tens of millions watched..
Shelby Lyman.
At their level of play, a draw for black is well worth having and represents a lost opportunity to win for white. At my level, not so much.
Still, from my (admittedly) limited analysis, Anand (black) had the initiative, had his knights developed, working together and tying white into knots, and had put white on the defensive, even forcing him to ‘undevelop’ his queen bishop back to its initial square. I am sure that there were moves that would haved helped white, but Anand was reluctant to press the issue. I think Carlsen was happy to get the draw.
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