Off-Topic: World Chess Championship 2013, Game 2

Today was the second game of the 2013 World Chess Championship, in which the the challenger, Magnus Carlsen from Norway, faced the five-time world champion, Vishy Anand from India. Who is winning the war of nerves? It was noticeable that today Vishy arrived first, sitting for minutes staring at the pieces. (See the photo below). On the other hand, Magnus clumsily knocked over a pawn when he made his first move.

After yesterday's drawn game, considered disappointing by many, both players were out for blood today. Vishy opened with 1. e4, which was countered by Magnus with 1...c6, and the game developed into a well-known Caro-Kann position. Both players made fast moves until move 14, showing that this was pure routine for grandmasters at their level.

Anand, Viswanathan – Carlsen, Magnus
FWCM 2013 Chennai (2) 10.11.2013

1. e4 c6
2. d4 d5
3. Nc3 dxe4
4. Nxe4 Bf5
5. Ng3 Bg6
6. h4 h6
7. Nf3 e6
8. Ne5 Bh7
9. Bd3 Bxd3
10. Qxd3 Nd7
11. f4 Bb4+
12. c3 Be7
13. Bd2 Ngf6
14. O-O-O O-O

This is an interesting asymmetrical position after the castling on opposite sides. Vishy has more active pieces, and it's up to him to press his advantage. After 20 minutes of deliberation he finally played 15. Ne4, which I personally found surprising. I assume his intention was to free his g-pawn, but the net result was the immediate exchange of all four knights, lessening Vishy's positional advantage. When Magnus played 17...Qd5 I'm sure his intention was to force Vishy's queen into a retreat, but instead of this Vishy swapped queens. Suddenly things were looking the other way. Black's position was better for the first time in the game.

15. Ne4 Nxe4
16. Qxe4 Nxe5
17. fxe5 Qd5
18. Qxd5 cxd5

As those who have followed Magnus Carlsen's career know, this is the sort of position he relishes. Despite Black's positional advantage on the queenside most players, even at grandmaster level, would consider it a draw, but Magnus plays doggedly, wearing his opponent down. My prediction at this point was a win for Magnus after 50 moves.

As expected, over the next three moves Magnus began to advance his pawns. Vishy was also developing his pieces on the kingside, which Magnus totally ignored. There was no immediate threat, Magnus' king was better protected than Vishy's. But then something came that I didn't expect. I wonder if Magnus saw it coming. I'm not sure. Beginning with 22. Rg3 Vishy forced a draw by repetition. This was a disappointing end to the game, but good strategy for Vishy. He had no chance of victory, so a draw was a good result.

19. h5 b5
20. Rh3 a5
21. Rf1 Rac8
22. Rg3 Kh7
23. Rgf3 Kg8
24. Rg3 Kh7
25. Rgf3 Kg8
½ – ½

I don't know how Magnus could have avoided this. He could have played either 21...Bg5 or 21...f6. Both of these moves would have weakened his kingside defence, but not enough for Vishy to make a fatal blow. After 21...f6 Vishy might be able to force a rook swap, increasing the probability of a draw, so 21...Bg5 would be the better of the two moves. Whether it would be good enough is a question for better chess players than me to answer.

So the result after two drawn games is 1-1. I found the second game a lot more exciting than the first. Let's hope the championship continues this way.

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Nobody has made any comments yet, but I'll answer potential complaints in advance. Yes, I know this is a film blog. Yes, I know chess has nothing to do with films. No, I don't intend to do anything about it. This is my blog, and I'll write about whatever interests me. I've considered creating a second blog for general non-film topics, but I don't think it's worth it. I rarely write about anything but films. This month will be an exception. I shall probably make more off-topic posts this month than I have in the last three years.

For those of you who do enjoy chess, I hope my posts on the world championship are helpful. My posts don't go deep into chess analysis, they're intended to be read by hobby players. If you're an experienced club player you can find more detailed game analyses online. There are many to choose from, but I personally recommend Daniel King's YouTube channel. If you're willing to wait I'm sure that grandmasters all over the world will publish in depth commentaries on the games after the championship is over. I too could say more about the individual games if I took more time, but my priority is posting the result within a few hours of each game finishing.

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I've been examining 21...Bg5, and it seems like it could create too many problems for Black after 21...Bg5 22.Bxg5 hxg5 23.h6. It's still worth further analysis though. On the other hand, 19...f6 seems like a more viable option. Advancing the f-pawn works better two moves earlier, before White has developed his rooks. At first glance it seems like a bad move, since Black is giving up his king's protection, but even after various pawn exchanges, such as 19...f6 20.Rde1 fxe5 21.Rxe5 or 19...f6 20.exf6 Bxf6 21.Rde1 Rac8 22.Rxe6 Bxd4, White doesn't have enough possibility to mount a major attack before Black advances queenside.