Challenger Magnus Carlsen closed in on the crown after defeating defending champion Viswanathan Anand in the ninth game of the World Chess Championship match here on Thursday.
On what turned out to be a dramatic affair, Anand missed out on his chances in white pieces and suffered a painful defeat that almost sealed the fate of the match.
Carlsen now leads 6-3 and needs just half a point from the remaining three games to become the new world champion. It was a Nimzo Indian defence that Carlsen chose as black and Anand, realising well that this was his last chance for a strike, went for the Saemisch variation.