World champion Viswanathan Anand started his title defense in style, holding off world number one Magnus Carlsen of Norway to a draw in quick time in the first game of the World chess championship on Saturday.
Anand, with black pieces, showed the world that he has come well prepared for the most challenging match yet. The Indian gave no chance to Carlsen who started with the Reti opening and got nothing with his first white game. The quick draw, lasting a mere 16 moves, proved Anand’s preparation right as Magnus spent more time on the clock in the opening and still could not get the complicated and sometimes lifeless positions wherein he famously outplays opposition.
There was much speculation about Anand going for a sharp position and he did not disappoint his backers. “I know after two moves its Reti, after that I don’t know what it is,” said Anand smilingly in the post match conference. After Anand’s 10th move Carlsen thought he had no chances and went for the repetition of moves by force. However the highest rated player in the world did not think he was worse at any point in the game. “I would not have minded if he (Anand) had continued, my long term prospects are not bad,” Carlsen said.
Anand simply repeated the knight moves while Carlsen moved his queen a few times to get the same position three times. The players immediately shook hands. It was a position akin to the Grunfeld for Anand and he did not opt for a locked structure. His ninth move created the imbalance that the Indian wanted and Carlsen conceded that white had nothing after the tenth move.
The Norwegian superstar said he was quite happy that he could start the match but not with the way it went. “I am happy that finally the match is on, hopefully we will give you more than one and a half hour,” he said mentioning the duration of the game. With the first match done, Anand will now be playing with white pieces in the second game on Sunday. The 12-game match carries Rs 14 crore as prize money.
After soaking in the pressure and being immersed in preparation for months, defending champion Anand osaid he felt relieved that his World Championship match started but his rival was not too pleased with first day’s proceedings. “After thinking about it for months and months, today it finally started, it’s almost a relief,” said the 43-year-old Anand in his opening statement after the first game which ended in a quick draw.
Playing black, Anand showed better preparation as Carlsen could not really take him to uncharted territory and the result was a draw in just 16 moves. The 22-year-old Carlsen’s expressions summed up the game pretty quickly.
“I am not too thrilled with the game but of course I am happy to play, normally in these lines play develops quickly but here there was some crisis early and I had to pull the emergency breaks and take a draw,” the Norwegian said in the post-match press conference.
When asked about the hype the match has created across the globe, Anand was quite candid, “I am quite happy that it has been covered well but to be honest I am more focused on the match.” Carlsen, who looked far more relaxed than the first conference on Thursday, agreed with the Indian but was quick to add, “I hope in the next few days we will give you more than one and a half hour.”
Speaking about the game, Anand said he was satisfied with the draw. “You can’t start reacting to every twist and turn, there will be many twist and turns, today went well for me, I was thinking of ‘b5’ but I didn’t see anything,” he said. “A comfortable draw with the black pieces is always very satisfactory but there are many more to come, game one is out of the way and now we think about the second and we will take it from there,” Anand added.
Carlsen, however, was a tad disappointed and admitted to not having too many options on Saturday. “After 10 moves I had no chances, so I decided to go for this variation which is a draw,” he said. The world number one, however, agreed with Anand’s views on the final position. Carlsen was curt when asked if he was finally feeling at home in the city. “We are still in India, aren’t weIJ We are settled now and obviously I don’t feel any hostility,” he said.