Carlsen Moves Ahead
: Created:09 Nov 2014 , byWorld Champion Magnus Carlsen won the second game of his title match against Viswanathan Anand. He leads 1.5-0.5 in their 12 game match in Sochi. Sainbayar Tserendorj is Ealing's man in Sochi and he will have been impressed with the way Carlsen built his attack today.
Yesterday Anand holding the white pieces countered Carlsen's Grunfeld Defence with the unusual 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.Bd2!? and had an early initiative but Carlsen behind on the clock found an accurate defence. Gradually Carlsen turned the position around and after the first time control play any advantage was Black's. 42...Re3! would have put Anand under pressure but instead Carlsen's 42...Re2?!enabled Anand to confidently force a draw.
Vishy defended against Magnus' Ruy Lopez with the Berlin (3...Nf6) in game two. Objectively the players reached an equal position from the opening but Carlsen quicker on the clock started a fluent attack with 14.Ra3! with the idea of switching the queenside rook to the kingside. Amateurs wishing to improve their offensive skills would learn a lot following Carlsen's methods with Nf3-h4-f5, Qh5, Rg3 and then h4.
Temporarily stopped on the kingside Carlsen switched his rooks to the e file creating very unpleasant pressure on Anand's defences. Vishy faced a long and tough struggle to keep White out but a terrible blunder by him on move thirty-four completely exposed his king.