Three More Draws
: Created:22 Nov 2014 , byGame nine was a non-event but ten was interesting. Photogaphs of game eight appeared to show Carlsen almost asleep as he counteracted Anand's Queen's Gambit.
Perhaps appearances are deceptive but after the 122 move draw in round seven Carlsen appeared bored with the task of resisting Anand's 5.Bf4 in round eight as he travelled down the main line 6...c5 line. Precise defence by Carlsen took the life out of the position.
The Ruy Lopez Berlin Wall that followed with Carlsen in the White seat must rank high in the all-time list of most boring world championship draws.
Carlsen defended with the Grunfeld in the tenth. 5.Qb3 appeared in three games in the 1957 and 1958 Botvinnik v Smyslov matches and Black scored a miserable 0.5 out of 3. Carlsen's choice of 7...Nh6 came under pressure but Anand once again could not find the killer punch against accurate defence. His decision to bale out into an obvious draw with Bxb7 must have caused groans back in the sub-continent. In the same situation would Carlsen needing a win have done the same?
With two games left it is not a Carlsen walk-over as last year but Anand needs to find something special to keep the match alive. Ten years ago Vladimir Kramnik came back from the dead to defeat Peter Leko in the last round of their Classical World Championship match to retain his crown. Of course this time rapid and five minute games will prevent the champion from keeping the title by default.