World champ says he forced Indian to play long games.
The FIDE World Chess Championship in Chennai was effectively a clash of personalities. If Magnus Carlsen, the young warrior, showed his mental strength, Viswanathan Anand looked psychologically vulnerable.
Anand thought the turning point of the match was the fifth game but Carlsen would further go back and pick the third game as the key moment. Though Carlsen said he defeated Anand over the board and not with any psychological moves, there was enough hint that his approach had something to do with his stable mind. “I think Game 3, Game 4. That’s the key. Game 3 was a vulnerable moment for me. Really, in Games 3 and 4, I could sense that he was vulnerable as well,” Carlsen said. “From that moment on, I settled in and stopped worrying about the occasion and started playing chess as I usually do. That worked out pretty well.”
After two shaky games, where he felt the pressure of playing a match for the first time, Carlsen was ready. “The second game was a normal draw with black. But in the first and third games, I was a little bit nervous and perhaps not quite ready for this big occasion. After Games 3 and 4, I managed to settle in. I realised I did not have to do differently from what I usually did. And that was the turning point.”
Carlsen said he overcame the “butterflies” and strategised the long games. “He (Anand) knew as he explained himself, he knew there were going to be fighting games. Basically, Game 4 gave me a good feeling, real good fighting. Although I did not manage to win it, I felt that I seized the initiative in the match and that he was as nervous and vulnerable as I was,” analysed Carlsen.
That was the champion’s mindset right through the match from the third game. Fight, fight and never allow your opponent to leave the board with an easy draw.
“I was trying to play solid in the opening. And I am pretty happy with what I got. Very solid positions.
No weaknesses. As the game went, on he started to drift a bit. I thought as long as there is no risk, I should try and win it,” he explained after the match ended on Friday. “At some point after the time control, the variations were simply getting too complicated. So I decided to shut it down and force a draw. I think it was a nice fight and a worthy end to the match.”
The Norwegian admitted Anand’s mistakes in the match were unusual and he had played to a plan to make them happen. “I would like to take some responsibility for his mistakes. That’s for sure. It’s been like that for me for a long time. I just play and people crack under pressure. Even in the world championship. That is what history shows. We have to keep on pushing. Eventually, usually things go right.”
The newly-crowned world champion said his match strategy worked well, considering how Anand responded. “Obviously the blunders that he made, each of them are, of course, unusual. That is what I really wanted to do in this match. Make him sit at the board and play for a long time. I wanted to put him under pressure.”
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