A draw in just 16 moves marked the start of the World chess championship between defending champion Viswanathan Anand and the world’s top-ranked player Magnus Carlsen of Norway on Saturday.
After all the hype about Carlsen getting ready for usurping the throne of the Indian in his home city, Game 1, in fact, showed the weaker side of the challenger. Opening with black, Anand would be happy with the draw and as he conceded later in his interaction with the media, he was particularly happy “with a comfortable draw with black.”
If it was a comfortable draw for Anand, Carlsen found it embarrassing. “I had played a couple of embarrassing draws in the Candidates championship (in London),” the Norwegian admitted after the game to a question whether he had drawn similar games in so few moves.
The game lasted a little less than 90 minutes overall, Anand having a lead of 20 minutes on the clock after 16 moves.
Sitting alongside Anand at the post-game media briefing, Carlsen looked at Anand and continued from where the Indian had left off. “As Vishy said he had a comfortable draw with black, I should say I had an uncomfortable draw with white,” he said.
The players walked in five minutes before the game started but even before they could take their positions, they were surrounded by the glare of flashes from cameras. Even the media room was packed as site after site, beaming the first game live, crashed. For some time, there was only the official website shown on the screen available for the journalists to follow the moves and the two contestants sitting on the table.
Carlsen threw a minor surprise by moving the knight first. Usually, he plays the Queen-pawn or the King-pawn opening. The Reti opening, named after Richard Reti of the hyper-modern school almost a hundred years ago. Soon gave way to the Gruenfeld Defence as black played solidly.
Carlsen wanted a game with slow development and long manoeuvring but the opening soon developed into a fast-paced exchange encounter.
By move 10. Carlsen got into some discomfort having placed his knight in an uncomfortable position. “Generally, this opening makes for slow development, but in this case everything happened fast,” Carlsen conceded in the end.
Anand initiated a clash in the centre by trading the pawn on the Queenside and placed his knight in white’s half. It seemed to indicate the kind of confidence that he had gained out of the opening exchanges.
The play became more forcing and Grandmasters gave the advantage to black (Anand), though they looked uncertain, with a comment. “But then we don’t really know because he is the World No 1,” a Grandmaster said.
However, between moves 11 and 16, the black knight on the Queenside and the white Queen got into such a position that repetition of moves became inevitable, lest black chose to try something else.
Anand dismissed suggestions that there was something on the board for him to play for. “Yes, I could say black was slightly ahead because I had my knight in his half of the board,” Anand joked after the game.
The manner in which Anand handled the questions suggested the champion was feeling good with the result. On the contrary, Carlsen looked rattled and often looked like a baby trying to get out of a tight corner.
“He had to do something,” said Anand while reacting to a question whether he was surprised to see a different opening from Carlsen. “But you have to expect these in a long match, so in that sense I was not surprised.” added the World champion.
“We exchanged information in game one,” said Anand about the draw. He said he was still living in a “bubble” and would not want to comment on the battles to come. “There will be many twists and turns in the championship,” he said.
Carlsen said he expected a long game and refused to admit he was not comfortable when the game was drawn. “White’s position in terms of long-term chances was fine,” he said.
Anand is not a stranger to draws in World championship matches. The first eight games of his match against Garry Kasparov in 1995 were draws and even in tournaments he is a draw master.
Over to Game 2 on Sunday, when Anand would play white. All eyes will be on his first move: will it be the King-pawn, which is his favourite or will he do something unusual like he did ahainst Vladimir Kramnik when he shifted to the Queen-pawn opening?
The moves
Gruenfeld Defence: Game 1
1.Nf3 d5; 2.g3 g6; 3.Bg2 Bg7; 4.d4 c6; 5.0-0 Nf6; 6.b3 0-0; 7.Bb2 Bf5; 8.c4 Nbd7; 9.Nc3 dxc4; 10.bxc4 Nb6; 11.c5 Nc4; 12.Bc1 Nd5; 13.Qb3 Na5; 14.Qa3 Nc4; 15.Qb3 Na5; 16.Qa3 Nc4 ½–½
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