Carlsen - Anand 2014

[Jonathan Bryant]

.
Wonder if Vishy's playing ...b5!? was influenced by Carlsen's being 10 min down on the clock, and/or looking a little 'antsy' at the board? Anyone know if Vishy is into such psychological/situational factors? Or is he strictly an "I believe in good moves" type?

No idea, but White’s pawn’s on c4-b3-a4 suddenly becoming vulnerable to the Be6 is not uncommon in the Berlin so maybe he just played what he thought was best.

Curious point: various GMs on twitter saying White’s position unpleasant, but Anand has just spent nearly half his remaining time on his latest move.

[Tim Harding]

Vishy has gone berserk with exchange sac 27...Rb4; whereas Houdini 4 thought Black had an edge with 26...Rab8 or 26...Be7, which he could have played quickly and stayed ahead on clock. Also he would have been equal after 27...Rb3. So either he is a genius or the tension has warped his judgment.

[Clive Blackburn]

Very brave of Anand to sac the exchange, given the match situation!

[Roger de Coverly]

Curious point: various GMs on twitter saying White’s position unpleasant

So now an Exchange sacrifice on b4. The Stockfish at chessbomb found another way to sacrifice. Black plays Rb3 with the threat of taking on c3 and then picking up the c4 pawn after N(d5) x c3. White can sometimes cover this with his white square King.

The engines are unanimous in scoring the current position after the exchange sacrifice as "advantage white".

[Tim Harding]

Very brave of Anand to sac the exchange, given the match situation! (Fischer)

So we can blame Bobby Fischer for Vishy's blunder?

I very much doubt he can even draw whereas he had winning chances with the correct plan.

EDIT: I was trying to quote Clive's tagline about tactics following naturally from a superior strategic position.
Not applicable in this case!

EDIT 2: Vishy can resign now after Rd7. Shame as we could have had a good game on Tuesday.

[Clive Blackburn]

I'm not sure what Anand missed when he gave up the exchange, Carlsen's moves were not hard to predict

[Clive Blackburn]

And it's all over in 45 moves, Magnus Carlsen wins the World Chess Championship for 2nd time on same day that Lewis Hamilton won the World F1 Championship for 2nd time!

[David Robertson]

Anand, star-struck at the prospect of featuring on the S & B blog, punts the mother of all ISEs

[MartinCarpenter]

From the press conference he seemed to basically say he lost objectivity. So pressure. Its happened to most of us before now

It wasn't like he was routinely getting big advantages with white so you can understand not wanting to leave it until game 12.

Good match from both players this time round though.

[Clive Blackburn]

Has anybody calculated what Carlsen's FIDE rating will be now?

[Andrew Collins]

Has anybody calculated what Carlsen's FIDE rating will be now?

http://2700chess.com/

[Jonathan Bryant]

Anand, star-struck at the prospect of featuring on the S & B blog, punts the mother of all ISEs

Well he got the Berlin Ending and an exchange sac in but he didn’t quite manage a rook ending so sadly S&BCB’s coveted 'Triple Crown' award remains unclaimed.


I thought Anand was doing well with White. Perhaps only the ... Re8 QGD when he didn’t much of any edge. In retrospect I suppose the end of today’s game will be seen as analogous to Topalov’s self-destruction in the 12th game against Vishy.

Shame.

As said above: pressure.

[JustinHorton]

And it's all over in 45 moves, Magnus Carlsen wins the World Chess Championship for 2nd time on same day that Lewis Hamilton won the World F1 Championship for 2nd time!

Only one of these was expelled from my school though.

[Jonathan Bryant]

I'm not sure what Anand missed when he gave up the exchange, Carlsen's moves were not hard to predict

Stronger players than you and I on twitter - e.g. Rowson - suggesting it was a more than decent punt but Carlsen’s refutation was clinical.

[JustinHadi]

Of course you play ...axb4 and not ...cxb4 after the ISE with a likely draw.