English Chess Forum

Looks horrid to me after 25. Rc4 not sure Anand can cope with a squeeze two days running.

Yay, old sets again. How interesting.

I really don't like b5. But then, I have no idea what else to do in that position.

Looks like Magnus will win this one (move 28)

Interesting Twitter comment from Jonathan Rowson:

https://twitter.com/Jonathan_Rowson/sta ... 1424979968

"The speed with which Carlsen chose b3 & ba is notable.
Weaker,more neurotic GMs like myself would have used much more time."

(EDIT: It seems Carlsen did play those moves too quickly, and should have looked deeper into the immediate Re7 lines. Will be a big blow if Carlsen only gets a draw here.)

Does anyone think Anand should switch to the Sicilian against 1.e4 in this match?

Christopher Kreuzer wrote: Does anyone think Anand should switch to the Sicilian against 1.e4 in this match?

I don’t think it matters much. Let’s say he plays the Sicilian today. He probably gets gapped anyway and everybody says, "why not try something else?"

Congrats on your prediction btw. Whether it turns out to be a win for White or not the game has clearly veered in White’s direction as you were expecting.


{EDIT} And as I type, Black resigned.

A bit too easy that one.

Jonathan Bryant wrote:Congrats on your prediction btw. Whether it turns out to be a win for White or not the game has clearly veered in White’s direction as you were expecting.

Well, I didn't expect that blunder at the end. That is not encouraging for Anand. The body language in the brief OTB post-mortem before the press conference was fascinating. Carlsen standing up, leaning over the board. Anand sitting there, looking up at Carlsen. It screams student learning from master. Psychologically, that might set the tone of the match. Watch the video feed as well for Carlsen's reaction to the blunder and the look of polite surprise on his face at the moment scoresheets were swapped.

Ominous. Very

Carl Hibbard wrote:A bit too easy that one.

I’m not so sure. It seems to me that Anand mostly played very well these past two games. Trouble is it’s not enough. He lost one and got squeezed in the other.

Not so sure it was easy as much as Magnus making it look easy.

Well yes, the problem being that he has to play Magnus for the remaining 10 games Definitely ominous how very clean it ended up being.

The blunder at the end was presumably Anand trying to avoid all the other ways he might have lost and allowing a new one instead. That sort of thing happens in that sort of horrible position.

NickFaulks wrote:

Stewart Reuben wrote:If it is really possible to get 4/1 on Anand, it might be worth taking. Then to lay off the bet if they start with 2 draws, as is quite likely.

It isn't now, because I've cleaned them out, but you can get close. I doubt that your strategy would work, though. I find that when the market starts out underestimating one side's chances ( in my view ) they keep doing it until close to the end.

After the 2nd game they seem to "underestimate" him even more Carlsen's match win is at 1/12 and Anand's match win is at 6/1.

http://www.oddschecker.com/chess/world- ... hip/winner

That's the end of that, then. Bring on Caruana.

Paolo Casaschi wrote: After the 2nd game they seem to "underestimate" him even more

Actually, no. You could get 5/1 before the game, so it wouldn't be a surprise if you could get 10/1 now, but you can't.

For the sake of the match, Anand must start to play more like the Anand who dominated the Candidates. Here, his strategy, as soon as he is out of his opening prep, seems to be "I'm not going to take any chances, come and get me". Just like in Madras, Carlsen came and got him.

John Cox wrote:That's the end of that, then

Not quite, but Anand needs to hit back soon. It would be nice to at least see him win a game this time......