Fans who expected fireworks from world champion were left disappointed by a drab Game 8; World No 1 inches closer to title
If the spectators were expecting some desperate fireworks from world champion Viswanathan Anand, they were in for a cold shower yesterday. “Wake me up if somebody blunders his Queen,” was GM Varuzhan Akobian’s apt comment. The game was so boring that all the masters and amateurs started talking about the weather and the dinner menu.
Magnus Carlsen (right) has a healthy two-point lead over defending champion Viswanathan Anand with four games to go. Pic/AFP
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Of course, the world champion is yet to get over the shocking debacles in Game 5 and 6. He must be banking on gathering his wits during the rest day today so that his inexperienced but young team can find out some solution to the menace named Magnus Carlsen. The challenger is sitting pretty with a 2-point lead and clearly enjoys Anand’s discomfort on the board and at the post-match press meet.
When Anand played the ultra-solid Berlin defence today — a la Carlsen — one player whispered on the Internet Chess Club, “I think Vishy has lost track of the scores and is under the wrong impression that he is leading by two points!”u00a0The game was nothing to write home about. Carlsen employed a solid line, set some traps which did not demand that someone of the caliber of World Champion Anand (however out of form he is) seek to avoid.
The game went on and on the lines of a cricket Test match where one side is bowling 8 overs per hour and the batsmen are scoring 20 runs per
session. u00a0Carlsen knows that the battle is not over till he reaches 6.5 points. He is not ready to disclose the names of his seconds, too. He has kept all his cards close to his chest.
Anand is not hiding his disappointment and behaves like a person who has lost everything in a betting game. Is it possible that the experienced magician from Madras is acting in order to keep Carlsen overconfident?u00a0Woman GM Dr Jana Bellin subjected both the players to dope test today.
They are physically checked everyday for any computerised device. However, Carlsen’s style is a computer-beater. Try his moves with a computer program. You will understand that Carlsen’s moves are rated higher than those of the computer.
The author is a chess mentor and a Dronacharya award winner.u00a0
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