When Carlsen sensed he wasn't in the right frame of mind and in a bad position on the board, he didn't panic to create something and took the draw, to fight another day.
Wise decision.
Anand vs Carlsen: World Championship match thread
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Nov 9, 2013
0
#183
What's neat about Carlsen is that he's just as ready to win with the black pieces as he is with the white pieces. I believe Anand will be tested tomorrow;)
Right on trysts! We´re going to see fireworks sooner or later.
And there´s no analogy with football, but for those who will persist - this match was just the first 7 1/2 minutes of the game, they´re not even properly warmed up yet.
I'm seriously more disappointed with Anand than Carlsen.
Carlsen couldn't safely avoid repetition, Anand could, with b5.
I reckon if he showed he's up for a fight with the black, he might have wobbled Carlsen a little more mentally.
Well, it's not the first time Carlsen's opening is worse than his opponent's, and he didn't have much choice other than taking the repetition. Many games left and all of them will be more exciting than this one :-)
Nov 9, 2013
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#187
rooperi wrote:
I'm seriously more disappointed with Anand than Carlsen.
Carlsen couldn't safely avoid repetition, Anand could, with b5.
I reckon if he showed he's up for a fight with the black, he might have wobbled Carlsen a little more mentally.
Carlsen played Qb3 well aware of the repeatation possibility, and that's exactly what he wanted, as he admitted post-match. On the other hand, it doesn't make much sense to try too hard to fight for a win with black, in an equal position,on the very first game, since the first one to lose may very well lose the whole match.
Today's game was more of a skirmish to look for what the other one has prepared.Real games would probably start after game 2.
I'm predicting after game 4.
Nov 9, 2013
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#189
Scottrf wrote:
TitanCG wrote:
Welcome to the 12 game championship format where not losing is all that matters.
Welcome to chess where drawing is preferable to working hard to give yourself a worse position just so the game carries on and fans wont moan.
this is about anand not carlsen. he could have fought on without ending up in a worse position but of course we cannot criticize anand since he didnt want to risk with black pieces. anyway black had no big advantage but position was playable. we just want to see some action and enjoy. 
Anand's match against Kasparov started with eight draws and the one against Gelfand with six. No surprise with some draws in the opening here even if this one was unusually short, but that was more because they ended up in a position where Carlsen had no other choice than to repeat after an unimpressive opening.
Mersaphe wrote:
Anand on his brand new laptop computer
Anand on his brand new cell phone
Anand playing against 5 chess geniuses
Anand learning how to win by putting large objects in the center of the board to distract the opponent
Carlsen playing a serious game of chess
nice photos
Want-To-Fork wrote:
Forced, agreed... same difference. Point is, this is not allowed in any other respectable professional competition. Especially not in a title bout.
Imagine watching an NFL superbowl game where the teams were tied at 0 and the coaches walk out to the middle of the field and say" hey buddy, im all out of plays". Other coach replies "me too, lets just call it a day!"
Or, two UFC fighers just tapping gloves in the 5th round and saying "im tired man, lets just call it a draw".
No! The officals force a decision and for good reason.
There is a difference : the player won't agree that the match is draw, they've only drawn one single game.
Nov 9, 2013
0
#194
there's only one of these players having kittens about the final result, and it's not Carlsen
Subbing.
What if your best move is to draw ?
McHeath wrote:
Watching the press conference, Anand seems to be in a really good mood and Magnus just seems pissed off. Psychological 1-0 for Anand I´d say.
Magnus always seems pissed off :-)
I found the game pretty interesting if you ask me. A draw was a fine result.
After Anand played Nd5, it was clear that he was playing to equalize with black and go for a draw. e5 would also have equalized, but the game would have lasted much longer. If Anand really wanted to play for a win he would have played Qa5 there.
After Qb3 I don't believe that black has anything better than to repeat with Nc4-a5-c4-a5 etc. Perhaps he could play Na5 Qa3 b6, but black must be extremely careful not to be worse in that position, while even if black plays perfect his advantage will be miniscule. Of course the correct decision at that point is to accept the draw.
I'm just dissapointed that Anand chose Nd5 in that interesting position, Qa5 Qb3 Be6 did seem to cause white at least some slight difficulty.
I'm sure someone has already stated this but the draw was pretty much forced. Contrary to what Want-To-Fork wants to believe, the advantage that Anand would've had if Carlsen did not repeatedly move the queen was of significance. The opening choice was hardly inspiring, but have you guys ever watched game 1's before??
Carlsen is very human. He admitted that he had butterflies before the start. He can definetly sense pressure.
Which is why I believe he can become one of the best of all time, and admire him a lot.