Carlsen leads 5-3: Can Anand mount a comeback?

Game 8 Chennai World Chess Championship 2013 Magnus Carlsen – Viswanathan Anand 1/2-1/2: Is an injured tiger more dangerous than a tiger looking for prey? We have four games remaining to find out the answer to that! Game 8 at the Chennai World Chess Championship on Tuesday was a quick draw. That leaves Magnus Carlsen still in lead with a score of 5-3.

Four games are still to be played in the World Chess Championship Match if Viswanathan Anand is to force a tiebreak. Wednesday is the rest day and Anand returns with White in Game 9 on Thursday.

World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen now needs only three draws or 1.5 points from four games to become the next World Chess Champion.

Game 8 – lasting just 75 minutes and 33 moves – saw Carlsen fire off his moves in only 20 minutes. The only excitement of the game was that Magnus Carlsen battled his own poison – the Berlin – that he uses as a weapon when playing with Black against 1.e4. Anand played took the same route against Carlsen in Game 8.

From Carlsen’s perspective, the draw takes the Norwegian a step closer to the title. Magnus Carlsen played 1.e4 for the first time in the Match. Quick exchanges followed and the chess board came down to pawns and Kings grid-locked in a draw.

Speaking at the press conference, World Chess Champion Viswanathan Anand said, “Given the match situation I am expected to liven things up, I will try to do it in the next game.”

Dr Jana Bellin conducted the doping tests on the players after the end of Game 8 as part of the FIDE endeavour to become a part of the Olympic family. Anand side-stepped the subject of doping tests at the press conference and went straight to discussing the game of the day.