World Chess Championship 2014: Magnus Carlsen holds Viswanathan Anand easily to a draw in game 8

Viswanthan Anand vs Magnus Carlsen, World Championship 2014, Sochi

Magnus Carlsen was well prepared today to take on Anand with the Black pieces, as the game fizzled out into a draw. The opening was a Queen’s gambit declined, in which Magnus revived an old line which was once very popular by playing 6... c5. The move didn’t surprise the Indian however, and after a few moves, Black’s 9... Re8 put Anand into thinking mode. He played the most logical continuation, but was once again surprised by 10... Be7, which was a novelty.

The Indian had realized by now that he was up against some heavy preparation, and proceeded with caution. Meanwhile, Magnus Carlsen was almost snoozing at the board, drawing a lot of comments about his posture and the position on the board. Soon the central pawns were exchanged, leading to massive exchanges on the c-file. The game soon reached a Bishop ending which was dead equal, and the players agreed to a draw.

Tomorrow will be a rest day for the players. However with the score 4.5 – 3.5 in favour of the Norwegian, team Anand won’t be resting much for sure. The Indian’s repertoire with Black has been shaky, and it would be better for him to try something sharp from the Black side, instead of defending passive positions out of the opening.

Points Table

Players/Game	G1	G2	G3	G4	G5	G6	G7	G8	G9	G10	G11	G12	Points
Magnus_Carlsen	0.5	1	0	0.5	0.5	1	0.5	0.5					4.5
Viswanathan_Anand	0.5	0	1	0.5	0.5	0	0.5	0.5					3.5

10.Bg5 Be7 11.Rd1 Qa5 Anand now knows that Magnus has this cooked home prep. This is why he's taking his time. #CarlsenAnand @anandcarlsen14

— Susan Polgar (@SusanPolgar) November 18, 2014