World Chess Championship 2014: Viswanathan Anand's solid Berlin defense earns him an easy draw in game 9

Magnus Carlsen leads 5-4 after nine games in the World Chess Championship 2014, Sochi

Viswanathan Anand and Magnus Carlsen drew game 9 of the World Championship in just 20 moves, as Carlsen’s lead remained the same.

Once again it was the rock solid Berlin variation of the Ruy Lopez opening, but Carlsen opted for a different plan with White, which didn’t help him gain any advantage whatsoever, and the game was drawn in just 20 moves. Viswanathan Anand was well prepared today as he hardly consumed any time on the clock in the opening, and Magnus was unwilling to test the Indian’s preparation.

The game followed Leinier Dominguez Perez vs Ruslan Ponomariov, 2012 up until twelve moves. Anand came up with a new move with 13... Bb7, the idea was to switch the Bishop from a vacant diagonal to a potentially more active a8->h1 diagonal. The move seemed like losing tempo but the opening is known for being flexible, letting you enough time to manoeuvre your pieces.

The Norwegian responded with the committal 14.e6 to which the Indian swiftly replied with 14... Bd6. Magnus decided not to overstretch, and after 15. exf7 Kxf7 the players drew with a three-fold repetition.

Today was a short day at the board for the players, and unlike the Berlin opening in game 7, the game was short and White decided not to stretch since he didn’t have any advantage out of the opening. Magnus still leads 5-4 after nine games and we can be sure that Anand will go all out for a win tomorrow with White pieces. Could this be the calm before the storm?

Unlike a sharper opening like Sicilian where precision/every tempo counts, it's more flexible with the Berlin #CarlsenAnand @anandcarlsen14

— Susan Polgar (@SusanPolgar) November 20, 2014