Anand vs Carlsen - Game 7

White: Anand
Black: Carlsen

So Anand achieve ½/2 in his back-to-back games with White. Probably not what he hoped for.

Someone on the English Chess Forum pointed out that Anand seemed to have the plan of removing all the rooks from the board, presumably because he realises that all rook and pawn endings are a win for McArlsen!

This puts the score at 4.5-2.5 for Magnus.

Out of the 5 remaining games, he needs to score 2 wins, or 1 win and 2 draws or 4 draws for victory.
Anand on the other hand needs 4(!) wins, or 3 wins and 2 draws. He really has a tough job in front of him.

I'm curious for next match.

Of course if Anand only needs to win 2 out of 5 (and draw the others) to take the match to a playoff (I assume the Champion doesn't automatically retain his title in the event of a tie?)

If the match is tied after 12 games then they go into the play off.

I was going to suggest Anand tried Bxc6 v The Berlin, infact I went back
a few posts because I was sure I did.
It's what I do and have many typical me wins with it.

I went into detail about this idea in a January 2011 Blog.

http://www.redhotpawn.com/blog/blogread.php?blogpostid=39

(that Blog had 5,500+ hits, Obviously Magnus was one of them).

Of course without a6 being played and Black castling Queenside then
it's a tough nut to crack. Indeed this is where my losses and draws
come from in this variation.

I recall a Chess season where I P.12 W.11 L.0 D1.
The sole draw was against the lowest graded player of the twelve
I played and he 0-0-0 in this line.

So thanks to this game Black will never play 0-0 again and walk into a
Kingside attack that I have off to pat. I have over 20 wins with Black
castling Kingside in OTB play and about 10 or more on here.

greenpawn34 - zebano RHP 2009



A quick Look at the Anand - Carlsen game.



And a nice piece of nonsense to cheer us up.

Originally posted by Fat Lady
Of course if Anand only needs to win 2 out of 5 (and draw the others) to take the match to a playoff (I assume the Champion doesn't automatically retain his title in the event of a tie?)

According to the regulations:

3. 7 Tie-breaks

3.7.1.a If the scores are level after the regular twelve (12) games, after a new drawing of
colors, four (4) tie-break games shall be played. The games shall be played using the
electronic clock starting with 25 minutes for each player with an increment of 10 seconds
after each move

(...)
3.7.2 If the scores are level after the games in Article 3.7.1a, then, after a new drawing of
colors, a match of 2 games shall be played with a time control of 5 minutes plus 3 seconds
increment after each move. In case of a level score, another 2-game match will be played to
determine a winner. If still there is no winner after 5 such matches (total 10 games), one
sudden-death game will be played as described below in Article 3.7.3.

3.7.3 If the score is still level after five matches as described in Article 3.7.2, the players
shall play a one sudden death game. The player who wins the drawing of lots may choose the
color. The player with the white pieces shall receive 5 minutes, the player with the black
pieces shall receive 4 minutes whereupon, after the 60th move, both players shall receive an
increment of 3 seconds starting from move 61. In case of a draw the player with the black
pieces is declared the winner.

Seems that Anand isn't willing to take many risks. Carlsen can just draw his way to victory now.

Anand has the white pieces only two more times. He needs to win at least twice in the next five games to equalize this thing. I know that cautious play has been his style, and who am I to argue with that? But, I think he now need to forget playing to a draw if he wants to pull this thing out.

Dunno 'bout you guys, but if I was Anand I'd abandon 1.e4

Carlsen's got his number on this one, If Anand keeps plugging away with his "pet opening" (i.e. the one Carlsen and team will have studied and prepared for several times over) then his white games are gonna be drawsville, and we'll have a new champion.

Or, will anything Anand does at this stage be hopeless?

Originally posted by 64squaresofpain
Dunno 'bout you guys, but if I was Anand I'd abandon 1.e4

Carlsen's got his number on this one, If Anand keeps plugging away with his "pet opening" (i.e. the one Carlsen and team will have studied and prepared for several times over) then his white games are gonna be drawsville, and we'll have a new champion.

Or, will anything Anand does at this stage be hopeless?

1. e4 e5 2. f4!