Sochi (Russia): Indian ace Viswanathan Anand played out a fighting draw with defending champion Magnus Carlsen of Norway in the first game of the World Chess championship, here today.
Having drawn the white pieces in the drawing of lots, Anand went for the blood on expected lines but Carlsen, after some initial problems in the Grunfeld defense came out with flying colours and gave the Tiger of Madras a tough time.
With one of the preparations backfiring against an agile Magnus, it will be up to team Anand to look for remedial measures especially with white pieces as even though the Indian went up by almost 30 minutes on the clock in the opening phase.
The advantage was gradually neutralised by Carlsen. Anand was, in fact, having less time than Carlsen when the game reached the first time control.
It was a good opening for Anand as white in the topical exchange variation. The five times world champion apparently took a cue few from a couple of recent games played by Ragger Markus and Alexander Moiseenko and even though their final result were uninspiring, the position did offer the kind of volatility Anand was hoping to get.
Carlsen, to his credit, was in his elements and showed no fatigue whatsoever when he was posed with a difficult positon to solve. While things seem to be favouring Anand thanks to his speed in executing his moves till move 13, the next one from Carlsen apparently took the Indian by a huge surprise as he spent no less than 23 minutes on it.
