Magnus Opus: Carlsen dethrones Viswanathan Anand to become second-youngest world champion ever - Pdf Slider

Viswanathan Anand’s five-year reign as the undisputed world chess champion came to an end on Friday. The Indian played a solid line with black against Magnus Carlsen in the 10th game and drew in 60 moves to shake hands with the new world champion. Magnus Carlsen, the highest-rated player in the history of chess, will pocket Rs 8.4 crore to Anand’s Rs 5.6 crore. The draw gave Carlsen a 6.5-3.5 scoreline with two games remaining. The last time Anand lost by such a big margin was when Garry Kasparov defeated him in the PCA final in New York in 1995, also with two games remaining but in a 20-game match. With black, Anand played the Sicilian and prompted The Week in Chess editor Mark Crowther to tweet: “I think this may be Anand’s way of showing the Sicilian isn’t that exciting. I think draw offer quite soon.” It may be recalled Anand had defended his decision not to try the Sicilian after the sixth game by saying one could get dry positions from that opening too. Anyway, the position was not a dead draw after the opening as Carlsen seemed to get some initiative out of the Rossolimo Attack and started pressing his opponent. He was in no hurry to finish off the match which is characteristic of his style. If there is something in the position to play for, he would sit on the table. Carlsen and Anand had played the same Rossolimo opening in the Norway Supreme Masters tournament earlier this year, but that game had ended in a draw. In this game, there was certainly something for him to chase. Anand had a weak pawn in the sixth rank and the Norwegian deployed his pieces actively to torment Anand. The defending champion lost his backward pawn but he had other problems to solve. Anand’s 28th move was severely criticised by commentators but, by taking the pawn in the queen file, Carlsen gave his opponent some breathing space. Between moves 31 and 35, the game lost all pieces except the knight. The knight and pawn ending was more or less equal with the Norwegian having three pawns on each side and Anand four on the kingside to two on the queenside. Carlsen infused life into the endgame when he gave his knight to promote his queenside pawn but after the normal exchanges it was a dead draw. A long and fighting game which, at one stage, in the opening looked so dull. It was the best way Anand could have ended his campaign.