Topic: To all fans of the board game CHESS, we have a new number one GM Magnus Carlsen  (Read 1689 times)

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Magnus Carlsen beats Vishy Anand in 10 games to become world champion

Magnus Carlsen is the new world champion. The Norwegian, 22, completed a 6.5-3.5 series triumph in Chennai on Friday and won the crown from India's Vishy Anand, 43, who had held the title since 2007. The $2.2m match was scheduled for 12 games but Carlsen proved dominant with three wins, seven draws and no defeats.

Playing in his home city failed to energise Anand, who has been in a form crisis since 2010 and has dropped to No8 in the rankings. He spent several months before the match in intensive opening preparation, yet did not find a testing method against the solid Berlin 1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5 which, as Carlsen's pre-match games indicated, was his main defence to 1 e4.

In hindsight Anand's missed opportunity and only serious chance to compete in the match came in the first three games when Carlsen was still palpably nervous in an unfamiliar environment. Instead Anand allowed two quick draws, then mishandled an advantage in game three.

The first Berlin was in game four, where Carlsen as Black produced the daring bishop manoeuvre Bc8-e6xa2-b1-f5-c8, snatching a pawn at negligible positional cost. Anand's defensive heroics halved that but his endgame errors cost game five while game six turned out a disaster. It reached a drawn queen-rook ending where the Indian exchanged queens and was subtly outplayed in the rook ending to give Carlsen a 4-2 match lead. Garry Kasparov then commented that the match was over and the question was only whether Carlsen would win in mininalist style like Anatoly Karpov or in maximalist mode like Bobby Fischer.

The schedule gave Anand another White in game seven but he seemed demoralised and limped to a draw. It was the same again in game eight, which Carlsen played at blitz speed and which lasted barely 90 minutes. Indian journalists at the post-game press conferences were dismayed at Anand's limp performance and quizzed him about his tactics. He assured them, "I'm doing my best," but it lacked conviction.

Game nine showed the criticism had stung as Anand came out fighting with a sharp attack on the challenger's king and a daring idea of allowing Carlsen to queen a pawn with check. But then he blundered tragically, interposing a knight where a bishop move would have drawn. Carlsen's simple response ensured the challenger an extra rook and Anand resigned

Anand v Carlsen, ninth game

1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 e6 3 Nc3 Bb4 4 f3 d5 5 a3 Bxc3+ 6 bxc3 c5 7 cxd5 exd5 8 e3 c4 9 Ne2 Nc6 10 g4 O-O 11 Bg2 Na5 12 O-O Nb3 13 Ra2 b5 14 Ng3 a5 15 g5 Ne8 16 e4 Nxc1 17 Qxc1 Ra6 18 e5 Nc7 19 f4 b4 20 axb4?! axb4 21 Rxa6 Nxa6 22 f5 b3 23 Qf4 Nc7 24 f6 g6 25 Qh4 Ne8 26 Qh6 b2 27 Rf4 b1=Q+ 28 Nf1?? Qe1 0-1

In Friday's game 10 Anand made more mistakes while Carlsen, needing only a draw, failed to spot a winning move. They halved a knight ending and Carlsen became the second youngest world champion in chess history after Kasparov.

3333 1...Qe2+! 2 Qf2 Qxf2+ 3 Bxf2 is the simple way with two pawns up, while 1...Bxd4! is even stronger, threatening Qe2+ winning the e1 bishop

 

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