Anand and Carlsen draw in a rare line in World Championship game 5

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World Chess Championship 2014 (5)

Anand and Carlsen draw in a rare line in World Championship game 5

Mark Crowther - Friday 14th November 2014

Anand looked focused during game 5. Photo ©

Anand looked focused during game 5. Photo © | http://sochi2014.fide.com

Viswanathan Anand showed his great opening erudition by being totally prepared for the rare line of the Queen's Indian played in game 5 of the World Chess Championship match in Sochi.

Magnus Carlsen changed his black defence to 1.d4 again choosing a Queen's Indian with 4.Bb4+ and although both seemed well prepared even after Anand's novelty 13.d6 it was very probable Carlsen's preparation didn't go as deep as Anand's.

Anand said he thought his conclusion about this line, which he looked at some time ago, was that it was good for white and seemed to imply he was prepared up to 20.Nd5 at least. That said Carlsen remained ahead on the clock.

Carlsen had a number of difficult decisions. 20...Qxb2 was possible instead of 20...Bxd5 and maybe was also interesting.

Then Carlsen had a further big decision to make either 22...Qxf3 or grabbing a pawn with 22...Qxb2 where his position seemed under grave threat for a pawn. 23..Rd6 would have lost for Carlsen so instead he had to allow the shattering of his pawns with 23...Qf6. There were a number of players watching who thought this was starting to look very promising for Anand. It's unclear however if there is anything real after Carlsen avoided the traps. After 26...Nc6 only 27.Ra4 remained for Anand to keep the game tense. He decided it didn't amount to much for him and played 27.Rb7 after which the players blitzed out the remaining 12 moves in only a few minutes and a draw was agreed.

Both players looked in a good mood and reasonable form today. Anand showed that he was hard to surprise as he's looked at so much chess over the years. Carlsen seemed to avoid the pitfalls of his position to secure an easy draw. The match could enter a new phase tomorrow.

"Anand played impressively today, was well prepared for a rare line and created problems for me." Carlsen

On Saturday Carlsen has the first of two games with the white pieces in a row as the players switch who has white on the day after the rest day.

Score Carlsen 2.5 - Anand 2.5

Game 6 Carlsen - Anand Saturday 15th November 3pm local time 12pm GMT.

Anand,Viswanathan (2792) - Carlsen,Magnus (2863) [E15]
WCh 2014 Sochi RUS (5), 14.11.2014
[Crowther,Mark]

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.g3 Bb4+ 5.Bd2 Be7 6.Nc3 Bb7 7.Bg2 c6 8.e4 d5 9.exd5 cxd5 10.Ne5 0-0 11.0-0 Nc6 12.cxd5

[Relevant: 12.Bf4 Na5 13.Bg5 Rc8 14.Bxf6 Bxf6 15.cxd5 Bxd5 16.Nxd5 exd5 17.Re1 Qd6 18.Qa4 Nc4 19.Qxa7 Nxe5 20.dxe5 Bxe5 21.Rad1 Bxb2 22.Bxd5 Qf6 23.Re7 g6 24.Rd3 Rc2 25.Rf3 Qd4 26.Rexf7 1-0 Van Wely,L (2654)-Tkachiev,V (2625) Dubai 2014]

12...Nxe5 13.d6N

Magnus Carlsen

Viswanathan Anand

Position after 13.d6

FEN:
r2q1rk1/pb2bppp/1p1Ppn2/4n3/3P4/2N3P1/PP1B1PBP/R2Q1RK1 b - - 0 13

[Predecessor (2): 13.dxe5 Nxd5 14.Nxd5 Bxd5 15.Bc3 Bxg2 16.Qxd8 Rfxd8 17.Kxg2 Rd5 18.Rfd1 Rad8 19.Rxd5 Rxd5 20.f4 f5 21.Rc1 Kf7 22.Be1 Â½-Â½ (22) Komljenovic,D (2465)-Palac,M (2561) Sibenik 2010]

13...Nc6

"I'd looked at this long back and I thought this should be better for white. Even 19...Qf5 20.Nd5." Anand.

14.dxe7 Qxe7 15.Bg5 h6 16.d5 Na5

[16...Rad8]

17.Bxf6 Qxf6 18.dxe6 Qxe6 19.Re1 Qf6 20.Nd5 Bxd5

Magnus Carlsen

Viswanathan Anand

Position after 20.Nd5. Maybe still Anand preparation.

FEN:
r4rk1/pb3pp1/1p3q1p/n2N4/8/6P1/PP3PBP/R2QR1K1 b - - 0 20

[20...Qxb2 21.Re2 Qa3 22.Re3 Qb2 23.Rb1 Qxa2 24.Ra1 Qb2 25.Rxa5 bxa5 26.Rb3 Qa2 27.Rxb7 "and perhaps white can play this position." Anand.]

21.Bxd5 Rad8 22.Qf3

Magnus Carlsen

Viswanathan Anand

Position after 22.Qf3

FEN:
3r1rk1/p4pp1/1p3q1p/n2B4/8/5QP1/PP3P1P/R3R1K1 b - - 0 22

22...Qxb2

[22...Qxf3 23.Bxf3 and black would still have had an inferior position.]

23.Rad1 Qf6

It's unclear whether Carlsen planned this response when he took on b7 or at first intended to play the losing Rd6. Maybe he thought he had both.

[23...Rd6 "It took me a while to work this one out." Anand 24.Bxf7+ Rxf7 25.Re8+ Kh7 26.Qxf7 Rxd1+ 27.Kg2 "and it's just resigns." Anand 27...Rd6 28.Qf5+ Rg6 29.Re6 "and we both made the same mistake that Qc1+ and Qg5 was possible and realised [there was no check]" Anand]

24.Qxf6 gxf6 25.Re7

Magnus Carlsen

Viswanathan Anand

Position after 25.Re7

FEN:
3r1rk1/p3Rp2/1p3p1p/n2B4/8/6P1/P4P1P/3R2K1 b - - 0 25

"Re7 is nice because I'm always threatening to play Bxf2+" Anand.

25...Kg7

[25...Nc6 "Instead of Kg7 he can do this as well." Anand.]

26.Rxa7

"I saw Rc7 and and I saw Kg2, both of which are quite interesting tries." Anand.

[26.Kg2 "I thought he plays f5" Anand. 26...Nc6 Carlsen (26...f5) 27.Rc7 Ne5 28.Rxa7 Rd6 29.Bb3 Rxd1 30.Bxd1 Rd8 31.Bb3 Rd2 "with just about enough counterplay." Anand. (31...Rd7 32.Rxd7 Nxd7 33.Bc2) ; 26.Rc7 "I think Rc7 would have been a good try." Anand. 26...a6 27.Rd3 Rd6 "I get this trick again." Anand. (27...Rc8 28.Rdc3 Rcd8 and then back - Carlsen.) 28.Bxf7 Rc6]]

26...Nc6

Magnus Carlsen