World Chess C'ship: Anand caught off guard as game two ends in draw

Defending champion Viswanathan Anand was surprised by Magnus Carlsen’s opening as he played out a tame draw against his challenger with white pieces in the second game of the World Chess Championship in Chennai today. World number one Carlsen showed that he was made of sterner stuff and pulled back the attention on himself with an easiest of draws against Anand, who played with his first white in the match. The first game, in which Anand played with black pieces, was also a drawn affair yesterday. The scores are now tied 1-1 after two games and there are 10 more games to go under Classical time control in this Rs 14 crore prize money championship. [caption id=“attachment_1221355” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  The scores are now tied 1-1 after two games and there are 10 more games to go under Classical time control. AP[/caption] Just like Anand’s mesmerising work in the opening game yesterday, it was Carlsen all the way as Anand could not do anything. “It’s my turn to offer a slight apology today. I had to be a bit prudent but things will get interesting,” Anand said after avoiding any undue risk that might have led to wild complexities out of a Caro Kann defense. The local hero agreed that the opening was a surprise for him and even more the variation chosen by Carlsen. It was a repetition of a game played by Anand against Chinese Ding Liren some time back and Anand spent a lot of time thinking about various complicated variations but could not be sure of himself. The easier way out was to play solid, as Carlsen did when posed with slightest difficulty and the draw was up for grabs for the Norwegian. While the first game lasted just 16 moves, this one went on till the 25th but the result of the game had been forecasted by many much before that. Carlsen’s surprise opening apparently took Anand completely off guard and the world champion will now have to look at some new options to figure out the Caro Kann. The variation that Carlsen chose has tendencies to go for wild-play which is a major shift from the Carlsen camp according to general perception that the Norwegian plays well in dry positions. PTI