Anand Misses Opportunity In Game Nine

By Arvind Aaron
 

World chess champion Viswanathan Anand played well but missed possible winning chances in the ninth game which was drawn after 83 moves and six and a half hours of play.

The score is 4.5-4.5 with challenger Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria having a small advantage of playing white in two of the next three games. The first player to reach 6.5 points wins this 2 million Euro match. The winner gets 1,200,000 and the loser 800,000 Euros.

Anand moved out of Catalan opening and allowed the Nimzo-Indian defence with the white pieces. Anand's 18th move was a novelty.

Once the opening phase was completed, Anand went for activity on the king side. He sacrificed a queen for two rooks and hoped for big piece play.

Topalov as black won the queen side pawns and was looking dangerous. Anand had an attack going against the black king. On move 40, Anand missed a chance to win the game when he was down to the last three minutes on the clock for the first control.

Play was exciting and unclear all through the game. This is a typical World championship game. Anand held an advantage for most part of the game but Topalov gave perpetual checks to make a draw after six and a half hours of play.

White's chances missed were more than one. On move 64 and 74 he could have improved. In the end, Anand tried hard but did not win this game. In the tenth game, Topalov plays white.
 

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Home                                                      Published on May 07^th  2010