Young Magnus Carlsen now leads
Viswanathan Anand 6 to 3 in a 12-game match for the world chess
championship. Carlsen will become the next world champion if he draws
or wins any of the remaining three games, a likely conclusion. I’ve
been following this match. The games begin too early for me, so I
joined today’s decisive ninth round at about 7 a.m., in the
middlegame.
Carlsen made a defensive move that
looked desperately ugly, 25. … Ne8. It seemed obvious that Anand
had a simple mate in four with his queen and rook. I eagerly went to
the live commentary. Was there any way Carlsen could avoid mate?
The first words of the analyst I heard
were, “I don’t see how Carlsen can avoid checkmate.”
We watched and waited, and then Carlsen
played b2, threatening to queen his pawn if Anand’s attack
persisted. Anand could have withdrawn his pieces to defend against
this pawn, but if he did, a victory seemed unlikely. Instead, Anand
moved his rook up to proceed with his mating plan, leaving his first
rank undefended, and Carlsen queened his pawn with check.
There are many exciting games in which
a player sacrifices his queen for a mating attack. This was
different: Anand allowed Carlsen to have two queens on the board
while he proceeded with his attack. Carlsen’s defensive tactic was
obvious: if he could sacrifice his extra queen for any of Anand’s
four attacking pieces, he would blunt the attack. This exciting chess
position deserves a lot of analysis, but so far it appears that with
best play, the game should have been a draw. Sadly, Anand, twice Carlsen's age and suffering both physically and mentally from the stress of this
match, blundered and resigned.
26. … b2! What a move.
