10-11-2013, 12:46 PM
Turned on the Chennai feed to catch the early middlegame ...to find game over ... another cagey draw!
Less surprised at the second game, which was more logically contested by both players throughout. Was more surprised that in Game 1 Carlsen didn't play his queen's knight to d2 rather than to c3, as the latter more or less invites Anand's (good and) forcing reaction around the exchange of pawns on c4, followed by ...Nb6 and at least fully equal play on the c4 and d5 light squares.
With a knight on d2 (in Game 1), which has been played with some success at high level in the last year or two, White maintains the central tension, and while it isn't objectively very much, it retains the (very slight) advantage of the move (as White) and leads to the sort of game with a variety of strategic options that would have required both players to show a much more interesting middlegame hand.
The match is yet to properly start!
Less surprised at the second game, which was more logically contested by both players throughout. Was more surprised that in Game 1 Carlsen didn't play his queen's knight to d2 rather than to c3, as the latter more or less invites Anand's (good and) forcing reaction around the exchange of pawns on c4, followed by ...Nb6 and at least fully equal play on the c4 and d5 light squares.
With a knight on d2 (in Game 1), which has been played with some success at high level in the last year or two, White maintains the central tension, and while it isn't objectively very much, it retains the (very slight) advantage of the move (as White) and leads to the sort of game with a variety of strategic options that would have required both players to show a much more interesting middlegame hand.
The match is yet to properly start!