Exciting Game 3 at World Chess Championship 2013: Carlsen - Anand 1/2- 1/2

Chess Blog for Daily Chess News and Trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2013

Hello everyone,

Game 3 of the FIDE World Chess Championship Match in Chennai finished in a draw shortly after the first time control today. Magnus Carlsen, as White, was ready to enter the opening discussion by repeating the Reti setup from the first game. Only this time he made an early c2-c4 advance, before committing with the d-pawn.

Viswanathan Anand responded by taking on c4 and the play was definitely heading to a different structure, compared to the earlier game. Black seized the space in the center with e7-e5 and the position was finally a Sicilian Dragon Reversed.

White had some issues with piece coordination, but he solved the problem by conceding bishops pair and opening the a-file. Carlsen maneuvered his queen around until it landed on the ‘unusual’ h1-square. But the Norwegian already had his queen on h1 in one game earlier this year.

However, Anand immediately started advancing his queenside majority, to which Carlsen answered by opening the play in the center.

Anand could have snatched a pawn on b2, but he preferred to keep the initiative going with 29…Bd4. As the commentators on the official website pointed out, the opposite-coloured bishops and presence of the heavy pieces favour the attacking side.

In mutual time trouble black lost the track and white was able to conveniently bring the queen back into game. Further, black lost the extra pawn and the game soon ended in a draw.

You can replay the game with Chess King. The official website is available at this link.

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