2014 World Championship - Games 9 & 10

It seems that the early excitement has passed in the 2014 World Championship Match, and we are seeing a slow slide to a Carlsen victory. Both games 9 and 10 were drawn, with Anand not putting Carlsen under any serious pressure. There was some excitement in Game 10 when Carlsen allowed Anand to make a seemingly strong pawn push, but Anand passed up the opportunity, deciding to play it safe. Once this moment passed Carlsen had no trouble equalising and a draw was agreed on move 32.
Tomorrow sees Game 11 and it may be this is where the match ends. Anand needs to try something to claw back his point deficit, but in doing also gives Carlsen greater winning chances. On the other hand there is a school of thought (espoused by the denizens of Street Chess) that Anand may be happy to finish with -1, as a way of saying that he is still a credible threat to Carlsen. I lean towards the former scenario btw.


Anand,Viswanathan (2792) - Carlsen,Magnus (2863) [D97]
WCh 2014 Sochi RUS (10), 21.11.2014