The quick draw in the first game of the World Chess Championship final brought disappointment to the public and Magnus Carlsen himself. Carlsen was unhappy at not getting his opponent under pressure and stretching it out for a win as he is accustomed to.
Also Carlsen looked a little overwhelmed at so much media presence at the start of the match and even at the press conference. Many photographers were seen jostling each other to get the best view. After so much pressure and build-up, Carlsen was glad to get things moving on the board. “I was glad to start playing but am not thrilled with the way the game went. Usually the play develops a little more slowly in these opening lines but today it reached an immediate crisis. It didn’t seem that I had many options today particularly as I missed a good move 13.Qe1 as pointed out by Anand,” Carlsen said.
He was happy with the media and the spectators and hoped that the players would be able to play longer than one and half hours. On his disappointment at playing such a short game, Carlsen said that there was no option. “This happens sometimes against very strong opponents. Very early, I had to put on an emergency brake and settle for draw. I am not unhappy with the way the game ended but I wouldn’t have minded if he had played on”.
Regarding playing a match for the first time as opposed to a tournament, Carlsen said: “There were some butterflies of course but it’s nice to finally get going. Hopefully, there will be more exciting games ahead.”
Magnus’s Dad Henrik Carlsen echoed his son’s views and felt that the draw was an ‘OK’ result in the match. “As Magnus said, he had hoped for more but he didn’t see any opportunities. It happens occasionally even if he plays with white.”
Grandmaster Susan Polgar felt that this was a slight advantage for Anand as he now has six whites remaining in the 11 games. One point to note was that the last two times Anand had played with black against Carlsen, he had fumbled and lost badly.
Would Carlsen have played on if he was in Anand’s shoes and playing with black? Susan felt that the World No 1 would have played on as black’s position may have held a very slight advantage. But it was mainly because of the mentality of Carlsen as well.
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