DAVID R. SANDS: Ominous echoes for Anand as Carlsen takes chess title match lead

Breaking news … Anand defeats Carlsen in Tuesday’s Game 3 in 34 moves to even the match at 1 1/2-1 1/2. It’s the first lost for Carlsen in two title matches with the Indian challenger.

Two games into the world title rematch between now-champion Magnus Carlsen of Norway and now-challenger Viswanathan Anand of India is already looking an awful lot like their first match one year ago when the roles were reversed.

And that could be very bad news for Anand.

After a tense, fighting draw to begin the match in Sochi, Russia on Saturday, Carlsen broke through with the White pieces on Sunday to take a 1½-½ lead going into Tuesday’s Game 3. And the tenor of the play in the two games eerily resembles how the 2013 match unfolded, a match won by Carlsen with three wins and seven draws.

In that match, Anand managed to get favorable positions several times, but could never break through the Norwegian’s defenses. Carlsen, for his part, would press relentlessly in even the most benign positions, and at critical points the Indian star would buckle under.

Play in the scheduled 12-game match continues through Nov. 27. We’ll have results and a write-up of each game at www.washingtontimes.com.

Anand appeared to be rejuvenated in winning the right to the rematch in his play this year, but it’s not clear he has any better idea how to overcome the implacable champ. In Game 1, Anand got good pressure on the White side of a Grunfeld Defense, forcing Black to defend a cramped and awkward position. But Carlsen slowly unwound his game, and was even pressing for a win from the position in today’s diagram. Black has just played 41…Qe4-c2, setting nasty threats with the queen and rook against the insecure White king.

But White shows his mettle with 42. Rd4 Re2!? (the post mortem centered on 42…Re3! here, threatening the lethal 43…Rxa3+ 44. Kxa3 Qb3 mate; White’s best seems to be to try to hold a tough ending after 43. Qd1 Qxd1 44. Rxd1 Rb3, although his king has very little scope) 43. Rb4! b5 44. Qh1! (the saving move, setting up some dangerous checks) Re7 45. Qd5 Re1 46. Qd7+ Kh6 47. Qh3+ Kg7 48. Qd7+, and the players agreed to a draw.

Game 2 was vintage Carlsen, as White squeezes the maximum possible out of a quiet sideline of the Ruy Lopez Berlin. Black is fine for a while, but a nice White rook lift with 14. Ra3!, a careless Black developing move (18…Be6?!, instead of the more forceful 18…Qf7!), and mounting White kingside pressure forces Black to adopt a very passive defensive crouch.

Thus: 20. h4 Bxf5 21. exf5 Nf4 (Nf8 is too passive, but after the recapture, the Black pawn on f4 will eventually be lost) 22. Bxf4 exf4 23. Rc3! c5 24. Re6, and Carlsen can slowly increase the pressure. Anand’s 28. Qe2 b5!? gives him some hope of counterplay on the half-open b-file, but in time pressure he shows the same tendency to catastrophic collapse that doomed him a year ago.

It’s over after 31. Re7 Qd6 32. Qf3 Rxe4 33. Qxe4 f3+ 34. g3 h5?? (Qd2, threatening the f-pawn, is the only possible move, but White still dominates after 35. Qxf3 Qxc2 36. Kg2, and Black defensive weaknesses remain) 35. Qb7, and Anand resigned as he has no good counter to 36. Rxg7+ Kh8 37. Rh7+ Kg8 38. Qg7 mate.

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FIDE is handing out a slew of world titles these days, new men’s and women’s over-65 world senior titles to Georgia’s GM Zurab Sturua and the great GM Nona Gaprindashvili, and over-50 crowns to French GM Anatoly Vaisser and WIM Svetlana Mednikova of Russia.

Don’t let the graying hair fool you — there can be some spirited battles among the senior set. We present Canadian expert Ilia Bluvshtein’s nice win over German Class B player Laurenz Bobke, in which White attacks right from the opening bell and batters his opponent into submission.

Black scores small positional victory by trading off his “problem” bishop early in this unusual French Defense sideline, but runs into trouble a few moves later by prematurely allowing the center to open up with 9. Nxd5 exd5?! (solid was 9…Qxd5 10. c3 0-0 11. Re1 Nb8 12. Bf4 Bd6) 10. Qe2 Nb8 (Black can’t castle because his knight on a6 is loose) 11. Re1 Nc6 12. Ne5 Nxd4? (opening the floodgates, though 12…Nxe5 13. Qxe5 f6 14. Qh5+ g6 15. Qf3 0-0 16. Bh6 Rf7 17. Re6 is also uncomfortable for Black) 13. Qg4! Ne6 14. Nxf7!, eviscerating the Black defense. Bobke’s king will get no respite for the rest of the game.

By 21. cxd4 Kf7 (Bxd4 22. Qe4 c5 23. Qf5+ Qf6 [Kg8 24. Qe6+ Kf8 25. Bd6+] 24. Qxc8+ and wins) 22. Qe6+ Kf8 23. Be5 Bxe5 24. Rxe5 g6 25. Rd3, Black’s king is not long for the world. White sidesteps one last trap to wrap up the point.

Thus: 26. Rd5 Re8 27. Rd7+! (and not 27. Rxd8?? Rxe6 28. Rxc8 Re1 mate) Kh8 28. Rxd8 Rcxd8 (Rxe6 is now impossible because the rook is pinned) 29. Qf6+ Kg8 30. Re3; the back-rank mate threat is gone and Black resigned facing an decisive material deficit.

Carlsen-Anand, Game 2, World Championship Match, Sochi, Russia, November 2014

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. d3 Bc5 5. O-O d6 6. Re1 O-O 7. Bxc6 bxc6 8. h3 Re8 9. Nbd2 Nd7 10. Nc4 Bb6 11. a4 a5 12. Nxb6 cxb6 13. d4 Qc7 14. Ra3 Nf8 15. dxe5 dxe5 16. Nh4 Rd8 17. Qh5 f6 18. Nf5 Be6 19. Rg3 Ng6 20. h4 Bxf5 21. exf5 Nf4 22. Bxf4 exf4 23. Rc3 c5 24. Re6 Rab8 25. Rc4 Qd7 26. Kh2 Rf8 27. Rce4 Rb7 28. Qe2 b5 29. b3 bxa4 30. bxa4 Rb4 31. Re7 Qd6 32. Qf3 Rxe4 33. Qxe4 f3+ 34. g3 h5 35. Qb7 Black resigns.

Bluvshtein-Bobke, FIDE World Senior Championships, Katerini, Greece, November 2014

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Be7 4. Nf3 Nf6 5. Bd3 b6 6. O-O Ba6 7. Bxa6 Nxa6 8. exd5 Nxd5 9. Nxd5 exd5 10. Qe2 Nb8 11. Re1 Nc6 12. Ne5 Nxd4 13. Qg4 Ne6 14. Nxf7 Kxf7 15. Qxe6+ Kf8 16. Bf4 Bf6 17. Rad1 d4 18. c3 Qe8 19. Qd5 Qd8 20. Qc6 Rc8 21. cxd4 Kf7 22. Qe6+ Kf8 23. Be5 Bxe5 24. Rxe5 g6 25. Rd3 Kg7 26. Rd5 Re8 27. Rd7+ Kh8 28. Rxd8 Rcxd8 29. Qf6+ Kg8 30. Re3 Black resigns.

• David R. Sands can be reached at 202/636-3178 or by email at dsands@washingtontimes.com.