World Championship 2013: Anand - Carlsen, round 2

Another short draw. The players reached an equal endgame after 18 moves, and found a repetition in the early twenties.

Game 2 is a Caro, a surprise from Carlsen. Happy times for a couple of our local players.

Carlsen is playing the opening quickly, so he is still in recent preparation, Anand is taking more time. The official site commentary is diving into the chess today. From time to time, Polgar is making comments suitable for novice players. Generally, the chess.com/tv coverage is targeting a more informed audience. I started with the youtube feed off the official site, today.

With 14...O-O, Carlsen castles on the opposite side. This could be a very exciting tactical game, but after Anand plays the centralizing 15.Ne4, which allows Carlsen to begin a series of exchanges that ends with an invitation to trade queens, and Anand accepts. We are in an endgame after moves 18.Qxd5 cxd5.

This endgame is mostly equal. White has more space, but a bad bishop. Neither player has a glaring weakness, but both have play on opposite wings. Carlsen plays the next few moves actively, which allows Anand to force a repetition of moves.