Anand REALLY should have taken something for his nerves!

[S.Taylor]

And he DID!

The next plane home!!!!


there was really no need to have lost that last game. In fact, he should have been fully ready to beat Magnus and he might have done so had he really been determined, and certainly to have drawn.

Chessbomb considers magnusses move 40.e6 a serious mistake, and 40...a4 as putting Anand right back into the game.

Might this be correct?

If so, then this is TERRIBLE that Anand wasn't aware of it.
There is simply NO excuse to throw away the WHOLE historical match ONLY because he decided he has already given his best, and now he has reconciled himself to lose.

There was all the chances in the world that Magnus might have made a mistake right at the end, and it was more important to jump on it than almost any other mistake he made in the match, IF the computer analisys at chessbomb was right.

those who have computers set up with top engines, please take a look!

[AdminX]

Anand REALLY should have taken something for his nerves!

And he DID!

The next plane home!!!!

LMAO

[yanquis1972]

i was watchign this analyzed live, & while e6 was a huge drop (from forced mate, i think) i believe it was still easily winning for white, possibly even with mate solved by the big box at analysis.sesse.net

[d]8/8/4P2p/pkb5/1p2K1P1/7P/8/4R3 b - - 0 40

analyzying with komodo, black still loses very simply after 40...a4 41. Kd3

9: Carlsen,M - Anand,V, World Chess Championship 2014 2014
[d]8/8/4P2p/1kb5/pp4P1/3K3P/8/4R3 b - - 0 1

Analysis by Komodo 8 64-bit:

41...Be7 42.h4 b3 43.g5 b2 44.gxh6 Bb4 45.Rf1 a3 46.Kc2 a2 47.Kxb2 a1Q+ 48.Rxa1 Be7 49.h7 Bf6+ 50.Ka2 Bh8 51.e7 Kb6 52.e8Q Bd4 53.Qd8+ Kc5 54.Qxd4+
+- (250.00) Depth: 21 00:00:14 103mN, tb=239130

[M ANSARI]

And he DID!

The next plane home!!!!


there was really no need to have lost that last game. In fact, he should have been fully ready to beat Magnus and he might have done so had he really been determined, and certainly to have drawn.

Chessbomb considers magnusses move 40.e6 a serious mistake, and 40...a4 as putting Anand right back into the game.

Might this be correct?

If so, then this is TERRIBLE that Anand wasn't aware of it.
There is simply NO excuse to throw away the WHOLE historical match ONLY because he decided he has already given his best, and now he has reconciled himself to lose.

There was all the chances in the world that Magnus might have made a mistake right at the end, and it was more important to jump on it than almost any other mistake he made in the match, IF the computer analisys at chessbomb was right.

those who have computers set up with top engines, please take a look!

Well ... Chessbomb was wrong and Carlsen was right. After e6 it is +44.00 according to SF ... and while a4 is the best move to e6 ... +44.00 is sort of winning according to SF I think you underestimate Carlsen's play and humans will sometimes play the clearest win rather than the shortest win. Also a lot of people were using engines that don't go very deep very quickly ... in these type of positions SF rules!

Actually after checking the position with SF ... e6! actually is SF first choice for quite a while until it sees a mate score with h4.


44: Carlsen,M - Anand,V, World Chess Championship 2014 2014
[d]8/8/7p/pkb1P3/1p2K1P1/7P/8/4R3 w - - 0 1

Analysis by Stockfish 151014 64 SSE4.2:

40.e6 Be7 41.Kd3 Kc6 42.Ra1 Bd8 43.Kc4 Kd6 44.Rd1+ Ke7 45.Rd7+ Ke8 46.Rh7
+- (7.25 ++) Depth: 50/69 00:03:19 2338MN

[S.Taylor]

ok, i accept that. thanks.

still i am wondering if anand generally lost, at a different point in the game, only because he basically gave up the fight in his mind. If he would have played very exact the whole game and not lost his nerve at the prospect of a draw, he still might have won the very last next game and had another chance at the playoff.

[M ANSARI]

Actually the exchange sac was not the mistake everyone seems to think it was. Both SF and K8 evaluate it as 0.00 ... which retrospect means that it was a brilliant gamble from Anand.

[d]r4b2/2p2p2/2k1bNnp/p1pNP1p1/PBP1K1P1/7P/5P2/3RR3 b - - 0 28

Here both SF and K8 give 0.00 after 28. .... axb4

The mistake was probably taking with c pawn rather than with the a pawn ... this of course according to the engines and not me. Apparently the engines saw that counter play on the a file was enough compensation for the exchange sac. But when you look at the position, it is very human to see how pegged in the black bishop is and it would seem it is a better plan to open lines for the bishop and fix the doubled pawns, rather than to go for activity on the a file. Humans don't have the luxury of looking deep into every possible variation like engines do and they have to follow their instincts. Again it was a gamble but not a reckless gamble as has been explained in some sites. Considering the match situation this was probably the best chance that Anand would have and he was not sure he would be able to get another chance.

You have to give a lot of credit to Carlsen for seeing 29.Nh5!! His explanation was so simple ... yet it shows how much understanding of chess he has. He simply said that all of black's pieces are held together because of the bishop and it had to be taken on. He nailed it on the button and it was exactly a correct assessment as when the bishop was challenged the black position completely collapsed.