New Delhi:
Viswanathan Anand gave his Norwegian challenger Magnus Carlsen a tough competition while playing with the black pieces during the third game of the World Chess Championship that ended in a draw here on Tuesday.
The third game of WCC played in Chennai turned out to be a hard fought affair that lasted 51 moves after a rather calm start and which already saw first two games ending in draws.
While in the midway to the third game, Anand appeared to have seized the initiative with some 'spot on' manoeuvres, but world number one Carlsen saved the situation with his counter play.
Later at the post-game conference, Carlsen conceded that he felt "scary" though he averted the danger.
"I was worse, and then I probably made it more worse. I missed some simple things in the middle game, may be I had enough play and it was not a disaster but it was scary," Carlsen said.
After the third draw on the trot, the deadlock of the game continued with none of the two rivals refusing to blink so far, but what happened at the Hyatt was probably a clear indication that a rough battle is now shaping up.
The scores stand at 1.5 points for both players and the five-time champion Anand will have the advantage of playing with white pieces in the fourth game on Wednesday.
Carlsen showed his intentions of a bloody battle when, contrary to the popular belief, repeated the Reti opening.
"I was expecting that Carlsen would jump from one opening to another," said Grandmaster R B Ramesh, who is a part of the live commentary team here.
As is typical of the Reti opening, the changes to several set ups is possible. Carlsen went for a position akin to the English opening that was more of a Sicilian Dragon with colours reversed.
(with inputs from PTI)
