World Chess Championship: It’s now a make-or-break situation for Anand

Zee Media Bureau/Manushree Chaumal

Chennai: Defending champion Viswanathan Anand has to come with a win against World No.1 Norwegian Magnus Carlsen in the seventh game of the World Chess Championship to be held today in Chennai, before it’s too late. Carlsen is leading 4-2 in the championship, winning the fifth and sixth games, after the first four games were drawn. If Carlsen wins the Championship, it would be his first world title in the first attempt itself. Anand, on the other hand, is a five-time world champion. The Norwegian just needs 2.5 points in next six games to win as a player who scores 6.5 points first becomes the world champion. This is the first time since 1995 that Anand has lost two successive games in World Championship match. It was also surprising that otherwise cool Anand in the post match conference after Game 6 was irritated, visibly upset after the loss. Known to be mentally tough, Anand was not at his usual self was seen giving curt replies to the reporters. It will be interesting to see how the match turns out today. Carlsen had started the match as the favourite, but Anand has experience at his side and there are still six more games to prove his dominance again. He still has three white games and he needs to win to equalise. It is a difficult task to win after two losses but not an impossible one.