SOFIA 2010 Marathon game 9 ends in draw

SOFIA 2010: Marathon game 9 ends in draw

A blunder from drawn position in the eighth game and now a missed opportunity in the 9th - things are not going well for Viswanathan Anand in the World Chess Championship match against Veselin Topalov.
The Indian reigning World Champion got into a great position to force victory but failed to find the right moves and had to settle for a draw in rhe ninth game.
It was one of the best games of this match and Anand once again exhibited his superior preparation as he stumped Topalov with a novelty in Nimzo Indian Defence.
for the first time in this match Anand did not go for Catalan Opening with white pieces after it looked like Topalov had cracked the Catalan posers in the seventh game. And once Anand got the upper hand as he deviated from an old line and though his rival responded quickly, the Bulgarian spent lot of time on the next few turns to find the right moves.
However, Anand failed to find the right continuation to press home his advantage. The game lasted 83 moves and around seven hours.
The draw compounds problems for Anand as he now has only one chance of playing with whitw pieces in the 11th game while his rival has two in this 12-game match. The Indian now has to recover quickly as the last few games have not gone as he would have liked. Anand had grabbed the initiative by winning the fourth game but Topalov has crawled back into the match. Though it is clear that he has won the 1st and 8th game only because of blunders by Anand and not because of some great play by him, it is also evident from the last few games that the Bulgarian is slowly becoming more assertive as Anand continued to opt for systems that have been successful in the previous games.
Now Anand will have to uncork something in the next couple of games to put pressure back on Topalov. Though his skills in rapid chess are vastly superior to Topalov, Anand should not aim for the tie-break games as playing for draw would be a negative mindset that he should avoid. Topalov had taken greater initiative in the fifth, sixth and 7th games that ended in draw.
Anand looked like he was content with the way things were going. Maybe after taking the one point lead he felt he had done enough and draws would suffice.
Now that he has lost the initiative, Anand needs to stop Topalov from making a strong comeback. He has to take the bull by its horns in the next three games and seal the issue. Tie-breaker games could be dicey affair as the pressure on Anand will multiply manyfolds considering the strong local support for Topalov. In such a scenario, the rapid games would become a lottery despite Anand's known advantage in the shorter version of chess.
It's now or never for Anand. If he wins the 10th game, he will have white pieces in the next and can increase the pressure on Topalov in the 12th and last game.
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