Exciting Draws in Games 3 and 4

After the quick draws in the first two games, the 2013 World Championship Anand-Carlsen match is getting more exciting. In game 3, Anand with black took the initiative and had winning chances after pushing Carlsen queen to the corner. The game eventually reached a dead drawn position, but they kept playing till the last pawn, maybe due to fans complaints about the earlier short draws!

In game 4, it was the opposite! Carlsen with black had the winning chance, after a pawn sacrifice from Anand that had little compensation. Anand defended well and was able to come with some smart moves to reach a drawn ending.

Playing a WGM

Last week, I got a chance to play against WGM Ruan Lufei in a simultaneous at Stanford. Ruan is among the top female chess players. Her best known result is reaching the 2010 Women's World Chess Championship final and losing only to World Champion Hou Yifan.

The game started with a balanced position, but then I had a dubious sacrifice of a knight for three pawns (that turned out to be two only) and spent the rest of the game struggling for drawing chances. After the other games were over, I rushed in the endgame to lose my final chance and the game. It was a good experience though.

Double Sacrifice!

Kramnik started the Russian Championship with a double sacrifice and spectacular win!