Viswanathan Anand will face Magnus Carlsen in the fourth game of the 2013 World Chess Championship in Chennai on Wednesday, with the first three games ending in draws.
The scores still remain tied at 1.5 points each, with nine more games to go to decide the championship.
Where to Watch Live
Game 4 starts at 3pm IST on Wednesday. Click here to watch the action live on the official FIDE website. Click here to follow the game live.
Overview
Anand was on the back foot in Game 2 on Sunday, but the 43-year-old gave Carlsen a real scare in Game 3, despite starting with black pieces. Tuesday's meeting was a hard fought contest that lasted 51 moves, spread over four hours. Though it also ended in a draw, it was nothing like the relatively uneventful opening games.
The Indian Grandmaster was in control throughout the game and seemed close to drawing first blood, when he pushed the white queen to the edge of the board midgame. However, 22-year-old Carlsen showed some good defence and counter-play to bail himself out of tricky situations several times.
"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," the Norwegian pointed out.
Anand admitted that he was in a good position midgame but stressed that the world no.1's counters were strong enough to deny him.
"Each time I go on a pawn-hunting expedition, he generates enough counter-play. Even when the queen floated around (on the fourth rank), it looked so close, but I didn't see what I could do," Anand explained.
Meanwhile, Russian Grandmaster Garry Kasparov, arguably the greatest world champion in chess history, stated that if Anand wins this championship, it will be the biggest win of his career.
"There have been just 15 world champions in 127 years. That's an enough indicator. I don't think anybody can doubt that anyone who wins world championship is a great player. And Vishy has won three (not counting tournament and KO!) End of story," Kasparov said.
"This match will show if he capable of showing something and taking out of his leaf. If he wins this match, that will definitely be the highest point of his career considering he is facing a young, ambitious and strong player."
Schedule
The remaining matches take place from 13 to 28 November. Nine classical games are scheduled, each starting at 3 pm IST. There will be rest days after games 4, 6, 8, 10 and 11. If the match remains tied after the 12th game on 26 November, tie-break games will be played on the last day of the match.
