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Anand bounces back

Anand, who lost playing black in the first game, restored parity by winning with the white pieces in game two, then took black again to pull off a fighting draw. And given that the Indian ace gets the advantage of playing white in two of the last three games, indications are that he has the edge in the second half of the climactic contest for the world chess crown. The winner takes home $1.37 million, while a purse of $768,000 awaits the loser.

At the Olympic Museum in Lausanne, Switzerland Anand, showing none of the pressure of being down a game, started off with his favourite king pawn opening. Karpov responded with the Ruy Lopez, chosing the complex Arkhangelsk variation -- a strategy Anand hasn't faced with too much confidence in the past.

Anand introduced the first departure from the textbook when he moved his queen on move 14, the thrust of his strategy being to first hide his own king in a corner before opening the king's bishop file.

Black's optimum strategy in the situation is to try to dominate the centre, but Anand with a sharp pawn move on 17 nullified that attempt and controlled the centre squares. Karpov, with a sacrifice involving rook for knight on move 19, appeared to have nullified Anand's advantage, but in fact left Anand in a much better position, with material advantage.

Playing under the pressure of needing a win, Anand began taking chances and was in danger on move 34, when Karpov missed an obvious move that would have given him parity and the better position heading into the end game. Karpov's move, however, was a blunder, as the defending champion by that stage was under enormous time pressure.

Anand immediately made his 35th move, with evident relief, and from there on, never put a foot wrong, forcing Karpov to resign on move 42 -- facing mate in seven moves.

Interestingly, subsequent analysis showed that Anand, who was himself in time trouble by that stage, had actually got the game sewed up much earlier, in move 31, but made the wrong move and missed a winning line. This allowed Karpov to get back into the game, but the defending champion then blundered on move 34 and lost his chance. tuck up Karpov's king

The drawn third game's analysis will be carried on this site on Tuesday. Meanwhile, in game four, Anand has the advantage of playing white.

Follow the games, live, through this link.