Viswanathan Anand and Magnus Carlsen, in Chennai, on Saturday

Chennai: Facing challenger Magnus Carlsen’s persistent pressure in a difficult endgame in the sixth game of the World Chess Championship here on Saturday, Viswanathan Anand crumbled for the second time in as many games.

Earning a full point again on Saturday, Carlsen now has a huge 4-2 lead in the 12 game match.

Anand summed it up: “Today (Saturday) is a heavy blow, I won’t pretend otherwise.” To add insult to injury, the loss also came with white pieces, making it difficult for him to make a comeback in the match.

This may very well be the moment when the baton of the champion gets passed on to the next generation, as a two point deficit is an uphill task to overcome in such a short match.

American GM Hikaru Nakamura said: “Vishy is a great champion. However, it is clearly a new era”.

Former World Women Champion Susan Polgar of Hungary explained the reason for Anand’s capitulation. “It is physically, mentally and emotionally draining to have to defend for more than six hours against someone like Carlsen,” she said, praising the challenger’s ability to apply pressure on the board in long drawn out positions.

The seeds of defeat was sown in Anand’s failure to capitalize on his white pieces in the 6th game. Costa Rican GM Alejandro Ramirez questioned the effectiveness of Anand’s preparedness with white pieces. “He has not been able to show (anything) against the Caro-Kann, Berlin earlier and today (Saturday) with Anti Berlin,” he said.

Not wanting a repeat of the Berlin endgame which didn’t give him any advantage in the 4th game, Anand preferred 5.d3, the Anti-Berlin setup. It was clearly a case of white wanting to keep the queen on the board and trying to achieve a complicated middlegame with dynamic content, a favourite arena for Anand.

When he played 10.Bg5, which has never been played before at Grandmaster level, hopes rose on Anand’s opening preparation, finally expecting a game in this match when the first player gets his familiar role of putting pressure on his opponent.

Carlsen’s bold maneuvre of 13…Nb8 and 14…Nbd7 relocating the knight for a better defence came in handy, as he claimed that he had a “pretty solid position”.

Anand’s intended play on the kingside never took off. English GM Daniel King opined: “The opening didn’t go particularly well today (Saturday) for Anand.” He wanted him to “change the nature of the position” at that point if he had to achieve any semblance of an advantage. Anand at the board was visibly nervous.

The momentum changed on move 23, when Anand’s aggressive looking Qg4 was actually an opportunity for Carlsen to enter a major pieces ending where the challenger had slightly better chances.

The game again looked similar to the fifth one, Carlsen having a minute edge in an unpleasant major pieces ending, and Anand looking at a long and hard defence where the opponent’s threats where not straightforward and linear.

Clearly, Carlsen once again achieved a position where he could play for an advantage in a long safe grind, with no risk at all.

As Norwegian GM Jonathan Tisdall expressed, it was “sheer pain that Anand had to endure here” from the 31 st move onwards, the doubled pawns on e3 and e4 being easy targets on which Carlsen could apply pressure.