Magnus Carlsen and Viswanathan Anand, in Chennai, on Sunday

Chennai: World champion Viswanathan Anand and challenger Magnus Carlsen settled for another quick draw with three-fold repetition after 25 moves in the second game of their World Championship match, here, in Chennai.

After two games, the score remains tied at 1-1, with 10 more games to go.

Opening with White pieces for the first time in the match, Anand sounded disappointed with the outcome. “Today it is my turn to tender a slight apology,” said Anand for not going all out for a win.

However, he justified opting for a solid continuation and playing safe. “I didn’t want to fly blind, when Carlsen would have more details about the position than me,” he said.

In his opening move, Anand opted for 1.e4, thus signalling his wish to enter dynamic positions to test his rival from a position of strength.

Springing a surprise right in the opening, Carlsen opted for the Caro Kann defence, instead of his usual King Pawn defences with Black.

GM Nigel Short of England termed it as a ‘provocative choice of opening’ on the part of Carlsen, probably with a ‘hint of match strategy’. GM B.

Adhiban was also surprised when Carlsen employed the Caro Kann defence, saying he had expected a French Defence for the day if not the King Pawn defences.

Anand opted the classical variation and the game remained identical with his past encounter against the Chinese GM Ding Liren from the Alekhine Memorial tournament this year.

Varying from that game, Anand pitched for castling long on the 14th move. When Carlsen castled short in reply, the spectators who filled up the auditorium on the second consecutive day were again expecting a dynamic fight, with both the Kings nested on opposite sides of the board.

Anand said it was “a very complicated position”, and he “decided to be more prudent” by avoiding his opponent’s preparation in a sharp position. “Though I had studied this position in the past, I hadn’t really expected it crop up on the day,” he said.

So, Anand’s choice of 15.Ne4 was a clear case of choosing a solid continuation and playing it safe.

Danish GM Lars Bo Hansen was ‘surprised with the move’. “Anand should have played more actively,” said Hansen.

Carlsen said that “the critical point of the game was Anand’s 18.Qxd5”, the exchanging off Queens. However, Carlsen pointed out that he had come well armed for the very continuation and demonstrated that Black didn’t have any trouble from the remaining continuations.

The result was a position where Anand closed up the Kingside and Carlsen closed up the Queenside and there was nothing more to play for.

Thus, what promised to be an uncompromising fight once again fettered out into a draw, the game ending after 25 moves when both sides had two rooks and a Bishop each and no open files to hope for any play.

Both the contenders repeated the moves thrice and signed peace-treaty with a knowing look at each other.

Anand justified the cautious approach of both the players.

“Both of us have more information about what the other person is aiming… So I think it will start to get interesting,” said Anand.

With two games concluded, Monday will be a rest day. Carlsen will start with White when the match resumes on Tuesday.

The match has attracted unprecedented amount of media attention from all over the world, resulting in a record number of journalists covering the match at the venue.

Anand remarked that he was impressed to see “the most number of journalists in my career during matches as far as I can remember.”