Viswanathan Anand and Magnus Carlsen after their seventh game of the World Chess Championship, in Chennai, on Monday. (PTI)

Chennai: Viswanathan Anand’s hold on the World Chess Championship crown is slipping away in slow motion, as the 7th game too petered out to a draw after 32 moves with a three-fold repetition here on Monday.

Once again playing with white, he was unable to force a breakthrough against challenger Magnus Carlsen’s defensive fortress, as the Anti-Berlin proved to be a dampener for the second time in the match.

Carlsen maintains his two point lead with a 4.5- 2.5 score, with five games to go.

From Anand’s point of view, the game appeared to be one conducted by a player who was desperate to break free from the grip of a strong opponent, but unable to completely overcome the scar of the twin losses suffered in the previous games.

Though white appeared to be poised to force intensive activity, the dynamics never took off, as Carlsen was relentless in keeping everything under control to comfortably force the draw.

Grandmaster M.R. Venkatesh found a disappointing similarity in Anand’s Monday’s play to the 6th game, when Anand quickly exchanged minor pieces in a middlegame position when the match situation demanded dynamic play.

With every disappearing piece, the chances of dynamics come down, thus making the game more suited to Carlsen’s style of play.

“As we expect Anand to complicate the position and go on an offensive, the positions keep getting simplified, resulting in slow strategic positions,” opined Venkatesh.

Probably, though Anand wants to accelerate, his pieces fail him, unable to get instilled with any sense of urgency which is the need of the hour.

With white, Anand chose a variation which curiously has been employed by Carlsen too with both colours, a common occurrence in top level chess, where opening systems follow their own fashion trends.

Slow play in the early middlegame ensured that neither side had any semblance of an advantage.

This was the position after white’s 19th move, with black to play. Though there is not much visible activity for either player, white always has prospects to press for an advantage. Black has a solid position, but he has to watch over the position carefully, especially white’s pawn breaks. Terming this as the “key moment”, Magnus Carlsen came up with the subtle 19…a5! A characteristic Carlsen moment, when he thwarts the opponent’s plan rather than doing anything himself, and grabbing space in the process. The main aim of the move is that, he prevents 20.f4, which will be met with 20…f5, and after which, it is strangely White who will lose control over the centre, instead of his original aim of creating a pawn phalanx.

Choosing a setup where he voluntarily parted with his bishop for knight, just as Anand did in the opening, Carlsen seemed to be behind a solid defensive wall by the 12th move.

Only hope for Anand to complicate Carlsen’s position was to make use of the h-line for his rooks, in combination with achieving the break f2-f4.

After 13.Ne2, Anand opined: “I was hoping to be able to press him a little but I could not manage.” Probably, playing the Bishop to 11.Bg5 provoking …f7-f6, was a better idea, he opined.

Carlsen agreed with Anand’s assessment of the position. “It was always going to be a tiny bit more pressing for white but my pieces are well developed and I don’t have any weaknesses. I don’t think I should be in any major trouble”, he opined.

He pointed out the ‘key’ to the position being the subtle 19…a5, which made sure that Anand could not break through in the centre, thus maintaining equality. Throughout the match, Carlsen has come up with such intricate strategic play with consistency, the mark of a player who is in top form and confidence.

The quiet nature of the game prompted former women world champion Susan Polgar to quip: “Vishy is trying to pull a Magnus against Magnus. But he is not winning this endgame”.

The draw with black suits Carlsen’s plans fine. His sister Ellsen Carlsen voiced his camp’s feeling: “Short day ‘at work’ for Magnus, this can’t be bad for him!”

Understandably, Carlsen was relaxed and forthcoming in the Press conference on Monday. “This result suits me just fine!' He can definitely afford that as he needs just four draws from the remaining five games to win the title.