Anand-Topalov, Round 11

As White in round 11, the penultimate round of the match, Anand surprised me by using the English. Topalov entered the Reverse Dragon, as might be expected. Personally, I do not like allowing the Reverse Dragon as White. I don't think White gets any advantage, and in fact I'd rather be Black. As White I'd rather try to get some advantage in the opening. But I presume Anand wanted to play safe, and force the game into a slow, positional grind with little chance of wild complications from Topalov. He may have wanted to encourage Topalov to press too hard, and meanwhile he may have been perfectly happy with the plan of drawing his final White game, then drawing his final Black game, and winning the rapid tie-break playoff match. But what if by squandering a possible White win, he loses the match in the final game as Black? He must be pretty confident about holding the draw as Black.

In any case, Anand got into an inferior position as White in the game, gave up a Pawn in the ending, and only by being very precise held the draw as White. I would not have wanted my last game as White to have proceeded in this way. We shall see whether it was a mistake for Anand to go defensive in the late stages of this match.