Answers to questions like the above are what this site excels at providing when consulting their database. Suppose we try to transpose what Anand and Carlsen are playing into something resembling an Exchange Variation: 1. d4 ♘f6 2. c4 e6 3. ♘f3 d5 4. ♘c6 ♗e7 5. cxd5 exd5. (Note that for now Anand has to follow that move order to avoid Carlsen's defending with a Nimzo-Indian instead.) Simply look at the games proceeding from that position:

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/ches...

One can see that various Soviet players evolved an efficient procedure to draw such games. Fischer who could read the Soviet journals in Russian also knew of this procedure:

Keres vs Fischer, 1962

Note there is a characteristic pawn maneuver of moving g6 without a fianchetto for the purpose of supporting the light squared bishop at f5 which is able to get there exactly because the e6 pawn has been exchanged. This light squared bishop which is often a problem for Black can therefore be exchanged off for White's since White often puts the Queen at c2.

So let's think about the resulting pawn structures. Black moves his c pawn to c6 and has not yet committed to moving the b pawn so that any White rook or Queen on that file opened by the exchange of the c pawn bites on granite. Meanwhile Black has moved his non-rook pieces off the 8th rank and inevitably there are nice open files for his rooks to find counterplay. This is a relatively easy draw for the very top grandmasters, obviously not so easy for lower level players.

One can see from this database snapshot that there are many games that came to a screeching halt in well under 20 moves.

Here's an example of Karpov forcing a draw as Black after an early e4 advance

Eingorn vs Karpov, 1988

when in the same tournament as White he had beaten Yusupov with the same advance when Yusupov had made an error responding. In other words, even when one is beaten, the line can easily and quickly be repaired.

The Baltic Defence is QGD with 2...Bf5, bringing out the queen bishop immediately in reply to 2.c4.

In the recently published book "The Liberated Bishop Defence: A Suprising and Complete Black Repertoire agaist 1.d4", Russian grandmaster Alexey Bezgodov recommends to answer 1.d4 with 1…d5 and then, on the second move, to play 2…Bf5!.

In reply to 2.c4 this is known as the Baltic Defence, but Bezgodov shows that we can also liberate our bishop against 2.Nf3.

He usually gives direct and honest answers about his fillings during and after the game, he doesn't try to deny that variations that he played were a result of his team preparations, etc.

When he doesn't want to answer a question, he just says that directly instead of avoiding the question with empty or dishonest answers. For example, when he was asked whether he can elaborate why he wasn't in best shape at the beginning of game 8, he just said a simple "no".

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bf4 O-O 6. e3 c5 7. dc5 Bc5 8. a3 Nc6 9. Qc2 Re8 10. Bg5 Be7

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The Condom Variation of the Queen's Gambit Declined with 5.Bf4, "safe and flexible" (scormus).

Here Anand continued with 11.Rd1, putting more pressure on the d5 pawn, 12. Bd3 h6 13. Bh4

The d pawn may fall, but at a terrible cost for white. If white captures it with the knight, ie, 11. O-O-O Bd7! 12. Bxf6 Bxf6 13. cxd5 exd5 14. Nxd5 Rc8 and we have this position:

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White's king (and queen) are in grave danger on the c file. Any attempt to step out of it loses the knight (eg, 15. Kb1? Nb4 16. Qb3 Bf5+), while the engine recommended (and human consolidating move) 15. Nc3 is met by Bxc3, fragmenting the white pawn structure.

If white captures the d pawn with the rook, black can respond in a similar (though less vicious) manner. 11. O-O-O Bd7! 12. Bxf6 Bxf6 13. cxd5 exd5 14. Rxd5 Rc8 leads to this position:

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In the first line (11. O-O-O Bd7 12. Bxf6 Bxf6 13. cxd5 exd5 14. Nxd5 Rc8 15. Nc3 Bxc3), 16. Qxc3 is met by 16...Ne5, winning the queen and the game on the spot.

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In the second line (11. O-O-O Bd7 12. Bxf6 Bxf6 13. cxd5 exd5 14. Rxd5 Rc8), it depends on white's 15th move. What does white play to consolidate here?

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If 15. Kb1, trying to get off the dangerous c file, then after 15...Bxc3, 16. Qxc3 is refuted by 16...Nb4!, winning material. (White cannot prevent this, ie, 17. Qxb4 Bf5+! 18. Rxf5? Qd1+ 19. Ka2 Rc1 and black will mate shortly.)

If your suggested move, 15. Bd3, then Bxc3 and white again has to capture with the b pawn or suffer a fate similar to the lines given above. 16. Bxh7+ Kf8 can be thrown in, making white <two> pawns up... but after 17. bxc3 Ne7 18. Rd4 Qa5, it is clear that black has more than ample compensation for them (stockfish evaluates as -0.48). Position after that line, white to move:

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