The match is heating up! Game 4 was the best of the bunch so far, an exciting struggle that saw Magnus Carlsen come very close to taking the lead. Viswanathan Anand had White, and in keeping with match "tradition" got nothing or even less than nothing from the opening. Carlsen played the Berlin Defense, and Anand found it necessary to sac the a2 pawn to obtain any sort of play at all.
Objectively his compensation was inadequate, but from here the game got good and very exciting. Anand sacrificed a second pawn and headed for lines where even more sacrifices were possible. Carlsen missed a number of unobvious opportunities (...a6 on moves 27 and 28, 36...Rd8!) and as a result Anand's dynamic defense was rewarded: he achieved equality at the end of the first time control.
Unfortunately for the champion, he jumped back into the frying pan immediately after the time control with 41.Kc3. 41.Ke3 instead would have sharpened the struggle, but Anand was apparently satisfied with a draw and thought his move was the most effective way to achieve it. What Anand underestimated was just how many tricks Carlsen could come up with to keep the play going, and in the end Anand had to really sweat it out in the second time control to save the draw. The third time control would have no further adventures, and the draw was finally agreed, keeping the match level at 2-2.
Tomorrow (Thursday) is a rest day, and game 5 is on Friday. The game can be replayed here with light notes (subscribers have been sent full analysis and a video - it's not too late to sign up!), and the website's commentary can be viewed below.