Viswanathan Anand loses on time to Magnus Carlsen (GCL Photos) BENGALURU: The fast-paced world of chess has seen many terms evolve over time. “Flagging” is one of them.

It generally refers to winning a game purely on time when an opponent’s clock hits 0:00, regardless of the evaluation on the board. From the perspective of both players and spectators, it’s a tense, chaotic climax where speed outruns strategy.

On Monday, that exact high-wire drama took centre stage during the Day 3 marquee clash between APL Pipers' Magnus Carlsen and Alaskan Knights' Viswanathan Anand on the icon board. With seconds ticking down in a sharp middle-game battle, Anand failed to hit his clock in time, allowing Carlsen to snatch a win on time."

A few moves ago, I had a few seconds more than him, so somehow my brain stopped looking at the clock, and I didn't keep one second left,” Anand told reporters after the opening match of the day. " Once I make a move, I will get some time, but apparently I let my clock run out.

That was a pity, but I'm happy the team won." Despite losing his game, Anand’s squad pulled off the overall match victory.

" I'm not happy with my play, but at least it didn't cost us," the five-time world champion added. The current World No.

1 Magnus Carlsen also gave his side of the dramatic finish against his longtime rival." I felt like I was playing him a little bit in the middle game.

“For a period there, he was defending very, very well, not making it any worse, and then I just obviously resigned myself to a draw. Then I randomly glanced at his clock and saw that it was out.

That's how it goes sometimes at times like this." f6 against World Championship challenger Javokhir Sindarov, before holding him to a draw.

Explaining the unexpected move, Carlsen added, " It (the idea) was originally from my coach. It was a misclick, and then he started looking at it.

I kind of like the general idea of taking kind of a random move in the opening, and then with computer analysis, you can make pretty much anything work. The main idea is that after castles, a6, it's actually already not terrible."

Despite his self-described "underwhelming" form, Carlsen expressed deep appreciation for the crowd in Bengaluru, saying, " It's very nice to play here. Chess in India is massive.