Anand's style

How would you describe Anand's style prior to his World Champion match against Carlsen?

gundamv, I have always found it remarkable how open minded Anand is.  Anand is the most flexible player ever in terms of adjusting to the needs if each type of position.  He also has incredibly quick calculation.  Those two things together give me an image of someone who sees everything clearly and very fast; it is as if Anand has some sort of Super sense of Chess Vision.

Regarding the style of game which typically has resulted from Anand's play, he is active and dynamic.

Since you seem to be getting at something about the match versus Carlsen, it should be said that Anand was tentative against Carlsen, and Carlsen snuffed everything.

I agree. His style was always looking for ways to play the man, not the board.

Anand was raised and played in a way that was common in top level chess since Kasparov v Karpov.  You try to hold an advantage with white and if you cant, you agree to a draw.   But you don't continue to play a position that you know should be objectively drawn.   That is where Carlsen changed things up.  

Kramnik would sort of due that by trying to continue  whatever slight advantage he could out of the opening but I think Kramnik would mostly still believe he had some small advantage or he would offer the draw.  

I think Carlsen would openly admit the position was dead equal but still push to get the win.   To some extent even though the match was only 10 games some of those games were like 2 games in one as far as the amount of chess we had.  Especially if you compare the games  to those of the marathon Kasparov Karpov matches.

Right - even the chances which aren´t even there yet!

Which of the following is a better description for Anand?

Dynamic player - Focuses more on attack, initiative, and calculation.  Goal is typically to score a middlegame win.  e.g. Bobby Fischer.

Static player - Focuses more on pawn structure, relative strength of pieces (e.g. good/bad bishops), and endgames.  Goal is typically to score an endgame win, probably by queening a pawn.  e.g. Vladimir Kramnik.

[Note: Draws, especially grandmaster draws, are possible for either type of player, so please don't make draw % a deciding factor in determining your answer.  Thanks.]

When he was younger Anand was extremely dangerous tactically deadly very,very,very fast in Judit Polgars 1st book page 22 she says that she played many blitz games against him and she could barely hang on and hold a draw.

That Anand was an executioner at the board.