2012 Men World chess championship

[ajay]

This is disappointing. I think Kasparov was right in his comments that Anand is declining. Anand had not been doing good in tournaments and everyone thought that he is saving himself for the World Championship, but he did not show any form here too. Last two games, Gelfand was in time pressure, but Anand did not even try to take advantge

[jaydeep]

Yes, very disappointing to see Anand didn't try to utilize time advantage in last 2 games ... Yesterday when they agreed for draw Gelfand had only 16 minutes for 18 moves.

[ajay]

Looking back at the game, Anand did go for a kill with early rare (novelty?) move 6.b3 making Gelfand vulnerable. As this report says, Gelfand saved himself with a very good critical counter move 10...c4 after pondering for 40 minutes (or was it 59 minutes according to some other report) that generated initiative for black. A weak move at that time would have let Anand take control and most likely win the world championship. It was very interesting game till the end and although white had only slight advantage, black was in a position to draw the game in normal circumstances. But the offer for draw by Anand, when Boris had only 16 minutes for 18 moves was totally unexpected and shocked all the followers. The sudden end with draw offer was a big relief for Boris at that time and a missed opportunity for Anand to test Boris under time pressure.

The questions are being raised whether Anand had the nerve to continue the game and not make a mistake inspite of having so much time (almost one hour). The over cautious approach is showing lack of confidence on Anand's part making him vulnerable in the rapids playoff. His tremendous record in rapid matches otherwise betrays the fact that his world championship rapid match record is not good at all and he is susceptible to the nerves under pressure. His losses against Karpov in world championship finals against Kamasky in semi-final clash during rapid playoff don't bode well for the forthcoming playoff. Many pundits are now putting money on Gelfand to dethrone Anand.

Hopefully, tomorrow Anand will put all these concerns to rest by winning and we all will take a sigh of relief. Go Anand! Show your mettle and prove all critics wrong.

Quote of the day:

"I must be a very bad chess player since I keep liking Anand's positions and he keeps offering draws instead of trying to win." - U.S. Champion GM Hikaru Nakamura

[kujo]

Typical chess custom dictates that a draw is offered only when you are in a slightly stronger position compared to the opponent and /or a draw is enforceable either by exchange of major pieces at that point or by repeated moves. It is important that the opponent agrees with your view of the chess board at that time. Unless you are Kasparov, playing mind games and proposing a draw from a weak position...

Anand's draw offers in 11th and 12th games were unexpected and any great chess player worth his name, would have played on. When he met Topalov previously, one of the things that Topa managed to do was, pull every game to the very bitter end thus managing to tire Anand out. Most games went beyond the first time control, with Anand sometimes scrambling for time to make it past 40 moves. But this time, both the champion and the challenger are comfortable with 20+ move draws!! crazy!

Game 11:
24.e3, d7 Gelfand 13 minutes Anand 1 hr 4 minutes. Drawn on Anand's proposal!!

Game 12:
From chessbase.com http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=8194

After an interesting tussle in which Gelfand gave up a pawn for compensation in a massive center and bishop pair, one that Kramnik even favored for Black, Anand managed to come out of it into an endgame a pawn up. Though his winning chances were minimal, to be fair, his opponent was down to sixteen minutes to make eighteen moves, and it was entirely riskless to press on and see what happened. Vishy’s justification in the post-game conference was that it was equal and simplified, but that is hardly the question. The real question is: where was the harm in playing on? The only certainty is that he will not win if he does not even try.

can't agree more with that comment. He can't win, if he won't try. a golf ball has to go past the cup to get in the cup.

[jaydeep]

The tie-break format is:
A four-game rapid match, with a time control of 25 minutes + 10 seconds increment per player.
If that doesn’t produce a winner then up to five two-game blitz matches will be played, with a time control of 5 minutes + 3 seconds per player.
If five matches are played without a winner then the players will play a single Armageddon game, where White has 5 minutes to Black’s 4 but a draw will count as a win for the player with Black.

Tie-break for World Championship is started.

In 1st game Gelfand played with white ... Anand again played the Slav Defence ... After entertaining battle both agreed draw after 32 moves.

Tie-break 1 - 30th May 2012
Boris Gelfand (ISR,2727) dw Viswanathan Anand (IND,2791) ½-½ (6-6, Tie-break ½—½)

[Prem]

Anand wins with White to lead the tie breakers 1.5 to 0.5
After Tie-break 2
Viswanathan Anand bt. Boris Gelfand (ISR,2727) 1-0 (Tie-break 1½—½)

Big advantage to Anand. Boris has to win next 2 games to win or win 1 of 2 to take it to next set of tie breakers.
Pressure on Boris now....
Anand needs to be solid and make sure he doesnt come under time pressure and he will remain the World Champion.

[jaydeep]

In the second game, Gelfand also went for his favorite defense the Sicilian defense with the Rossolimo variation ... Anand surprised him with novelty moe on 7th, d4 ... Gelfand take lot of time to played next few moves ... In middle of the game Anand played safe instead of putting more pressure but Gelfand failed to utilize that due time trouble ... From around 30th move Gelfand played with less than a minute on the clock other hand Anand had 7+ minutes ... Gelfand tried hard for draw but Anand kept putting pressure and improving his position on the board ... Gelfand resigned after 77 moves.

Anand is leading but still 2 tie-break games r remaining.

Tie-break 2 - 30th May 2012
Viswanathan Anand (IND,2791) bt Boris Gelfand (ISR,2727) 1-0 (6-6, Tie-break 1½—½)

[Saniapower]

Anand is losing in the 3rd TB

[jaydeep]

In the third game Anand again decided to play with the Slav defense ... Gelfand surprised Anand with his 11th move, Qc2 ... Gelfand played strategically and take control of the game ... Anand was in trouble but Gelfand made blunder on 26th move he played Rxb8 instead of may be this game winning Nxe4 ... Gelfand again found himself in time trouble and due to that missed opportunity Anand managed to equalize on the board ... Despite time trouble Gelfand played brilliantly and managed draw after 59 moves ... Big missed opportunity for Gelfand.

Now he need to win with black to remain in this match.

Tie-break 3 - 30th May 2012
Boris Gelfand (ISR,2727) dw Viswanathan Anand (IND,2791) ½-½ (6-6, Tie-break 2—1)

[Prem]

Anand is going for win.

Tie-break 3 - 30th May 2012
Boris Gelfand (ISR,2727) vs Viswanathan Anand (IND,2791) (6-6, Tie-break 1½—½)

Jaydeep - The correct score is

3rd Rapid Fire Game - Boris Gelfand (ISR,2727) drew Viswanathan Anand (IND,2791) (6-6, Tie-break 2—1)

Anand with white for the last game and has to be the huge favourite. Vishy

[Prem]

Anand is losing in the 3rd TB

Unfortunately not Saniapower....Anand managed a draw and now to the last board!!!

[Saniapower]

Anand is losing in the 3rd TB

Unfortunately not Saniapower....Anand managed a draw and now to the last board!!!

Gelfand had the advantage. But he made mistakes and black held on. So fortunately for Anand ......it's a draw.

[jaydeep]

In the fourth game Gelfand used the Sicilian defense with the Najdorf Variation ... Despite Anand's novelty move on 13th, b3, Gelfand played very interestingly, creatively and constructively and Anand was struggling with lack of spaces on the board.

Advantage black ... Now the black king is attacking on the white pieces ...

But Boris is in usual time trouble ... Anand is clearly trying for the require draw and other hand Gelfand is trying hard to win this game.

Anand played excellent bishop switch on 54th move ... Chances r for draw.

Draw after 56 moves ... Viswanathan Anand remains the World Champion after this dog-fight ...

Tie-break 4 - 30th May 2012
Viswanathan Anand (IND,2791) dw Boris Gelfand (ISR,2727) ½-½ (6-6, Tie-break 2½—1½)

Final score

Viswanathan Anand (IND,2791) bt Boris Gelfand (ISR,2727) 2½—1½ in tie-break (after 6-6 tie in the classic chess)

[jayakris]

Anand is losing in the 3rd TB

Unfortunately not Saniapower....Anand managed a draw and now to the last board!!!

Unfortunate? I know I am too dumb to understand chess, but a draw being unfortunate compared to a loss is just too tough to figure out. Or is it that you all want Viswanathan to lose? ... Jay

[suresh]

Jay, I think Saniapower likes to swim against the tide which in this case means that he wants Vishy to lose.