World Championship G7 – Gelfand draws first blood and leads

The World Chess Championship 2012 is being staged in the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow, between the current World Champion Viswanathan Anand of India and the winner of the Candidates tournament Boris Gelfand of Israel. The match is over twelve games and lasts from May 11 to 30. The prize fund is US $2.55 million, the winner getting $1.53 million (60%), the loser $1.02 million (40%).

Round seven – Gelfand draws first blood

Viswanathan Anand crashed to defeat against Boris Gelfand of Israel in the seventh game of the ongoing World Chess Championship in Moscow. The reigning World Champion was strangely error prone in the last stages of the game, just when it appeared that it was heading for a draw.

Anand has steadfastly stuck to the Slav defence in all the four black games he has played so far. From a theoretical view point it was another interesting duel in the Slav, and so far Anand had demonstrated that with the black pieces he had established a pretty comfortably zone. Interestingly it was Anand who tried to keep the position alive with some not so routine moves, initially, while Gelfand appeared more than content to keep his position solid and steer towards a draw.

A tactical mistake by Anand on the 25th move put Gelfand firmly in the saddle. He forced the exchange of queens and very soon had his rook firmly entrenched on the seventh rank. Anand’s bishop was hopelessly tied down and though he desperately tried for some counter play by sacrificing his bishop, Gelfand now smelling victory, kept up the attack with his rook and two knights threatening check-mate. Anand resigned on the 38th move in a hopeless position. It was after 19 years that 43-year-old Gelfand scored a victory over 42-year-old Anand in classical chess.

After seven games Gelfand now leads the twelve game match series with a score of 4:3. The player reaching 6.5 points will be crowned Champion. In the next five games Anand will wield Whites in three games, starting with the eighth game tomorrow evening. Anand now needs a victory to bounce back into the match.

Game seven with analysis by GM Gilberto Milos

Game seven analysis by Malcolm Pein

IM Malcolm Pein comments on the games on TWIC and live during each game via Twitter #telegraphchess.

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Pictures by Alexey Yushenkov

Game seven commentary by Daniel King

Game seven commentary by Andrew Martin

The English chess trainer has a dedicated following of chess enthusiasts who simply like his style. "Andrew Martin's analysis fits me best," writes Karl-Heinz Isleif from Tokyo, Japan. "He makes sense, and no one is easier to understand and to follow. But what made you say he's from London, when he sounds like the guys down in Melbourne?" – Sorry, Karl-Heinz, Andrew was born in West Ham, London, and is pure Brit. He is a professional chess teacher and head trainer of the English youth team. He trains eight schools: Yateley Manor, Aldro, Millfield, Sunningdale, Waverley School, St Michael’s Sandhurst, Wellington College, Salesian College. For a full bio and a list of the training DVDs he has produced for ChessBase visit this page in our online shop.

Scoreboard

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