Viswanathan Anand Retains World Chess Title
By GM Lubomir Kavalek
"I am relieved," Vishy Anand said shortly after his victory against
the challenger, Boris Gelfand of Israel, in the World Chess Championship. "The
match was so even."
Played at the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow during the last three weeks, it was
a tough, tense match. It ended 6-6 after 12 classical games and it could have
gone either way in the four rapid tiebreaking games. The Indian grandmaster
eventually prevailed 2.5-1.5, and defended his world crown. He brings home $1,53
million.
The young Anand used to finish classical games under an hour before he matured
and took more time to think. (In classical games each player usually gets 3.5
hours per game.) But speed was always his friend. Gelfand didn't have bad results
in the past tiebreaking games, but long deliberations against Anand spoiled
some of his promising positions. He was running out of time and made mistakes.
For example, he could have saved the only decisive rapid game.
[Event "WCC-Tiebreak-Game 2"] [Site "Moscow"] [Date "2012.05.30"] [Round "?"]
[White "Anand, Viswanathan"] [Black "Gelfand, Boris"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B30"]
[WhiteElo "2791"] [BlackElo "2727"] [Annotator "GM Lubomir Kavalek/The Huffington
Post"] [SetUp "1"] [FEN "8/1k6/8/1P1N2r1/3K3R/8/2b5/8 b - - 0 58"] [PlyCount
"38"] [EventDate "2012.??.??"] [EventCountry "RUS"] {Anand just played 58.b5
and Gelfand had a chance to steer the game into a draw but missed it with} 58...
Bf5 $6 ({The b-pawn helps Anand to push Gelfand's defense back. Snatching the
pesky pawn leads to a theoretical draw. Black has two ways to do it:} 58...
Bd3 59. Rh6 Rxd5+ ({After} 59... Bxb5 60. Rb6+ Kc8 61. Rxb5 Rg1 {black draws,
but has to play precisely.}) 60. Kxd5 Bxb5 {draw}) 59. Rh6 Bg4 60. Rf6 Rf5 61.
Rb6+ Ka7 62. Rg6 Bf3 63. Rg7+ Kb8 64. Nc3 Bb7 65. Kc4 Bf3 66. Kb4 Bd5 67. Na4
Rf7 68. Rg5 Bf3 69. Nc5 Kc7 70. Rg6 Kd8 71. Ka5 Rf5 $2 {Helping white to go
straight into a winning rook endgame.} ({Going to the corner with} 71... Bh1
{preserved drawing chances.}) 72. Ne6+ Kc8 73. Nd4 Rf8 74. Nxf3 Rxf3 75. Kb6
Rb3 76. Rg8+ Kd7 77. Rb8 {The pawn moves quickly to b7 and white eventually
wins by building the famous Lucena bridge.} ({For example,} 77. Rb8 Rb1 78.
Ka7 Ra1+ 79. Kb7 Rb1 80. b6 Rb2 81. Rh8 Rb1 82. Ka7 Ra1+ 83. Kb8 Rb1 84. b7
Ra1 85. Rh4 Ra2 86. Rd4+ Ke7 87. Kc7 Rc2+ 88. Kb6 Rb2+ 89. Kc6 Rc2+ 90. Kb5
Rb2+ 91. Rb4 {the bridge is finished and white wins.}) 1-0
[Event "WCC-Tiebreak-Game 3"] [Site "?"] [Date "2012.05.30"] [Round "?"] [White
"Gelfand, Boris"] [Black "Anand, Viswanathan"] [Result "*"] [WhiteElo "2738"]
[BlackElo "2780"] [SetUp "1"] [FEN "1b3rk1/p1r1q3/B1p5/2Ppnp2/3Pn3/2N4P/PRQ3P1/1R4K1
w - - 0 26"] [PlyCount "3"] [EventDate "2012.??.??"] {The critical moment of
the game. Gelfand could have brought the point home with} 26. Nxe4 $1 ({Instead,
he played} 26. Rxb8 {and after} Ng6 {Anand was still in the game and eventually
drew in 63 moves.}) 26... fxe4 ({On} 26... Ng6 27. Nd6 {wins.}) 27. dxe5 {and
white wins the jammed bishop on b8.} *
Original
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