World Championship G1 – a fighting draw sets the tone

by ChessBase
5/11/2012 – In the most anticipated match of the year, the World Championship got under way with Vishy Anand against challenger Boris Gelfand. It was neither the cataclysmic opener of his match against Topalov in 2010 nor a dull draw, though draw it was. The game was a fascinating Grünfeld, which has been summarised for us by IM Malcolm Pein. Full report with pictures and commentary.
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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 one report

By IM Malcolm Pein

In game one of the 2010 WCC final, Anand played the Gruenfeld against Topalov and after 24 moves he could resign. In 2012, Anand had to face the Gruenfeld in the first game and after 24 moves, the challenger Boris Gelfand had secured a draw with black and will be the slightly happier of the two. Gelfand would have been satisfied with a draw before the game and psychologically speaking, he struck a small blow by springing a surprise and answering 1.d4 with the Gruenfeld Defence.


The d-pawn! Anand tells FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov which move to make...


... and Kirsan Ilyumzhinov ceremoniously starts the first game with 1.d4

Boris usually plays Slav, Semi Slav, Queen's Gambit or Nimzo/Queen's Indian and so he immediately demonstrated that he has plenty of ideas. The Gruenfeld is considered a bit risky at the very top level. Kasparov lost a few times with it, but Anand has not faced it often, so it was a shrewd choice. As they say in the financial markets there was a 'flight to safety' as Anand opted for 8.Bb5+ which has a reputation of being a harmless line but one which requires a little accuracy from Black. On move nine, Anand decided to play aggressively and avoid 9.0-0 which he has played before but which can lead to dull equality. 9.d5!? was almost a novelty but I thought it had been played before. I couldn't place it but then, in the darker recesses of my (very unreliable) memory I remembered losing a game against GM Gyozo Forintos at the Benedictine International in Manchester 30 years ago. But ChessBase is a wonderful thing sometimes and it turns out that was with 9.0-0 0-0 10.d5 Qa5 11.Rb1. So I can't claim ownership of that move, but the way it turned out, it wouldn't be much of a claim.


Press photographers bustling around the stage at the start of game one Anand-Gelfand


Vishy Anand watches as Boris Gelfand goes for the Gruenfeld with 2...g6 and...


3...d5. This must have come as a bit of a surprise for the World Champion.

Gelfand comfortably navigated the complications and when Anand went in for a long think after 13...Qa5 the silicon collective, otherwise known as 'Let's Check' had decided Black was more than okay. Anand had sacrificed a pawn and by the time he retrieved it, Gelfand had safely castled. Then it was just a question of whether Black had something tangible, as he was in possession of the bishop pair and a potentially strong passed 'a' pawn. 22...Bd7 was more ambitious but as the players said after the game, Black had no real advantage. One shouldn't pay too much attention to a computer assessment of +0.1-0.2.

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1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 A slight surprise and very combative. Anand played the Gruenfeld in game one against Topalov in 2010 and was crushed after he forgot his preparation 4.Nf3 Bg7 5.cxd5 5.Bg5 5.Qb3 are trendy but the Exchange Variation remains the main battleground 5...Nxd5 6.e4 Nxc3 7.bxc3 c5 8.Bb5+ A surprise because it's thought to be fairly harmless although Vishy has played it before. I guess the Gruenfeld might be a slight surprise so Vishy playing it safe 8.Be3 8.Rb1 Are the challenging continuations 8...Nc6 9.d5 A real surprise 9.0-0 cxd4 10.cxd4 0-0 11.Be3 Bg4 12.Bxc6 bxc6 13.Rc1 Qa5 Is standard and is sometimes a GM drawing line 14.Rxc6 Qxa2 15.Rc7 Qe6 16.h3 Qd6 17.Rc5 Bxf3 18.Qxf3 e6 19.e5 Amber Rapid 1999 was an edge for White. Black's bishop is blocked out and the 'a' pawn potentially weak rather than passed 9.0-0 0-0 10.d5 Qa5 11.Rb1 Pein - Forintos Manchester 1982 Black won 9...Qa5 9...a6 10.Be2 Bxc3+ 11.Bd2 Bxa1 12.Qxa1 Nd4 13.Nxd4 cxd4 14.Qxd4 f6 15.h4 0-0 16.f4 16.h5 g5 17.h6 Bd7 18.Bxg5 16.h5 Rf7?! 17.hxg6 hxg6 18.e5 16...h5 17.0-0 Bg4 18.Bc4 Rc8 19.Bb3 Kh7 1/2-1/2 Gustafsson,J (2634)-Vachier Lagrave,M (2716)/Germany 2008/CBM 127 Extra 10.Rb1 a6 10...Bxc3+ 11.Bd2 a6 12.Ba4 b5 13.dxc6 bxa4 Seems playable 11.Bxc6+ bxc6 12.0-0! Of course to extract anything White must continue in gambit style 12.dxc6 Qxc3+ 13.Bd2 Qd3 Would be fun only for Black 12...Qxa2 13.Rb2 Qa5 14.d6 Ra7!
This seems to solve Black's problems. After 14...Qd8 15.e5 or 15.Bf4 Bxc3 16.Rb1 Bg7 17.e5 Black could come under pressure although computers are as ever relaxed about it all 15.Bg5 15.Bf4 Looked sharper if only because the best Black responses look a little risky even if they are OK. Now Gelfand has a clear path to safety or perhaps more Rd7 16.Ne5 Rxd6 17.Qc2 0-0! 18.Nc4 Qxc3 19.Bxd6 exd6 20.Qxc3 Bxc3 21.Rc2 Bd4 22.Nxd6 Be6 Must be fine for Black 15...exd6 16.Qxd6 Rd7 17.Qxc6 Qc7 The safest move. If Black can castle and exchange queens he has the two bishops and a passed 'a' pawn There seems nothing wrong with the immediate 17...0-0 18.Qxc7 Rxc7 19.Bf4 Rb7 20.Rc2 0-0 20...Rb3 21.Be3 21.Bd6 Re8 22.Nd2 22.e5 Bf5 22...f5 if Boris wanted to play on then perhaps 22...Bd7!? and if 23.Bxc5 Rc8 24.Bd6 Rxc3 is good for Black 22...Bd7 23.Ra1 f5 23.f3 fxe4 24.Nxe4 Bf5
24...Bf5 25.Re1 The threat to c5 probably forces Black to take on e4 and then there is not much in it so a fair result. A good result for Boris, a draw with Black and Vishy was even under a little pressure for a while as his long think on move 14 indicates ½–½
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Anand,V-Gelfand,B-½–½2012D85WCC (1) Moscow


Commentary on game one by Daniel King


Commentary on game one by Andrew Martin

Video stream of round one (from the official World Championship site)

Once again the Russian organisers are providing unprecedented coverage,
with a HD video stream of the action and commentary by visiting grandmasters.

Pictures by Anastasya Karlovich and Alexey Yushenkov

Scoreboard

 Players
Rtng
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
Tot.
Perf.
+/–
 Vishy Anand
2791
½
                      
0.5
2727
  
 Boris Gelfand  
2727
½
                      
0.5
2791
  

Schedule

Days of play, with live commentators on Playchess.com. Note that the games start at 15:00h local time = 13:00 CEST, 07 a.m. New York or here in your location.

Thur May 10 Opening  
Fri May 11 Game 1 Daniel King
Sat May 12 Game 2 Lawrence Trent
Sun May 13 Rest day  
Mon May 14 Game 3 Yannick Pelletier
Tues May 15 Game 4 Daniel King
Wed May 16 Rest day  
Thur May 17> Game 5 Daniel King
Fri May 18 Game 6 Loek van Wely
Sat May 19 Rest day  
Sun May 20 Game 7 Lawrence Trent
 
Mon May 21 Game 8 Oliver Reeh
Tues May 22 Rest day  
Wed May 23 Game 9 Daniel King
Thur May 24 Game 10 Yannick Pelletier
Fri May 25 Rest day  
Sat May 26 Game 11 Daniel King
Sun May 27 Rest day  
Mon May 28 Game 12 Sam Collins
Tues May 29 Rest day  
Wed May 30 Tiebreaks  
Thurs May 31 Closing  

Links

The games are being broadcast live on the official web site and on the chess server Playchess.com. If you are not a member you can download a free Playchess client there and get immediate access. You can also use ChessBase 11 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs.

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