World Championship G11 – Anand draws with a Nimzo Indian

by ChessBase
5/26/2012 – It was the penultimate game of the match, and the last white for Gelfand. The game was a Nimzo-Indian once more, and though it ended in a draw after 25 moves, the tension came from Gelfand’s extensive use of the clock, leaving him with only twelve minutes when they shook hands. Will Anand go all out with white in the last game, or prefer the rapid playoffs? Pictures, videos, GM 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 eleven – Anand draws with a Nimzo Indian

The 11th game of the World Chess Championship was a tantalising one, having its exciting moments initially, which perhaps raised hopes of a positive result for fans of reigning World Champion Viswanathan Anand.


In former times people would sharpen their swords or oil their guns before a battle...


Anand at the start of the game (after playing 6...c5)


Boris Gelfand mulling over Anand's suprise move 8...Bd7

Boris Gelfand appeared to have been caught off-guard on the eighth move with a rare continuation by Anand, who had once again opted for the Nimzo Indian Defence. Gelfand pondered long and hard (for about 50 minutes) on this move, causing a buzz of excitement and many wondered whether the Indian ace had something exciting to unleash from his home preparation. Gelfand appeared troubled, gesticulated nervously and stayed hunched for a long time on the board. Quite clearly the move had rattled him but the Israeli GM kept his cool and solved his problems on board to once again steer the game to a draw after 24 moves.


The final minutes of game eleven – Boris Gelfand ponders after 22...Be8


Gelfand has played 23.Rb3 and Anand looks very relaxed about his prospects


After 24...Rd7 Gelfand has accepted the draw offer by Anand

The twelve-game match has just one more game remaining, to be played on Monday after a rest day on Sunday. The match is delicately poised with a 5.5-5.5 score, and a victory by either would mean the world title. Anand will be wielding white and in case of a draw, the tie break games are scheduled to be played on May 30th.

Anand finds himself in a similar situation as in Sofia in 2010, where the score was tied 5.5-5.5 and he scored a thrilling victory over Veselin Topalov in the final twelfth game to retain the crown. Anand first won the title in 2000, then lost it the next year. He regained back the title in 2007 in Mexico, and since then successfully defended it in 2008 and 2010.

Game eleven analysis by GM Gilbert Milos

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At this point we have a match of two games and taking risks is more difficult. Let's see how Anand plays the last game. He is more experienced than Gelfand in world championship matches and he already beat Karpov in the last game of a match when he needed. Unfortunately he later lost that match in the rapid game tiebreaks. 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e3 0-0 5.Bd3 d5 6.Nf3 c5 7.0-0 dxc4 8.Bxc4 Bd7 Instead of ...b6-Bb7 Black plays ...Bd7-Bc6. One of the differences is that Black can preserve his bishop pair after a3, playing ...Ba5 and later ...Bb6 or c7. 9.a3 Ba5 10.Qe2 10.dxc5 Bxc3 destroying White's structure. 10...Bc6 11.Rd1 Bxc3 A novelty! Usually Black plays ...Qe7 or Nbd7 here. 11...Nbd7 12.d5 exd5 13.Nxd5 Nb6 was played in Knaak-Yussupov 1991. 12.bxc3 Nbd7 13.Bd3 Qa5 13...Be4 controlling e4 was the normal move. 14.c4 14.e4 looks good, but Black can accept the pawn. Qxc3 15.Bd2 Qb3 and the queen escapes. 14...cxd4 15.exd4 This is the second Nimzo of the match and in both games Anand has chosen the same pawn structure with the same pieces remaining. Qh5 This is the complementary idea behind Qa5. Now Black exchange queens or can take on f3 weakening White's pawn structure. 16.Bf4 16.Ng5 Qxe2 17.Bxe2 is about equal. 16.Ne5? Qxe2 17.Bxe2 Nxe5 18.dxe5 Nd7 is better for Black. 16...Rac8 16...Bxf3 17.gxf3 is possible, riskier, and more difficult to evaluate. White's structure is a disaster but two bishops are better than knights with a dynamic pawn structure. For the public this continuation would have been much more interesting but no one wants to chance losing at this point of the match. 17.Ne5 Qxe2 18.Bxe2 Nxe5 19.Bxe5 Rfd8 Now the position is very balanced and a draw is clear. 20.a4 Ne4 21.Rd3 f6 22.Bf4 Be8 23.Rb3 Rxd4 24.Be3 Rd7 ½–½
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Gelfand,B2727Anand,V2791½–½2012E54World Chess Championship Match11

Game ten 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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1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e3 0-0 5.Bd3 d5 6.Nf3 c5 7.0-0 dxc4 8.Bxc4 Bd7 A Bronstein creation from the Russian Championship of 1957 where he got a couple of quick draws. Catching Gelfand completely by surprise he thought for about 35 minutes. 8...cxd4 was game 9. 9.exd4 b6 10.Bg5 Bb7 11.Qe2 Nbd7 12.Rac1 Rc8 13.Bd3 Bxc3 14.bxc3 Qc7 15.c4 Bxf3 16.Qxf3 Rfe8 17.Rfd1 h6 18.Bh4 Qd6 19.c5 bxc5 20.dxc5 Rxc5 21.Bh7+ Kxh7 22.Rxd6 Rxc1+ 23.Rd1 Rec8 24.h3 Ne5 25.Qe2 Ng6 26.Bxf6 gxf6 27.Rxc1 Rxc1+ 28.Kh2 Rc7 29.Qb2 Kg7 30.a4 Ne7 31.a5 Nd5 32.a6 Kh7 33.Qd4 f5 34.f4 Rd7 35.Kg3 Kg6 36.Qh8 Nf6 37.Qb8 h5 38.Kh4 Kh6 39.Qb2 Kg6 40.Qc3 Ne4 41.Qc8 Nf6 42.Qb8 Re7 43.g4 hxg4 44.hxg4 fxg4 45.Qe5 Ng8 46.Qg5+ Kh7 47.Qxg4 f6 48.Qg2 Kh8 49.Qe4 Kg7 1/ 2-1/2 Gelfand,B (2727)-Anand,V (2791)/Moscow RUS 2012 9.a3 9.Qe2 was expected by Kramnik. 9.dxc5 Bc6 10.Nb5 a6 11.Nbd4 Bxc5 12.b3 12.Bd2 Bd5 13.Rc1 Be7 14.Qb3 Nbd7 15.Bb4 Bxb4 16.Qxb4 Qb6 17.Qxb6 Nxb6 18.Bxd5 Nbxd5 1/2-1/2 Petrosian,T-Bronstein,D/Moscow 1957/URS-ch 12...Bd5 13.Bxd5 Qxd5 14.Bb2 Nbd7 15.Rc1 Rac8 16.Ne2 Be7 1/2-1/2 Furman,S-Bronstein,D/Moscow 1957/URS-ch 9.Qe2 cxd4 10.exd4 Bc6 "Vlad [Kramnik] was absolutely certain this would happen after Boris finished thinking. And then a game will ensue." - Svidler. 9...Ba5 9...cxd4 Was Kramnik's prediction. 10.Qe2 Bc6 11.Rd1 Bxc3 11...Qe7 12.Ne5 12.Bd2 Bb6 12...Bxf3 13.Qxf3 Nc6 14.dxc5 Qxc5 15.Bf1 Qe7 16.Ne4 Nxe4 17.Qxe4 Bxd2 18.Rxd2 Rfd8 19.Rc2 Rd5 1/2-1/2 Donner,J-Kholmov,R/Havana 1965/MCD 13.dxc5 Qxc5 14.b4 Bxf3 15.gxf3 Qh5 16.f4 Ng4 17.f3 Nf6 18.Kh1 Nc6 19.Rg1 Rad8 20.Rg5 Rxd2 21.Qxd2 Qxf3+ 22.Qg2 Qxe3 23.Rxg7+ Kh8 24.Rg3 Qd4 25.Qe2 Qxf4 26.Rf1 Qh4 27.Qf3 Bd4 28.Rh3 Qg4 29.Ne2 Be5 30.Qxg4 Nxg4 31.Bxe6 Nf6 32.Bb3 Ne4 33.Bc2 Nf6 34.Rhf3 Kg7 35.Rf5 Bb2 36.Rb1 Nd4 37.Rxb2 Nxe2 38.Bd3 1-0 Iotov,V (2321) -Cheparinov,N/Plovdiv 2004/CBM 098 ext 12...Nbd7 13.Nxc6 bxc6 14.Na4 Bc7 1/2-1/2 Schweber,S-Damjanovic,M/Buenos Aires 1970/ MCD 12.bxc3 Nbd7 "So far the guess the move percentage of the super-GMs in this position is close to zero. The whole sequence that has appeared on the board has not been predicted by anybody." - Svidler talking about the press room discussion of this game so far. Nbd7 left Kramnik and Svidler "completely lost" as to what Anand is doing. 12...Ba4 "We thought this whole point of this move order was to play 12...Ba4. Using the fact that there are no really good squares for the rook on the d-file." - Svidler. 13.Re1 Nc6 planning Na5 with a typical complex Nimzo-position. Kramnik and Svidler thought, "Ah this is the point as to why Vishy is doing what he is doing." 13.Bd3 Qa5 "He still hasn't spent 10 minutes on entire sequence. So it is safe to assume he's still doing what he knows is best. Not just feels is best but knows is best is my point." - Svidler on Anand. 14.c4 14.Bb2 Be4 White's position can be a bit dull with one of his bishops. Black takes the light squares, prepares e6-e5 and has no problems 14.e4!? Was my first thought Qxc3 15.Bd2 Qb3 Involves risk for both sides 14...cxd4 14...Be4 Also a plan to remove one of the 2Bs 15.exd4 Qh5 Black hopes the presence of his queen will neutralise any attacking chances for White. White has to be a bit better here but not much 16.Bf4 Rac8 Again played quite quickly. 17.Ne5 The time situation will play a huge influence on Boris Gelfand's choice of moves from now on. This commits to a position which Gelfand will be able to play quickly. "Wow, either Boris was a little unnerved by the opening surprise or just wants to grind on in a position of safety. I guess he did not like the Bxf3 option for Black and he was way behind on the clock and wants to avoid very complex play" - Malcolm Pein Qxe2 18.Bxe2 Nxe5 19.Bxe5 Rfd8 20.a4 Coming to a5 to cramp the queenside. If Black plays b6 his pawn can become weak Ne4 21.Rd3 f6 22.Bf4 Gelfand 30 mins to Anand 1hr 9 mins. Be8 23.Rb3 Rxd4 24.Be3 Rd7 Gelfand 13 minutes Anand 1 hr 4 minutes. Drawn on Anand's proposal. ½–½
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Gelfand,B2739Anand,V2799½–½2012E54WCh 201211

Analysis of game eleven by GM Daniel King on Playchess

Video commentary by Andrew Martin

GM Robert Fontaine and his video producer Gérard Demuydt are in Moscow, producing video reports and interviews after each round for the French chess magazine Europe Echecs. We are grateful to receive the reports very soon after the end of the games, so that we are able to publish them on the same day. It is also great to catch a glimpse of the many interesting personalities that visit the World Championship.


A prominent visitor: World numer two Levon Aronian (right) chats with Robert Fontaine


GM Max Dlugy, Press Officer of RCF Mark Glukhovsky, World numer three Vladimir
Kramnik, Dmitry Jakovenko, and Peter Svidler, the English language commentator

Video report by Vijay Kumar for Doordarshan Indian TV Network

Pictures by Anastasya Karlovich in Moscow

Video stream of the round (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.


One of the camera people responsibe for the HD video broadcast of the event

Scoreboard

 Players
Rtng
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
Tot.
Perf.
+/–
 Vishy Anand
2791
½
½
½
½
½
½
0
1
½
½
½
  
5.5
2727
–10
 Boris Gelfand  
2727
½
½
½
½
½
½
1
0
½
½
½
  
5.5
2791
+10

Remaining 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.

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  

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