World Championship G7 – Gelfand draws first blood and leads
5/20/2012 – It's the decisive result for which everyone has been clamoring, but it wasn't the big win Anand's fans were hoping for. As noted by Kasparov, the buzzword so far has been "safety", and here it was taken too far, as the passive play by the world champion allowed Gelfand to penetrate with decisive effect for the match's first win. Extensive analysis by GM Gilberto Milos and IM Malcolm Pein.
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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
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
Start of game seven: the videographers in the background are GM Robert
Fontaine
from Europe Echecs and Vijay Kumar from India's Doordarshan TV program
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GM Gilberto Milos is a veteran grandmaster who has been six-times Brazilian champion, and is one of only three Brazilian players to break into the world's Top 100. He has represented Brazil no fewer than nine times in the Olympiads, and in 2000, took third in the Chess World Cup, behind Anand and Bareev. Gilberto delivers his analyses of the World Championship in Moscow minutes after the games have ended, something we greatly appreciate. |
Game seven analysis by Malcolm Pein
IM Malcolm Pein comments on the games on TWIC and live during each game via Twitter #telegraphchess.
A picture is worth more than a thousand words...
Pictures by Alexey Yushenkov
Game seven commentary by Daniel King
Game seven commentary by Andrew Martin
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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. |
Video stream of the round (from the official World Championship site)
Once again the Russian organisers are providing unprecedented
coverage, |
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 |
3.0 |
2678 |
–11 |
|||||
| Boris Gelfand | 2727 |
½ |
½ |
½ |
½ |
½ |
½ |
1 |
4.0 |
2840 |
+11 |
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.
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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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