World Championship G9 – Anand saves a tough game to a draw

by ChessBase
5/23/2012 – After an almost embarrassing defeat in round eight, Gelfand regrouped and won a moral victory in round nine. Anand went for the Nimzo-Indian, and Gelfand once more showed an edge with white. Despite clearly having the better chances, he was unable to maneuver to a win, and drew after making Anand suffer until move 49. Full report with pictures, video and 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 nine – Anand saves a tough game to a draw

There was no decisive result but plenty of fighting chess before reigning World Champion Viswanathan Anand drew against Challenger Boris Gelfand in the ninth round of the World Chess Championship in Moscow. If in the eighth game the NIIT MindChampion Anand had given a demonstration of his tactical ability, then today his defensive skill was in full display as he battled dourly to force a draw after 49 hard fought moves, in an engrossing battle.

Anand has a vast opening repertoire and keeps his opponent guessing on his choice in every game. Today he opted for the Nimzo Indian Defence. As if to make up for the shock value of the last two rounds, the players followed the safe and solid main line until Anand played a novelty on the 16th move. Gelfand appeared to hold edge after the transposition to the middle-game, but the NIIT MindChampion opted for active defence by giving up his queen for a rook, knight and a pawn. In the ending Anand had a rook, knight and five pawns as against Gelfand’s queen and four pawns.


Boris Gelfand planning a possible winning strategy


Anand has worked out the fortresses he needs to hold the draw


Gelfand: "Nobody is happy to draw a position where he has had a good advantage."

For the first time in this Match, the players crossed the 40 move mark, which is the stipulation for the first time control where each player has two hours on his clock. Anand appeared calm and confident and his body language communicated that he had worked out the draw with a position in mind and it was just a matter of checking and rechecking on the board. Gelfand on the other stayed hunched on the board after completing the 40 moves and tried hard to find a winning continuation. However Anand’s king, knight and rook stayed connected and Gelfand’s queen could not battle alone.

After nine games the twelve-game Match is evenly and excitingly poised with 4.5-4.5 score. Tomorrow in the tenth round, Anand will wield white.

Flash game commentary by GM Gilbert Milos

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1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 The second half of the match is much better. We have diferent openings and more action. 4.e3 0-0 5.Bd3 d5 6.Nf3 c5 7.0-0 dxc4 8.Bxc4 cxd4 9.exd4 b6 10.Bg5 Bb7 11.Qe2 Nbd7 12.Rac1 This position is normal, but neither of the players had reached it before. They spent almost half an hour until now. Rc8 13.Bd3 Almost everybody plays 13.Ne5 as occurred in Keres-Karpov and Beliavsky-Karpov. 13...Bxc3 14.bxc3 Qc7 Last three moves are typical for the Nimzo. The idea is to press in the c file and get out of the pin. This is more active than 13...Be7. 15.c4 Bxf3 Another typical plan that could also be prepared with ... Rfe8 or ...h6 first. Another interesting option was 15...Ng4 16.Be4 other moves are dubious. 16.Rfe1 Bxf3 17.Qxf3 Qxh2+ 18.Kf1 Qh5 16.d5 Rfe8 16...Bxe4 17.Qxe4 Ngf6 eliminating White's bishop pair. 16.Qxf3 Rfe8 17.Rfd1 h6 17...e5 18.Bf5 is very unpleasant 18.Bh4 Qd6 19.c5 An interesting try which releases the pressure but wins material. The position would be very unpleasant for Black if White had played 19.a3 controlling b4, and keeping all possibilities to advance the central pawns open was a good option. How should Black continue? The computer might hold the position but who would play like a computer? Qe7! Other moves were not insufficient. 19...Qb8? 20.Bg3 Qa8 21.Qxa8 Rxa8 22.c5 19...Qc6? 20.Qxc6 Rxc6 21.c5 19...e5? 20.Bf5 exd4 21.Bxf6 Nxf6 22.Bxc8 Rxc8 23.Rc2 19...Kh8 20.Bf1 20.Re1 20.Bf1 e5 20.Bc2 e5! 20...Qd6 21.Rcd1 Qc6 even after this, the endgame is worse for Black. 22.Qxc6 Rxc6 23.f4!? controlling ...e5, preparing to centralize the king, keeping the possibilities of d5, c5 and also the plan a4-a5. 19...bxc5 Black has to sacrifice the queen but that is ok. 19...Qd5? 20.Qxd5 Nxd5 21.Bb5± 20.dxc5 Rxc5 20...Qc7? 21.Bb5 21.Ba6 20...Qe7? 21.Bb5 Red8 22.c6 Ne5 23.Qc3 21.Bh7+ Kxh7 22.Rxd6 Rxc1+ 23.Rd1 Rec8 24.h3 Ne5 25.Qe2 Ng6 allowing doubled pawns. The option was 25...Nd5 26.Kh2 Ng6 27.Rxc1 Rxc1 28.Bg3 My impression is that Black holds. 26.Bxf6 gxf6 27.Rxc1 Rxc1+ 28.Kh2 Rc7 29.Qb2 Kg7 30.a4 Ne7 Anand start to build his fortress. I believe the way he played is not the only one but it seems good enough. 31.a5 Nd5 32.a6 Kh7 33.Qd4 f5 34.f4 Rd7 35.Kg3 A chance to break the fortress was 35.g4 and Black is forced to play Kg6 and I don't see how White wins but gxf5 and Qd3 are the critical moves. 35...Kg6 36.Qh8 Nf6 37.Qb8 h5 38.Kh4 Kh6 39.Qb2 Kg6 40.Qc3 Ne4 41.Qc8 A very important defensive point is that the pawn on h5 is protected. After 41.Qf3 Nf6 42.Qg3+ Kh7 43.Qg5?? Ne4 and black wins! 44.Qxh5+ Kg7 45.g4 Rd8 41...Nf6 42.Qb8 Re7 43.g4 What else? hxg4 44.hxg4 fxg4 44...Nxg4? 45.Qg8+ Kh6 46.Qg5+ Kh7 47.Qxe7 45.Qe5 Ng8 46.Qg5+ Kh7 47.Qxg4 47.f5 f6 48.Qh5+ Kg7 49.fxe6 Rxe6 50.Qxg4+ Kf7 47...f6 The point is the knight defends the rook, the pawn on f6 and the h6 square, while the rook defends e6 and a7. Black's king is protected, defends the knight and stays between the squares h8, h7, g7. Fort Knox is not more solid than this! 48.Qg2 Kh8 49.Qe4 Kg7 nice draw! ½–½
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Gelfand,B2727Anand,V2791½–½2012E54World Chess Championship Match9

The two players in the press conference. One question to Anand: "Your wife seems to appear in the press center half a minute before the game ends. Does she have paranormal abilities to tell when this is going to happen?" Anand's answer: "I don't know how she does it."

Game eight 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 The Slav is evidently in the repair shop 4.e3 The Rubinstein, still trendy after all these years particularly now that Ivan Sokolov has published a new book 0-0 5.Bd3 d5 6.Nf3 c5 7.0-0 dxc4 8.Bxc4 cxd4 9.exd4 b6 10.Bg5 Bb7 11.Qe2 Nbd7 12.Rac1 Rc8 13.Bd3 Bxc3 14.bxc3 Qc7 15.c4 Bxf3?! Voluntarily giving up the two bishops. Vishy criticised this afterwards. "Obviously I messed something up in the opening. Normally speaking my position is much worse, White just got the two bishops for my two knights and the only thing I did was to try and provoke this move 19. c5 because I thought that I would get rid of the bishop in almost all the lines and I could try and make a fortress. This is in fact what happened in the game." 16.Qxf3 Rfe8 17.Rfd1 h6 17...e5 18.Bf5± 18.Bh4 Qd6 19.c5!? Anand was happy to see this rather than 19.Bg3 he had foreseen the consequences. In the commentary box Peter Svidler had this on the board well in advance of it's appearance on the board 19.a3!? Press conference 19.Bg3 Qe7 20.Re1 Is nice for White 2Bs v 2Ns is no fun for a nice example of exploitation, if ultimately White was unsuccessful see Korchnoi-Karpov WCC 1978 Game 5 19.Bg3 Qb4 20.a3 Qa5 Black can play for e6-e5 but he must be worse here. Some manouevre like Bg3-d6-b4-c3 is even possible 19...bxc5 20.dxc5 Rxc5 21.Bh7+ Kxh7 22.Rxd6 Rxc1+ 23.Rd1 White has won the queen for rook knight and pawn but with a knight coming to d5 Black has good chances to build a fortress Rec8 24.h3 Ne5 25.Qe2!? Ng6 25...Nd5!? 26.Bxf6 gxf6 27.Rxc1 Rxc1+ 28.Kh2 Rc7 As Vishy said he had many possible setups though in the games it was very tricky to decide which fortress to choose. And I have pawn on e5, knight on g6 Rook on e7 as one fortress, pawn on e5, knight on e6, rook on c7 as another, the one I chose in the game the knight on d5, there are just too many 29.Qb2 Kg7 30.a4 Ne7 31.a5 Nd5 32.a6 This is progress Black has to be constantly on the alert for Qb7 Kh7 33.Qd4 f5 34.f4 Now Vishy relaxed somewhat: He said: "When he played f4 and I had f5 and h5 then I thought I'm safe, I couldn't see a way forward for him. In fact I don't even need this Re7 and Ng8. I played this Re7 because I saw this Ng8 trick but if I play Kh6 I think we are just repeating the position for the second time already. I simply don't know if white missed a win somewhere." 34.g4 fxg4 35.hxg4 perhaps offered more chances for kingside play but 34.g4 f4 is also possible 34.g4 f4 35.h4 34...Rd7 35.Kg3 Kg6 36.Qh8 Nf6 37.Qb8 h5 38.Kh4 Kh6 39.Qb2 39.g4 hxg4 40.hxg4 Nxg4 41.Qg8 This position not so simple, I'm not sure if black is holding or not. - Gelfand. Now Black can lose with 41...Rc7 Rc7 But there is a fast counter attack 41...Nf2 42.Qc8 Rd3! And White must force perpetual or bale out 43.Qxe6+ fxe6= 42.Qd8 Rc6 43.Qg5+ Kh7 44.Qe7 Rxa6 45.Qb7 39...Kg6 40.Qc3 Ne4 41.Qc8 Nf6 42.Qb8 Re7 43.g4 hxg4 44.hxg4 fxg4 45.Qe5 Ng8! Preventing f4-f5+ 46.Qg5+ Kh7 47.Qxg4 f6 48.Qg2 Kh8 49.Qe4 Kg7 ½–½
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Gelfand,B2739Anand,V2799½–½2012E54WCh 20129

Video commentary by Daniel King

Video commentary by Andrew Martin

Video report by Vijay Kumar for Doordarshan Indian TV Network

Video report

GM Robert Fontaine and his video producer Gérard Demuydt are in Moscow produced video reports and interviews after each round for the French chess magazine Europe Echecs. In this report they show the arrival of the players (handshake in slow-mo), a game summary, the press conference, with interesting evaluations by both players

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.

Picture gallery by WGM Anastasya Karlovich


A Gelfand fan looking for a win?


People outside the playing hall following the moves and commentary on flat screens


At the start it was just a few, but by the end of the game a crowd had gathered


Valentina Gunina – her themaric t-shirt ready "So I am blond! What's your excuse?"


GM Robert Fontaine and his video producer Gérard Demuydt working on their report

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
      
4.5
2727
–8
 Boris Gelfand  
2727
½
½
½
½
½
½
1
0
½
      
4.5
2791
+8

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.

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  

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