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
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.
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.
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.
Opening videos: Sipke Ernst brings the Ulvestad Variation up to date + Part II of ‘Mikhalchishin's Miniatures’. Special: Jan Werle shows highlights from the FIDE Grand Swiss 2025 in the video. ‘Lucky bag’ with 40 analyses by Ganguly, Illingworth et al.
In this video course, Grandmaster Ivan Sokolov explores the fascinating world of King’s Indian and Pirc structures with colours reversed, often arising from the French or Sicilian.
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