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%).

Press release

The second half of the World Championship has started

The seven game of the match for FIDE World Champion was played on 20 May at the State Tretyakov Gallery’s Engineering Building. The opponents continued their theoretical dispute in the Slav Defence. Boris Gelfand, who played White, was the first to move away from the lines that had been tried out before, opting for the most principled continuation, 6.c5. A complicated strategic fight ensued, with nearly all pieces remaining on the board.

Experts note that the World Champion did not play energetically enough and failed to equalise. Black’s main problem was his bad light-squared bishop, which never made it through the fence of black pawns. Gelfand skillfully built up pressure on the queenside and managed to penetrate his opponent’s camp with his pieces via the open c-file, putting Black in a very poor position. Vishy Anand’s desperate attempt to sacrifice a piece and launch an attack against his rival’s king brought no success, and he resigned on move 38.

To recap, this is Gelfand’s first win against Anand in events with classical time control over the past 19 years – since 1993. The match score is now 4-3 in Gelfand’s favour. The next, eighth, game will be played 21 May. Viswanathan Anand will play with white pieces.

Extensive analysis of the games is available in our round seven report.

Pictorial impressions Anastasiya Karlovich and Alexey Lushenkov

Has he got something up his sleeve? Boris Gelfand before the start of round seven

The World Champion in a game that would bring the first decision of the match

The theatre is packed on this Sunday afternoon

Some spectators are able to keep their cool during the game – and some aren't

When world-renowned chess trainer Mark Dvoretsky studies a position everybody is interested. Everybody.

In the press room: Peter Leko chats with GM Ian Rogers and wife Kathy

A simultaneous exhibition given by GM Ian Nepomniachtchi...

...and one by Russian IM Valentina Gunina, current European Women's Champion

Mr. Cool giving his opponents some extra time to ponder their positions

Camera man Anton Skrypnik providing images for the live HD video stream

Vijay Kumar, unassuming and kind-hearted (he always brings us Indian spices),is a
producer for the Doordashan TV channel that reaches about half a billion viewers

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 round seven report we see the moment Anand resigns the game and the hug-and-hop jubilation of Gelfand fans in the press centre.

Scoreboard

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.

Links Official web site of the World Championship match All ChessBase reports on the World Championship All games in PGN 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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