Chess - The Scotsman 14/05/2012

Final position

IT’S a long time since Moscow saw world championship matches, but they return with a certain grandiose style as Viswanathan Anand of India and challenger Boris Gelfand of Israel finally get down to the business of their $2.5 million, best-of-12 match in the State Tretryakov Gallery in Moscow, the world’s largest repository of Russian art.

Anand has been world champion since 2007, and this will be his third defence of the title, but his recent play has dropped him to No 4 in the world rankings. Gelfand, who surprisingly won the right to challenge Anand in the Candidates’ Matches last year in Russia, is just in the Top 20.

Anand is the favourite on paper, with more match experience, higher rating and better head-to-head score. But Anand has been in poor form, with his rating eroding from 2817 in September 2011 to 2791 at present. Gelfand is a rock-solid technician, well-prepared, and nerveless.

But match play is where form and ratings don’t count for anything, as it is very different from normal tournament chess, owing to the level of preparation expected and the intensity of each game. The opening game of the match on Friday showed this, as Gelfand first surprised Anand by playing the Grünfeld Defence (totally unexpected: this an opening he loved to crush in the past), then the world champion in turn surprised everyone by reviving an old line with 8 Bb5+ last seen in the 1980s.

Gelfand though had the better of the game and perhaps should have pressed harder; but Anand was quick to neutralise any threats from the challengers active pieces, and the game ended in a draw after just 24 moves.

V Anand - B Gelfand

World Championship, (1)

Grünfeld Defence

1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 g6 3 Nc3 d5 4 Nf3 Bg7 5 cxd5 Nxd5 6 e4 Nxc3 7 bxc3 c5 8 Bb5+ Nc6 9 d5 Qa5 10 Rb1 a6 11 Bxc6+ bxc6 12 0–0 Qxa2 13 Rb2 Qa5 14 d6 Ra7 15 Bg5 exd6 16 Qxd6 Rd7 17 Qxc6 Qc7 18 Qxc7 Rxc7 19 Bf4 Rb7 20 Rc2 0–0 21 Bd6 Re8 22 Nd2 f5 23 f3 fxe4 24 Nxe4 Bf5 draw agreed