The 2012 World Championship of Chess!

25 mins for 18 moves for Gelfand...not good in this position...tick tock tick tock...

this is where his time problem comes into play...Gelfand is certainly under stress now...

DRAW!!! Now it's tied 5.5 - 5.5, with the last game being played Monday!

Remember people, the last game is 3 hours earlier.

Well that was over much earlier than I expected! Time for a nice walk downtown Thanks to everyone for participating in this thread to make it more exciting for us!

Disappointing. Although Anand is the world champion, I don't think that he played like one in this championship. This is just a game between two strong GMs.

Yes, the only game he has won was handed to him when Gelfand blundered it away before the 15th move, apart from that he hasn't showed anything on World Champion or top five level here or in a single game the last years.

why Vishy,why?!he had only 12 minutes on the clock

If the last game also is drawn (and I'd be surprised if it isn't), this will be the first title match in more than a hundred years where the winner won only one single game of classical chess. In Lasker-Schlechter both players also had one win each, even if that match was slightly shorter, and the average game was clearly longer than 50 moves while it's below 30 here.

Why offer a draw when your opponent has 12 min for 16 moves , i just don't get it.

Anand has los his confidence .He isn't believing in himself.He would never offer a draw in a case like this 5 years ago.

Maybe he will anounce his retirement after this match. 

utterly dissapointing...can't believe it.when ur opponent is in severe time trouble and the position still fairly complex u just don't let him off the hook like that.he could be ultra-confident that he'll win the tiebreakers,but still...the sooner u wrap this baby up,the better.

This certainly isn't a World Champion's "behavior".Seems that Kasparov was right that Anand has lost interest for the game. 

I expected more action, well maybe if they draw the last game as well, then we have action in the fast games.

YUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, at first I was disappointed as well that Anand did not continue the 11th, with Gelfand in some time trouble, but I have since been looking at analysis from GMs on the game, and they all suggested that the position was a drawn one with white easily finding replys to answer the clock.

The last classical game will be tomorrow morning 3 hours earlier...so on the East Coast that's 4am in Toronto...ouch...I will have to set my alarm for sure.

In analysis things are much easier than in a game where the world title is at stake and you have about a minute for every move.

Do you believe Carlsen or Aronian would offer a draw?

Why not play till 40th move and if Gelfand doesn't do a mistake then offer a draw?

That was a situation any player would try to take advantage of.

Hi "Michael-G", I agree with you that a better strategy may have been to play a while longer, to ensure that Gelfand makes the time before offering the draw. 

...and about the second part of your contribution...here's where we differ. My opinion is that Carlsen chickened-out, and Aronian was not good enough for The Candidates...so who's to say what they would have done in this same situation?

Jesterville , avoid such expressions like "chickened out".

A kid that stood against Kasparov at the age of 13 can't "chicken out"(even if he lost).He faces the best  the last years and he manages to keep the highest rating.He maybe was not ready.Don't forget that we are talking for a  very young man.Although he didn't participate in the candidates his chess is much more creative than the World Title match we see right now and many would prefer to see a match Carlsen -Aronian and I think they are right.Anand and Gelfand are not the best players right now and that is because of the faulty candidates match system FIDE has adopted.

Hey "Michael-G", Carlsen wanted the rules changed to favour his style of play...he had the opportunity to become the youngest WCC...he chose not to participate...this is all on him, no one else. Say what you want about Anand, but he voluntarily faced all the different rule formats to win the WCC in all of these formats that FIDE changed on him...I am certain that he was unhappy as well, but he did not pack-up his chess set and go home...he faced the system like all the rest of the GMs who participated in The Candidates. I would say that makes Carlsen are quitter...

Aronian, unlike the spoilt child that Carlsen is...at least he participated in The Candidates...even though there were issues that he did not agree with as well. But he showed that he was a pro (unlike Carlsen). Don't read more into what I am saying...I am a huge Carlsen fan...but totally disagree with him taking his ball and going home when things did not go his way. In fact, if you want to blame anyone for the lack of "fighting spirit" in these games, then I think Carlsen has to receive his share as well...because I would have put money on him winning The Candidates. I think he let down his fans by turning his back on us.

In the end...only Gelfand was man enough to reach the top of the mountain, so he totally deserve to be here...and none can deny that he has "overperformed" in terms of our expectations.