The 2012 World Championship of Chess!

Yes... :))

Clever of them to get the game over in 26-moves though !

(wish could do that in my own-games) 

5 games and 5 draws.

I'll give you my analysis and it's based partly on this quote by Gelfand concering the 1st game, "could not see any specific ways for Black to fight for an advantage".

The interactive analysis on chess.com TV concluded (without learing of this statement) that black had every chance of winning. 

Gefland's attitude shows a lack of courage to try and win a risky battle by the way he declared he did not wish to enter into a scenario where he could not foresee a definite. He does not therefore in my eyes merit to be the champion. No one has ever been (or as far as I know) or can ever be world champion without ever entering into uncharted territory or taking a risk especially when he (or she) has a fair chance.

This negative attitude of a worthy world champion.

Anand is surely rubbing his hands with glee to be opposed to such a scaredy cat.

I believe that Anand will retain his title against Gefland because of this.

It will end 6-6 with Anand winning on the rapid games.

Anand and Gelfand are having a picnic in Drawland  

Just on a side note, these grandmaster games appear so simple - my games with computer 3 hard are so complicated! Grrrr... so much for being a 1600! 

One explanation is that Anand's team have not found a weakness in the Gruenfeld yet, so meanwhile, to buy time, just test e4 to see what Gelfand has prepared there. Now they know it's Sicilian Sveshnikov. Possibly Anand's main task today was simply to find out how Gelfand handles e4.

Yup there's a lesson here for us 1600s ... we may be "overthinking" the game

keju made very good point here because though we are seeing games as draw still there might be planning going on both sides. To test each other. May be Gelfand is prepared 2 counterattack for every opening.

It looked like there may have been a chance for Anand to win one in this game, but those different color bishops probably negated that possibility.

i wouldn't bet on that dude, Gelfand did really well at the candidates matches when they played the quick stuff, that's why he's here now? Anand is boring me into not even bothering to watch much, no flair, let's just bag the cash

Not saying you're wrong, but why are you blaming Anand for that? Surely takes two to tango, and looks to me like e4 had the potential to liven it up today.

The title of this thread is just plain wrong.

It's not The 2012 World Championship of Chess!

Instead it is the 2012 world championship of chess :(

It's too boring and drawish to deserve an exclamation mark, or even any caps. A :( is better.

Draws are an important part of chess.

Get over it.

Anand rules.

I don't know about you guys, but I have been enjoying all the games so far.  Even if they are all drawn so far, we are talking about world championship level chess.  I would be bored if this turned into a 12-0 rompfest. 

We did have one game that was nearly decisive, it was game 3.  The complications before the time control were immense to where even the GMs and computers cannot make any sense out of that position where Anand could have pushed d7 instead of Rc7.

I also have enjoyed it. Impatient people here expecting fireworks but that rarely happens in title-matches (particularly first-half). There is still lot's of chess to be played & this is where the contenders may become even bolder & seek wins.

I did like the game 3, and game 1 was somewhat interesting. I'm complaining about games 2 and 4, which followed the exact same line to the exact same drawish ending. I missed todays game, so I can't comment on that.

I'm not expecting fireworks, but it's frusterating how WCs work. They play the exact same game through move 30 and then try to change one move to reach a slightly better position than the last time. Ugh!

I think some people also need to realize that at this level, a draw to the player of the black pieces is pretty much a win for them as they have to first equalize the position.  A draw means that black has equalized and has defended well enough against white's play.  A decisive game would occur on part of an error on one side or the other that creates enough of an advantage to win.  So a draw is very exciting :)

In games two and four it felt like white was playing for a draw, which isn't exiting. That's why I like it more when gelfand plays black, it seems he isn't willing to try anything new as white.

Gelfand will be having the whites for the next two games, so clearly, if he has any intent to attack this will be his best chance. Anand however did mix it up with e4 in this game, which was nice to see. I am certainly enjoying this Match.

"Chessbase" has a recent article which tries to explain how computer analysis has leveled the playing field with these GMs...so preparation leading to clear advantages have all been negated...it is one that should be read by all.

saw that in the chessbase, that the reason why I given the idea of how to start the game by mixing up the opening.