Anand-Gelfand G10, a Rossolimo Sicilian, drawn after 25 moves (VIDEO)

The tiebreak is getting closer and closer now that the 10th match game between Vishy Anand and Boris Gelfand also ended in a draw. Today Anand returned to 1.e4 and went for a Rossolimo Sicilian (3.Bb5) instead of allowing another Sveshnikov. Gelfand came up with a new setup, and held equality quite easily.

The handshake at the start of game 10 in Moscow

The score in Moscow is 5-5 with just two more games to play. Game 11 is scheduled for Saturday and the last game will be played on Monday. If the score is 6-6, a rapid/blitz tiebreak will be played on Wednesday.

In the 10th match game it seemed that the whole atmosphere of the first half of the match was back again. As if nothing had happened, no decisive games, no blunder, no big advantage for Gelfand the day before, the players added another friendly draw to the score. This was the story on a superficial level, but as always much more was going on behind the scenes.

What was the situation? Three games to play, two whites for Anand, one for Gelfand. If the World Champion wanted to try and decide the match in the classical games, it was this 10th match game that perhaps suited most. One can take some risks when there are still two games to play, but in the last game it's tricky.

Anand didn't repeat the 3.f3 Grünfeld with which he had won his previous white game in 17 moves. Why? We can only guess, but one explanation is that he needs more time to find something against the 3...c5 move. Another option is that he has some big idea against the Grünfeld, which he likes to play only in the last game. 

No 3.f3 Grünfeld, no Sveshnikov, but the Rossolimo Sicilian

In any case, it was a 3.Bb5 (Rossolimo) Sicilian today and it was quite impressive to see that even against a sideline (Anand hadn't played 5.b3 before) Gelfand had prepared a whole new idea: 5...e5.

It is always nice to play a novelty on move five,

said Gelfand.

It usually happens on move 20 or 25.

To avoid getting a bishop on b2 biting granite, White had to take the pawn and this quickly led to a queenless middlegame with a better structure for White but the bishop pair for Black.

Peter Svidler and Alexander Morozevich, who were doing commentary together for about an hour, felt that the position was equal, but easier to play for White. When Gelfand found the excellent idea of trading one bishop for a knight followed by ...f5 he had more or less equalized.

On move 21 Gelfand offered a draw, but at first Anand declined.

I thought I had something with Nd2-b3 but later I decided to return the offer.

Here's our video of today, which includes an interview with Morozevich at the end. He has some strong opinions!

It remains to be seen whether one of the players is willing to take big risks in the remaining two games on Saturday and Monday. It seems more likely that we'll have a tiebreak that will decide the match next Wednesday, just like in 2006 between Vladimir Kramnik and Veselin Topalov.

[Event "WCh 2012"]
[Site "Moscow RUS"]
[Date "2012.05.24"]
[Round "10"]
[White "Anand, V."]
[Black "Gelfand, B."]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B30"]
[WhiteElo "2799"]
[BlackElo "2739"]
[Annotator "Doe,John"]
[PlyCount "49"]
[EventDate "2012.05.11"]

1. e4 {The second time Anand tries the king's pawn - in one earlier game a
Sveshnikov came on the board.} c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 {But no Sveshnikov today!
This must have been prepared by the Gelfand team though, since Anand has
played the Rossolimo every now and then throughout his career, most recently
at the Amber tournament in 2009. The last time he did it in a classical game
was nine years ago against Grischuk.} e6 4. Bxc6 bxc6 5. b3 {But this Anand
hasn't played before.} (5. d3 Ne7 6. Qe2 Qc7 7. Nc3 Ng6 8. Ng5 e5 9. Qh5 d6 10.
O-O h6 11. Nh3 Be7 12. Kh1 Bf6 13. Ng1 {1/2-1/2 Anand,V (2753)-Grischuk,A
(2712)/Wijk aan Zee 2003}) 5... e5 $5 {A very rare move - the Megabase only
contains two games.} ({More popular are} 5... Ne7) (5... f6) (5... d5) (5... d6
) (5... Nf6) ({and} 5... Be7) 6. Nxe5 {From now on this knight will be
attacked four moves in a row - something which was pointed out by Gelfand
after the game.} (6. O-O d6 7. c3 Bg4 8. h3 Bxf3 9. Qxf3 g6 10. Bb2 Bg7 11. Na3
Ne7 12. Rad1 f5 13. d4 {Melamed,T (2320)-Strutinskaya,G (2335)/Ukraine 1996})
6... Qe7 7. Bb2 d6 8. Nc4 d5 $146 {"Probably critical" (Peter Svidler). It's
funny that both of Black's central pawns move twice to reach a square they
could have reached at once.} ({Weaker is} 8... Qxe4+ 9. Ne3 Nf6 10. Bxf6 gxf6
11. Nc3 Qg6 12. Qf3 Bd7 13. O-O-O O-O-O {and now Shipov likes} 14. Ne4 {for
White.}) 9. Ne3 (9. Ne5 $2 f6 10. Nxc6 Qxe4+ 11. Kf1 a5 {and the knight on c6
is trapped.}) 9... d4 {Black cannot allowd the knight to stay on e3, even
though this spoils Black's pawn structure (Anand).} 10. Nc4 Qxe4+ 11. Qe2 (11.
Kf1 Be6 12. d3 Qd5 13. Nbd2 Nf6 14. Qf3 Be7 15. Re1 O-O {is fine for Black
(Shipov).}) 11... Qxe2+ 12. Kxe2 Be6 ({As pointed out by Morozevich and
Svidler, it was worth considering} 12... Bg4+ 13. f3 {and only then} Be6 14. d3
{and try to make use of the e3 square later.}) 13. d3 Nf6 14. Nbd2 O-O-O 15.
Rhe1 {Starting "artificial castling". Morozevich & Svidler felt this position
is equal, but easier to play for White.} Be7 (15... Nd5 16. Kf1 Nb4 17. a3 $1
Nxc2 18. Rxe6 $1 fxe6 19. Rc1 $18 {Shipov}) 16. Kf1 Rhe8 17. Ba3 ({At the
press conference} 17. a3 Nd5 18. b4 {as suggested but Anand said that after}
Nb6 {he "couldn't make it work".}) 17... Nd5 18. Ne4 ({Here the online
commentators were looking at} 18. Re5 $5 Nb4 19. Bxb4 cxb4 {with perhaps a
slight plus for White.}) 18... Nb4 19. Re2 Bxc4 $1 {"The only, but sufficient"
according to Anand. He added that if Black plays a waiting move then he'd go
Rae1 followed by Ba3-c1-f4.} ({The problem of} 19... f5 {is that White can play
} 20. Bxb4 cxb4 21. Ng3 Bxc4 {and now} 22. Nxf5 {as was pointed out by Anand
during the press conference.}) 20. bxc4 f5 {This is "quite a comfortable
setup" (Anand).} 21. Bxb4 cxb4 {With this move Gelfand offered a draw. "I
thought I still had something with Ne4-d2-b3" (Anand).} 22. Nd2 Bd6 23. Rxe8
Rxe8 24. Nb3 c5 25. a3 {Here Anand returned the draw offer, which was accepted.
Alexander Morozevich didn't like Anand's last move and told us that he
preferred Black after 25...bxa3 and 26...Kb7.} 1/2-1/2

The players today at the press conference. Gelfand: "I want to praise Vishy because with him the idea of the champion keeping the title in the case of a tie or the champion having an automatic revenge match vanished completely. It is out-dated, hopefully forever.”

Match score