Anand-Gelfand G3, a 3.f3 Grünfeld, drawn after 37 moves (VIDEO)

The spectators in the State Tretyakov Gallery saw an exciting game today between Vishy Anand and Boris Gelfand, which eventually ended in a draw again. The World Champion got some advantage with his 3.f3 against Gelfand's Grünfeld, but eventually had to settle for splitting the point in another double rook ending. The score is 1.5-1.5 with nine more games to play.

Anand-Gelfand game 3, with again most of the theatre seats in the playing hall filled | Photos © Anastasia Karlovich

Many experts in the press room had expected that Boris Gelfand wouldn't try the Grünfeld again in his second black game, but they were wrong. It was Vishy Anand who was the first to deviate, and it wasn't a bad choice: the lively 3.f3, a move that almost without exception leads to fighting games.

Even so, Gelfand played faster than his opponent in the opening and thereby made the impression that he was following preparation longer than Anand. The Indian also looked a bit nervous, but as soon as he got into the game this was gone. It also helped that at some point White won a pawn, and the only thing Black could do was win it back somehow, and hope for a draw.

Once the fastest player on the planet, in this game Anand got into slight time trouble. (For instance, he spent 15 minutes on the relatively standard 15.Kb1.) The Indian had to make his last ten moves in about ten minutes, and perhaps that's why he missed a strong continuation in a double rook ending which might even have won the game. (Sergey Shipov thinks so.)

Although it needed further analysis, Anand was showing some disappointment during the press conference. At the same time there were also some funny moments, for instance when both players started to enter variations on a laptop, of which the screen was shown on a TV. At one moment Anand, the World Champ himself, allowed a mate in one – he joined the laughing journalists with a big smile.

Later the translator pushed the mic under the World Champion's face, and asked: "Can you please speak into the microphone?" Anand pushed it back and said: "Yes, but first let's figure out what happens, then I'll tell you!"

Find this and more in the video report below, which also includes part of Monday's press conference by Yuri Averbakh, the oldest living grandmaster in the world. He tells about the first Karpov-Kasparov match.

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[Event "WCh 2012"]
[Site "Moscow RUS"]
[Date "2012.05.14"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Anand, V."]
[Black "Gelfand, B."]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D70"]
[WhiteElo "2799"]
[BlackElo "2739"]
[Annotator "Doe,John"]
[PlyCount "74"]
[EventDate "2012.05.11"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 {Again the Gruenfeld!} 3. f3 $5 {Deviating from game 1,
where Anand went for 3.Nc3.} d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. e4 Nb6 6. Nc3 Bg7 7. Be3 O-O 8.
Qd2 e5 (8... Qd6) 9. d5 c6 10. h4 cxd5 11. exd5 N8d7 (11... h5 12. g4 hxg4 13.
h5 Bf5 14. hxg6 fxg6 15. d6 N8d7 16. Nd5 Rf7 17. Bg5 Nf6 {Moiseenko,A (2664)
-Timofeev,A (2661)/Saint Vincent 2005}) 12. h5 Nf6 13. hxg6 fxg6 14. O-O-O Bd7
15. Kb1 Rc8 16. Ka1 e4 $146 (16... Na4 17. Nge2 e4 18. d6 Re8 19. Rc1 Qa5 20.
Nxa4 Rxc1+ 21. Qxc1 Qxa4 22. Nc3 {Hillarp Persson,T (2450)-Aberg,A/Stockholm
2002}) 17. Bd4 Na4 18. Nge2 Qa5 {Making it a real pawn sac.} (18... exf3 19.
gxf3 {might be useful for White now that the move Qd2-h2 is possible in some
lines.}) 19. Nxe4 Qxd2 20. Nxf6+ {Gelfand took some time here to calculate.}
Rxf6 $1 21. Rxd2 Rf5 22. Bxg7 Kxg7 {This accurate sequence gives Black good
compensation, but is it enough?} 23. d6 Rfc5 $6 {At the press conference
Gelfand said he underestimated White's next move.} (23... Nb6 24. Nc3 Rd5 {
might be better.}) 24. Rd1 a5 25. Rh4 Rc2 26. b3 Nb2 (26... Nc3 27. Nxc3 R8xc3
28. Bd3 $1 {followed by 29.Re4(-e7) is very good for White.}) 27. Rb1 Nd3 28.
Nd4 Rd2 {It's all just possible.} 29. Bxd3 Rxd3 30. Re1 Rd2 31. Kb1 {Getting
out of a back rank mate.} Bf5+ 32. Nxf5+ gxf5 33. Re7+ Kg6 34. Rc7 ({At the
press conference the players were looking at the line} 34. d7 Rcc2 35. Rc4 Rb2+
36. Kc1 Rxa2 37. Rc8 Rf2 38. Rg8+ Kf6 39. Rf8+ Kg6 $2 ({better is} 39... Kg5
$11) 40. Re6+ Kg7 41. Rg8+ Kf7 42. Rf6+ {and wins.}) ({Anand felt that} 34. d7
Rcc2 35. Rc4 Rb2+ 36. Kc1 Rxa2 37. Rc8 Rf2 {the move} 38. Re6+ {"might win
too" but it's in fact the only winning move:} Kh5 39. g4+ $3 {(White is trying
to promote with check)} fxg4 40. fxg4+ Kxg4 41. Re4+ $1 Kh3 (41... Kg3 42. Rg8+
) 42. Rh4+ $1 Kg3 43. Rg8+ {and wins.}) ({The best try after} 34. d7 Rcc2 35.
Rc4 {might be} Rxc4 36. bxc4 {but White has good winning chances here too.})
34... Re8 35. Rh1 ({White can in fact repeat moves here with} 35. Re7 Rc8 {and
it's slightly surprising that Anand didn't for it except for the fact that he
was in slight timetrouble (about 4 minutes left with no increment) and just
missed the Rc4 idea.}) 35... Ree2 36. d7 Rb2+ 37. Kc1 Rxa2 1/2-1/2

Match score