Breakthrough At The World Chess Championship!
After six straight draws in the first half of the World Chess Championship between Vishy Anand and Boris Gelfand in Moscow, the second half of the match finally produced a decisive game.
Vishy Anand had the black pieces for the second game in a row, and once again the Slav defence with a6 appeared.
However, this time Gelfand chose the 6.c5 line and Anand drifted into a worse position. Suddenly the champion faced insurmountable problems and had to resign.
So Boris Gelfand has made a crucial breakthrough in his challenge for the world title. It is not only his first win of the match, but the first time he has defeated Anand in a classical game for nearly 20 years!
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| Name | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | Pts |
| Vishy Anand | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | . | . | . | . | . | 3 |
| Boris Gelfand | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | . | . | . | . | . | 4 |
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Boris Gelfand closes in on the world champion...
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Anand realises that the game is lost.
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Some doubters claimed before the match that Boris Gelfand didn't deserve a shot at the world chess championship title because he was only ranked #20 in the world, but now he stands just 5 games away from becoming the champion.
Vishy Anand has the white pieces in game 8 tomorrow, and desperately needs a win to get his title defence back on track.
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All games start at 15:00 local time (11:00 UTC). The time control is 120 minutes for the first 40 moves, then 60 minutes for the next 20 moves, and a final 15 minutes to a finish with a 30 seconds increment after move 61.
The prize fund is $2.55 million, with the winner receiving $1.53 million (60%), the loser $1.02 million (40%).
If the match is level after 12 games there will be a 4-game rapid match tie-break at 25 minutes per game plus 10 second increment. If scores are still level a 2-game blitz match will be played at 5 minutes plus 3 second increment. If the deadlock is still not broken, there can be up to 5 of the these 2-game blitz matches before a sudden-death blitz game will decide the winner (5 minutes for white, 4 minutes for black, and a 3 second increment from move 61).
The full rules for the match can be found here (pdf).
The match schedule is below (times are Moscow time = UTC+4 hours):
| Date | Event | Time | Date | Event | Time | |
| 11-May | Game 1 | 15:00 | 21-May | Game 8 | 15:00 | |
| 12-May | Game 2 | 15:00 | 22-May | Rest day | ||
| 13-May | Rest day | 23-May | Game 9 | 15:00 | ||
| 14-May | Game 3 | 15:00 | 24-May | Game 10 | 15:00 | |
| 15-May | Game 4 | 15:00 | 25-May | Rest day | ||
| 16-May | Rest day | 26-May | Game 11 | 15:00 | ||
| 17-May | Game 5 | 15:00 | 27-May | Rest day | ||
| 18-May | Game 6 | 15:00 | 28-May | Game 12 | 15:00 | |
| 19-May | Rest day | 29-May | Rest day | |||
| 20-May | Game 7 | 15:00 | 30-May | Tie break | 12:00 |
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The official match website has video commentary in Russian and English. The English language host is Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam, who will be joined by Nigel Short (on 11–12 May), Jan Timman (14–15 May), Joel Lautier (17 May), Peter Svidler (18, 23–24 and 28 May), Peter Leko (20–21 May), and Vladimir Kramnik (26 May).
Screenshots taken from the official coverage, which is available for replay at the match website.
Computer analysis from the official website.
