Deadlock Continues In Moscow
The 12-game world chess championship match between Vishy Anand and Boris Gelfand in Moscow has now reached the halfway point without a decisive game.
The game was another Slav, and this time Gelfand varied from his earlier attempts with 6.Qc2, but a well prepared Anand achieved equality without any difficulty.
Another rest day is scheduled for tomorrow, so the second half of the match begins with game 7 on Sunday 20 May, when Anand will again have the black pieces.
| Name | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | Pts |
| Vishy Anand | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | . | . | . | . | . | . | 3 |
| Boris Gelfand | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | . | . | . | . | . | . | 3 |
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Garry Kasparov visited the event today and gave a press conference for the world's media. The former world chess champion also made a surprise guest appearance in the commentary room..
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Garry Kasparov holds court at the press conference...
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...and with Peter Svidler (right) in the commentary room
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The video of the day's action, with the comments of Peter Svidler and Garry Kasparov on the game and other chess-related matters is available for replay at the official website.
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).
Kasparov picture by Alexey Yushenkov at the official match website.
