Gelfand-Anand G6, another Chebanenko Semi-Slav, drawn after 29 moves (VIDEO with Kasparov)

Game 6 in the World Championship match between Boris Gelfand and Viswanathan Anand ended in a draw as well. Anand repeated his Chebanenko Semi-Slav and Gelfand tried something different on move 6. He won a pawn, but didn't see a way to finish his development without giving it back quickly. After a few accurate moves by Anand a drawn rook ending came on the board.

Saturday is a rest day. The score is 3-3 at half time; six more games are scheduled in the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow.

The trend hasn't changed yet, and the draws just keep coming! Also in the 6th match game we didn't see fireworks, but two well prepared gentlemen playing moves on a high level and Black (Anand) putting up another good defence to hold the balance. Whether you like it or not, this is the chess that's being played between Gelfand and Anand, two players who continue to be very cautious. The nightmare scenario of twelve draws followed by a tiebreak is getting more realistic by the day...

Again a Chebanenko/Semi-Slav came on the board, and Gelfand deviated from his first two white games, by switching to 6.Qc2 instead of 6.b3. Anand sacrificed a pawn, which was most probably still part of his preparation, and then Gelfand quickly returned the favour.

I calculated some lines but I didn't see a way to bring out my pieces [and keep the pawn].

The 6th day in Moscow, however, was dominated by the presence of Garry Kasparov. It's quite telling to see that, seven years after his retirement, the 13th World Champion still attracts more attention from spectators and journalists than Anand and Gelfand. Just after the game started, Kasparov gave a 50-minute press conference and more media were present than ever before.

He started by repeating what he had said before the match: that for the first time in a long period, the World Championship match had nothing to do with a fight for the title of best player in the world. Confronted with this statement, Anand said he "didn't have time" to deal with these things. Gelfand felt that Kasparov merely wanted to remind people how good he was. You can see all this in the video below.

After the press conference, Kasparov joined the commentary team to share his thoughts on the official website. He was especially critical – or rather disappointed – of Anand.

It is not the number of tournament wins — I can't remember when Vishy last won a tournament — but the sparkle in his eyes. Even in 2010 in some games you could see the spark of genius but in most games he was struggling.

Then, Kasparov gave a simul to about twenty talented kids, very talented in fact. They had actually qualified for the simul by winning different youth events. Normally Kasparov doesn't play opponents rated above about 2000 Elo, but it was clear that several kids were actually stronger than that, and Garry Kimovich was clearly struggling.

Saturday is a rest day; on Sunday Gelfand will have White again because the colors are reversed at half-time.

[Event "WCh 2012"]
[Site "Moscow RUS"]
[Date "2012.05.18"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Gelfand, B."]
[Black "Anand, V."]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D45"]
[WhiteElo "2739"]
[BlackElo "2799"]
[Annotator "Doe,John"]
[PlyCount "58"]
[EventDate "2012.05.11"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e3 e6 5. Nf3 a6 6. Qc2 (6. b3 Bb4 7. Bd2 Nbd7
8. Bd3 O-O 9. O-O Bd6 10. Qc2 (10. Rc1 e5 11. cxd5 cxd5 12. e4 dxe4 13. Nxe4
Nxe4 14. Bxe4 Nf6 {Gelfand-Anand (02), Moscow 2012}) 10... e5 11. cxd5 cxd5 12.
e4 exd4 13. Nxd5 Nxd5 14. exd5 Nf6 15. h3 Bd7 16. Rad1 {Gelfand-Anand (04),
Moscow 2012}) 6... c5 {Now one of the ideas of postponing ...Nbd7 becomes
clear: the knight can now go to c6 which is especially good against an early
Qc2.} 7. cxd5 exd5 8. Be2 Be6 9. O-O Nc6 10. Rd1 cxd4 11. Nxd4 Nxd4 12. Rxd4
Bc5 13. Rd1 Qe7 (13... Rc8 14. Qd3 O-O 15. b3 Qd7 16. Bb2 Bf5 17. Qd2 d4 18.
Na4 dxe3 19. Qxd7 exf2+ 20. Kf1 Nxd7 21. Nxc5 Nxc5 22. Ba3 g6 23. Rac1 b6 24.
Rd6 {Li,C (2703)-Bu Xiangzhi (2668)/Beijing 2012}) 14. Bf3 O-O $146 {The
novelty. Black gives up the weak d5 pawn immediately.} (14... Rd8 15. b3 O-O
16. Bb2 Rc8 17. Nxd5 Bxd5 18. Bxd5 Bxe3 19. Qe2 Nxd5 20. Rxd5 Bg5 21. Re5 Qf6
22. Re1 h6 23. h4 Qg6 24. hxg5 Rc2 25. Qe3 Rxb2 26. gxh6 Qxh6 27. Qxh6 gxh6 28.
R5e2 Rxe2 29. Rxe2 Rc8 {1/2-1/2 (29) Lenic,L (2623)-Rublevsky,S (2678)/
Aix-les-Bains 2011}) 15. Nxd5 Bxd5 16. Bxd5 Nxd5 17. Rxd5 Rac8 {Now White has
to find the best way to finish his development.} 18. Bd2 {Gelfand decides to
return the material immediately.} (18. Qe2 Qe4 19. Qd3 Qxd3 20. Rxd3 Rfd8 21.
Rxd8+ Rxd8 22. Kf1 Rd1+ 23. Ke2 Rg1 24. g3 Be7 $1 {Shipov}) 18... Bxe3 19. Bc3
Bb6 20. Qf5 {White still has a tiny edge, but Anand was happy to have found
the accurate queen moves that follow.} Qe6 $1 21. Qf3 (21. Qxe6 Bxf2+) 21... f6
22. h4 Qc6 $1 23. h5 Rfd8 24. Rxd8+ Rxd8 25. Qxc6 bxc6 26. Re1 Kf7 27. g4 Bd4
28. Rc1 Bxc3 29. Rxc3 Rd4 1/2-1/2

Match score