Gelfand beats Anand in 7th World Championship game (VIDEO)
Boris Gelfand took the lead in the World Championship match in Moscow, Russia on Sunday by beating Viswanathan Anand in 38 moves. Again a Chebanenko Semi-Slav came on the board and in his 4th white game, the challenger was again the first to deviate, going for 6.c5 instead of 6.b3 (games 2 and 4) or 6.Qc2 (game 6). Black kept struggling with a bad light-squared bishop throughout the game, and at move 38 Anand resigned. It was the first time since 1993 that Gelfand won a classical game against Anand.
As Anand resigns, Gelfand wins first match game | Photo by Alexey Yushenkov
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Anand and Gelfand shake hands at the start of the first game that wouldn't end in a draw
Even members of the Anand team showed signs of relief on Sunday afternoon as the "draw ban" had been broken, despite the fact that it was their man who had lost. These members, as well as all other Anand fans, might want to remember 1995, when it was Garry Kasparov who lost the first game after eight draws, but won that World Championship match convincingly anyway (against... Anand).
On this Sunday we got to see Boris Gelfand at his best: from the opening he got a slight, strategic advantage which he never really let go of. At the same time we didn't get to see Vishy Anand at his best: from a slightly passive position, this time he didn't defend accurately, as he had done in his previous black games. "I started to drift a little bit after the opening," he admitted afterwards.
Anand didn't hide his disappointment at the press conference
The World Champ gave his opponent too much time to build up, and after another inaccuracy, suddenly there was no way back. White exchanged all of Black's active pieces (including the queens), and focused on that one problem Black couldn't solve from the start: his light-squared bishop. Ironically, it was this bishop that was eventually trapped, and with accurate play Gelfand decided the game on move 38.
Boris Gelfand grabs the lead, and needs 2.5 points out of 5 games to become World Champion
At the press conference, Gelfand avoided speaking about emotions, and instead preferred to describe the game in his usual, objective way. Anand limited himself to short, sometimes one-word answers, underlining deep disappointment on his side.
After Anand's loss today and Nakamura's win in Saint Louis yesterday, the top 10 of the live ratings looks as follows:
- Carlsen (2835.0)
- Aronian (2823.2)
- Kramnik (2802.8)
- Radjabov (2784.0)
- Nakamura (2782.6)
- Anand (2779.7)
- Karjakin (2779.0)
- Caruana (2772.0)
- Morozevich (2769.0)
- Ivanchuk (2767.4)
The importance of (live) ratings shouldn't be overrated of course, but still it is hard to believe that Vishy Anand, one of the strongest players that ever lived, is now out of the world's top 5...
The score is 4.0-3.0 for Gelfand. On Monday game 8 will be played, of a total of 12 games. Venue is the State Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow, Russia. The winner will receive US $1.5 million, while the loser will earn US $1 million.
[Event "WCh 2012"]
[Site "Moscow RUS"]
[Date "2012.05.20"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Gelfand, B."]
[Black "Anand, V."]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D45"]
[WhiteElo "2739"]
[BlackElo "2799"]
[Annotator "Doe,John"]
[PlyCount "75"]
[EventDate "2012.05.11"]
1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e3 e6 5. Nf3 a6 6. c5 $5 ({Previously Gelfand
had tried} 6. b3 {and}) (6. Qc2) 6... Nbd7 (6... b6 7. cxb6 (7. b4 $6 a5) 7...
Nbd7 8. Na4 Nxb6 9. Bd2 Nxa4 10. Qxa4 Qb6 11. Rc1 Bd7 12. Ne5 Qxb2 13. Nxd7
Nxd7 14. Bd3 Rb8 15. Ke2 {Euwe,M-Alekhine,A/Netherlands 1935}) 7. Qc2 $5 b6 8.
cxb6 (8. b4 a5 9. b5 $5 Bb7) 8... Nxb6 {The novelty.} 9. Bd2 c5 10. Rc1 {
Gelfand was still playing quickly.} cxd4 11. exd4 Bd6 12. Bg5 O-O 13. Bd3 h6
14. Bh4 Bb7 15. O-O Qb8 $5 {An interesting moment in the game.} 16. Bg3 (16.
Bxf6 gxf6 17. Ne2 {and Ng3-h5 was the main alternative, but Gelfand prefers a
more quiet continuation that ensures a slight advantage.}) 16... Rc8 17. Qe2
Bxg3 18. hxg3 Qd6 19. Rc2 (19. Ne5 {looks premature because of} Qb4 20. Qd2 Nc4
{but actually after}) (19. Ne5 Qb4 {White does have} 20. Rfe1 {threatening
Nxf7.}) 19... Nbd7 20. Rfc1 Rab8 {Afterwards Anand felt that such a move was a
sign that Black is not doing well.} 21. Na4 Ne4 $6 ({Black should have played}
21... Rxc2 22. Qxc2 (22. Rxc2 Bc6) 22... Rc8 23. Qxc8+ Bxc8 24. Rxc8+ Nf8 25.
Nc5 Qb6 {which is unclear.}) 22. Rxc8+ Bxc8 23. Qc2 $1 ({Much better than} 23.
Bxe4 dxe4 24. Qxe4 Bb7 25. Qe3 Bc6) 23... g5 $6 ({Better was} 23... Ndf6 24.
Ne5 Bd7 25. Nc5 Be8) 24. Qc7 $1 {Now White has a clear, perhaps already
winning advantage. Gelfand will play accurately until the very end.} Qxc7 25.
Rxc7 f6 26. Bxe4 dxe4 27. Nd2 f5 28. Nc4 Nf6 29. Nc5 Nd5 30. Ra7 Nb4 31. Ne5
Nc2 32. Nc6 Rxb2 33. Rc7 Rb1+ 34. Kh2 e3 35. Rxc8+ Kh7 36. Rc7+ Kh8 37. Ne5 e2
38. Nxe6 ({Not the other way around:} 38. Ng6+ $2 Kg8 39. Nxe6 Rh1+ $1 40. Kxh1
e1=Q+ 41. Kh2 Qxe6) ({Now} 38. Nxe6 e1=Q {is mate in two:} 39. Ng6+ Kg8 40.
Rg7#) 1-0
Match score
Peter Doggers joined a chess club a month before turning 15 and still plays for it. He used to be an active tournament player and holds two IM norms. Peter has a Master of Arts degree in Dutch Language & Literature. He briefly worked at New in Chess, then as a Dutch teacher and then in a project for improving safety and security in Amsterdam schools. Between 2007 and 2013 Peter was running ChessVibes, a major source for chess news and videos acquired by Chess.com in October 2013. As our Director News & Events, Peter writes many of our news reports. In the summer of 2022, The Guardian’s Leonard Barden described him as “widely regarded as the world’s best chess journalist.”
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