Gelfand Comes Out Fighting In Game 1
The first game of a big match can often be something of a quiet affair, but that was emphatically not the case today. Boris Gelfand took the fight to champion Vishy Anand by playing the double-edged Grunfeld Defence in game one of their match for the World Chess Championship.
Anand appeared unfazed by this opening choice, which Gelfand has hardly ever played before, and chose a daring response himself with 9.d5!? Gelfand grabbed the a2 pawn with his Queen, forcing the champion to prove he had enough compensation.
A complicated position resulted, and Anand sank deep into thought after 13...Qa5, with many commentators preferring the Israeli's position.
Anand on a sticky wicket? The champion was under pressure...
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...as the packed audience watched behind a giant glass screen...
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...and Nigel Short (right) provided entertaining commentary with host Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam
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A good start and a moral victory for the challenger Boris Gelfand, who will have the white pieces for game 2 tomorrow (12 May).
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.
