2012 World Championship / Anand Edges Gelfand
Having assessed this position, Gelfand forgot something much simpler. “However if I have to play 14. ... Ng7 then
the whole concept of Black’s play is unfor- tunate,” said Gelfand, and indeed after 15. Kc2 with Bd3 and h2-h4 to follow, White stands well.
15. gxh5! Anand took only two minutes to check
his calculations before springing the trap shut.
15. ... Qxf3+ 16. Kc2 Qxh1 17. Qf2!, Black resigned.
In his original calculations (when play-
ing 12. ... Re8+) Gelfand had dismissed 15. gxh5 because he saw only 17. Qf4, well met by 17. ... Qg1. Now, however, Black’s queen is firmly trapped and after 17. Qf2 Nc6 (17. ... Na6 18. a3!) 18. dxc6 Qxc6 19. Bg2 White dominates the board, so Gelfand preferred to resign.
RACE TO THE FINISH LINE After the drama of Anand’s record-break-
ing miniature victory in game eight, most expected Anand to cruise to victory after such a huge psychological blow for Gelfand. However if there was a question mark over Gelfand’s mental resilience, it was removed by the ninth game, which Anand barely survived after being forced to give up his queen early in the game. “Before the match I had decided to play without paying atten- tion to the score, until game 10 at least,” said Gelfand. Two more draws took the score to 51 with one more game in regulation time
⁄2 51 ⁄2
to play. In the twelfth and final game, Anand
threw everything at Gelfand, with an open- ing pawn sacrifice described by Gelfand as brilliant. Yet the Israeli’s reaction was equally sensational. After thinking for almost 40 minutes on a single move, Gelfand found a counter-sacrifice which was later described as the greatest single move of the match. “For Boris to have the confidence to play that move, even though he knew it was our preparation, was very brave,” said Anand’s second Rustam Kasimdzhanov.” “I was fully concentrated and my head
was working well,” said Gelfand. “I realized that I had to play this move to change the course of the game.”
-
10. ... c4!! The move White thought he was prevent-
ing with his last move, 10. Nbd2. “Boris reacted well,” said Anand. “10. ... c4 showed that he was very alert.” A more greedy player might have gone for 10. ... Qd5 11. 0-0 Qd4 12. Rb1 Qxh4 with two extra pawns but difficult times ahead after 13. Re1 f6 14. Ne4, threatening 15. Nd6+! followed by 16. Re4. Instead the game continued ...
11. Nxc4 Ba6 12. Qf3 Qd5! 13. Qxd5 cxd5 14. Nxe5 f6 15. Nf3 e5
... and Black had no problems in the
resulting queenless middlegame. The action-packed twelfth game ended in
a draw, meaning that rapid tiebreakers were now required to decide the world title.
On May 30 the playing hall at the
Tretyakov Gallery was filled, with the over- flow watching on giant screens inside and outside the historic art gallery. The press room also could barely hold the extra num- bers, with hundreds of reporters from around the world hanging on every move. (400 jour- nalists were accredited for the match.) Anand and Gelfand played four games at
a time limit of 25 minutes plus 10 seconds per move per player. Despite plenty of chances, Gelfand was unable to break through Anand’s defenses in any of the four games and, showing both speed and cool- ness under pressure, Anand triumphed 21
⁄2 -11 ⁄2
61. Rh7? An extraordinary mistake, played at
blitz speed even though Gelfand had 45 seconds on the clock. The obvious 61. Kg3 wins—“I would play this in 999 games out of 1,000,” said Gelfand—but both play- ers were under the misapprehension that then Black could achieve the famed Van- cura position by playing 61. ... Kb7 62. Kg4 Rc5 followed by ... Rc6. With one extra move—if the black rook
was on c6 rather than c5, this position would indeed be the Vancura draw, but here White has time for the simple 63. Rf8 with an easy win. Unfortunately for Gelfand, with Anand
playing quickly and confidently and apparently headed directly for the feared Vancura draw, Gelfand was convinced by his opponent’s body language to prevent 61. ... Kb7—and to pull back to even in tiebreaker games.
61. ... Kd6 62. Kg3 Ke6 63. Kg4 Rh1, Draw agreed.
“I am just relieved and just happy to still
be world champion,” said Anand. “This match has been so tense. It has only been three weeks here in Moscow but I feel as if I have spent months here.” Gelfand was gracious in defeat, saying
“I played against a great master who was absolutely capable of handling some of the new things thrown at him by my team.” “It wasn't pre-planned. I just started
to retain the world title and take the
winner’s purse of $1.4 million. Gelfand received $1.15 million as compensation for the shattering of his life-long dream. The moment that Gelfand will regret most, came in the third playoff game.
World Chess Championship Match 2012 Rating
1
Viswanathan Anand (India) Boris Gelfand (Israel)
40 August 2012 | Chess Life 2 3 4
playing fast, like the old days,” said Anand. The sparkle which Kasparov had noted was missing from Anand’s eyes in recent times seemed to be back and when asked about possible retirement Anand hit back with “Why now?”
A move worthy of a champonship GM Viswanathan Anand (FIDE 2791, IND) GM Boris Gelfand (FIDE 2727, ISR) World Championship, Moscow (12)
Regrets GM Boris Gelfand (FIDE 2727, ISR) GM Viswanathan Anand (FIDE 2791, IND) World Championship, Moscow (3rd playoff)
5
6
7 8
9 10 11 12
2791 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ 2727 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 0 ½ ½ ½ ½
Points R1 R2 R3 R4 6 6
½ 1 ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ ½
Total 8½ 7½
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