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Candidates Matches


Chess 1,Poker 0


At the Kazan Candidates Matches, “Ol’ Man” Gelfand impresses and Kamsky narrowly misses.


By GM Ian Rogers


A


n audacious attempt to become world chess champion by applying poker strategy to chess has failed,


albeit narrowly. Boris Gelfand defeated Alexander


Grischuk in the sixth and last game of their Candidates final in Kazan, Russia, to win the match 31


⁄2 -21 ⁄2


popular, if unlikely, victor of the Candi- dates series—and whether he can provide a serious challenge for Anand is a big question—but it was the amazing suc- cess of Grischuk that divided chess fans. Grischuk, who shares his time between


chess and poker, had come into the world championship qualifiers as a late replace- ment for Magnus Carlsen. Having decided that his blitz chess


prowess would hold him in good stead if he reached any tiebreakers, Grischuk


18 Chess Life — August 2011 and become the next chal-


lenger for Viswanathan Anand’s world title. Belarus-born Israeli Gelfand, 41, was a


adopted the poker strategy of throwing in his hand if the cards did not favor him. In chess terms this meant agreeing to


short draws with white if he felt he did not have a clear advantage. Another poker-playing grandmaster,


Denmark’s Sune Berg Hansen, described Grischuk's strategy in this way: “Grischuk has the match equity—a term that came from backgammon—in mind all the time. “He is sure he has an edge in rapid


chess so Grischuk picks his spots and tries to avoid unprofitable situations, just giving up instead of gambling when he has nothing—avoiding dragons instead of slaying them. Also he is very realistic—he believes he won't beat [these guys] from an equal position.” Grischuk’s plan—an acknowledgement


that your rivals are probably better play- ers than you but nonetheless a plan which requires great determination and


considerable defensive skill with Black— almost succeeded. Against Candidates favorite Levon Aron-


ian in the quarterfinals, Grischuk, 27, was in trouble with black but hung on to draw his four classical games before outplaying Aronian in the rapid tiebreakers. In his semifinal against another favorite,


Vladimir Kramnik, Grischuk took his poker strategy to an extreme which angered spec- tators around the world; he did not try to fight with the white pieces in either classi- cal or rapid games. All of his games with white against Kramnik were drawn in 25 moves or less, the final rapid game in a ridiculous eight moves. Yet Grischuk duly won the blitz tiebreaker with ease. Grischuk himself admitted that these


were his tactics against Kramnik; “Some- one who’s trying to win a match does it any way he can. In fact, I simply didn’t know what to do. I didn’t want to go for a worse


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