Boris Gelfand became the challenger after winning the eight-player Candidates Tournament in May 2011. Originally, the intended venue for the candidate matches was Baku, but Levon Aronian announced that he would not play in Azerbaijan and matches involving him were to be held in a different country. The venue was changed to Kazan, Russia. The Azerbaijani nominee Shakhriyar Mamedyarov still remained in the tournament despite the tournament not being held in Azerbaijan. Topalov (through his manager) indicates that he would still refuse to play a match against any Russian in Kazan; this could not theoretically happen until the Candidates final, since Kramnik and Grischuk are the only Russians in the Candidates tournament and play in the lower half of the bracket, while Topalov plays in the upper bracket; at the time of this statement, Kramnik was the only Russian in the fieldIn November 2010, then world No. 2 Magnus Carlsen withdrew from the Candidates’ Tournament citing the selection process as not sufficiently modern and fair. He was replaced by Alexander Grischuk.
The world championship match was scheduled from 10 to 31 of May in Tretyakov Gallery in May 2012 in Moscow. The match regulations included with 12 games with classical time control. In case of a draw result the winner will be determined in the tie-break. The prize fund of the match was USD 2,550,000, divided between the winner and the loser in the proportion of 60% – 40%.
The final agreement was signed by the players, was signed by the FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov and the Head of Supervisory Board of the Russian chess federation, Assistant to the President of the Russian Federation Arkady Dvorkovich,
Having signed the agreement Viswanathan Anand said: “I’m glad to sign the contract and to have the opportunity to come back to Moscow in May 2012 to defend my title. We have just visited the venue of the future tournament – the Gallery is very beautiful! I hope we will be inspired by the Gallery to play beautiful and artistic chess.”
‘I have an excellent opponent. I expect the match to be a very exciting one. I think that Moscow chess society deserves to have such the tournament’.
Boris Gelfand on his part noted: “It is a great honour to me to sign the contract. It is good that the match will be held in such a wonderful place. I would like to thank all those people who made it possible to organize the event“. About his chances, he said: ‘We will see, but for sure the world Chess Championship match is most important event that exist. And I am very glad that I have posibility to play the match, and right now I am very seriously preparing for it. Sure, that’s important to me, that in May I will succeed in playing the chess that I know‘.
Ilia Smirin about Boris’s chances: ‘In reality I think he has good chances. His big motivation is very important. From the point of view of pure chess Anand has a very small advantage, but from the point of view of charecter and motivation I prefer Gelfand.’
Some have questioned whether defending champion Anand will feel intimidated against a player older than himself in a match of such importance.
“I mean, he’s older, but he’s just marginally older,” the Indian chess master explained. “In a sense, it’s really not youth versus experience or anything like that. I would just say that it’s interesting to play someone completely from my generation. We started playing each other in 1989 roughly, and now, many, many years later we are playing in the world championship. But when you sit at the board, you’re just playing a strong opponent and that’s it.”
Gelfand played down the idea that the match-up would be akin to the legendary Karpov vs. Kasparov duels, but did reveal his special secret.“What I won’t be doing is eating any omelets,” he said. “But with regards to the match, I hope it will be a spectacular one. Of course, we all want to perform well, but we’ll see how we go and we’ll see a result in three weeks’ time.”
Arkady Dvorkovich, Chairman of the Supervisory Council of the Russian Chess Federation, stressed it was a good thing that the final was being held on neutral ground. “For the Russian Chess federation, the fact that it’s organizing the world championship match is a confirmation that Russia is a leading chess nation,” he said. “And although we don’t have anyone represented at this particular match, we believe that holding the match independently, independently of the participant’s citizenship is important.”
Game 1
Game 2
After Black’s 14th move Boris Gelfand thought for a long time and finally chose a line which led to an endgame with a slight edge for White. According to Gelfand, a seemingly sharper continuation 15. Bg5 would actually have resulted in an equal position. At the end of the game a few precise moves helped Viswanathan Anand to get sufficient counterplay. On the 25th move the challenger offered a draw, which the champion accepted.
Game 3
Anand came prepared for the Gruenfeld after meeting it in game 1 and played the sharp 3.f3. However it seems that it was Gelfand that landed the first important blow. 14…Bd7 15.Kb1 Rc8 16.d6 has been seen before and white has scored 4/4 but Anand smelled a rat and understood he would be facing 16…e4 with a dangerous initiative for black. Anand tucked his King in the corner with 16.Ka1 instead which still was met by 16…e4. The next few moves were very difficult to get right for the players with many plausible moves that will no doubt be tested either in this match or by others. Gelfand would have equalised if he’d found the short range tactic 23…Nb6 24.Nc3 Rd5!! winning back his pawn. After 23….Rfc5 24.Rd1! black had to work hard to hold the position and it seems likely it will turn out Anand missed something in the next few moves. As it was Anand looked increasingly nervous as his clock ticked down to a minute a move for the last 10. Anand’s 35.Rh1 abruptly called an end to winning tries as it is a tacit draw offer and Anand offered a draw with a look after seeing Gelfand’s move 37 and the players shook hands.
Boris Gelfand: I understood the position was dangerous I underestimated a few moves. I thought that 23…Rfc5 could win back the pawn but in underestimated a bit the move 24.Rd1. And here I had to fight for the draw. I was quite on edge for some time during the game.
23… Nb6 24. Nc3 Rd5 “If I had calculated it I would have made it.”
Game 4
The opponents continued their Slav Defence duel that started in the second game of the match. White was the first to deviate from the previous game and managed to get the so-called two-bishop advantage in the middlegame. After a series of exchanges, the game transformed into an ending with somewhat better chances for White. In the resulting technical position, the game could have had either of two results: a draw or a victory for White. It turned out, however, that the white pieces were not sufficiently well coordinated and that the bishop’s advantage over the knight was not enough for a win: with precise play, Viswanathan Anand built a “fortress” and deflected all threats. A draw on the 34th move.
During the press conference, Boris Gelfand noted that there were no critical moments in the game as such, but the question was whether White would manage to gain an advantage or Black would find a clear way to equalise. “Even though I got the two-bishop advantage, the coordination between the pieces was not very good, so Black did not have any major problems.” The opponents considered the possibility of going into a knight against bishop endgame after 32. Rc6, but concluded that the white king lacked the tempo to occupy square d4, so White’s chances in this variation were also minimal.
The challenger showed the position after 18…h6, which produced a great aesthetic impression on him. At that moment, each square on the d-file was occupied by black and white pieces, Black’s rooks were on squares c8 and e8, and the whole array resembled a T-shaped figure that is rarely seen on a chessboard.
Assessing the situation in the match after the first four games, the world champion said the match was just developing and the rivals were still trying each other out. “You don’t really want to start doing evaluations, but so far it’s a pretty tough match,” commented Viswanathan Anand. Boris Gelfand refused to give any assessment of individual parts of the match and stressed that any analysis was pointless until after the 12th game.
Game 5
Anand started the game by switching the opening move to 1.e4 perhaps to sharpen the play, but Gelfand continued with the Sicilian Sveshnikov and the resulting position left the World Champion unprepared. The game reached a standard position after the theoretical moves in the opening, with a bind in the centre for White and a backward d6 pawn and weak d6 square for Black that is compensated with his activity. In the next moves Gelfand successfully equalised the position and left his opponent with minor chances. The game ended in a draw after 27 moves were played
Game 6
The Slav Defence was played. On the move fourteen the World Champion, who was Black, used a new move: he sacrificed a pawn, counting on compensation sufficient for an equality. Gelfand decided to return the pawn with his move 18, satisfied with a microscopic advantage in the position. Anand was precise in his defence, made several exchanges and equalised. After Black’s move 29 the peace was agreed.
A.KARPOV: I think this is one of the problems we have now with the World Championship matches. I don’t want to even recall the times when there were 4 and 6 games in the match; but I think that even 12 games is a quite short distance. I wouldn’t recommend the number of games that were in my matches, I mean the shortest ones consisting of 24 games. I think that the players nowadays are not used to such extreme pressure and if they’d be forced to play a 24-game match, I’m not sure if they’d manage to reach the last game. So, I think that the minimum number of games in the match should be 14 and I’d recommend 16 or 18.
We can see that both participants understand that they can’t lose even one game because as I’ve mentioned this is a short match and that’s why they’re playing consciously. They are trying to get a slight advantage, but first of all they care about safety. This is a well known tactics and a possible one, but the chess lovers as well as journalists doesn’t really like it. So, let’s hope the second part of the match will be more exciting.
Game 7
Gelfand scored the first win of the match. Commentators considered 23…g5? to be the critical mistake, allowing Gelfand to get a winning position with 24 Qc7 Qxc7 25 Rxc7. Anand sacrificed his bishop for counterplay but it was not enough. In the final position, Black can queen his pawn but cannot stop the threat of Ng6+ followed by Rg7 mate
Game 8
The eighth game of the match began exactly like the third one, which was the only game where Boris Gelfand was on the verge of defeat but still managed to survive.There’s no surprise that as soon as on move 3 Black moved away from the previous games. A pawn structure appeared on the board that is typical of Saemisch system of the King’s Indian, but there was a significant difference in the position of the pieces: both white knights were on the queenside. Trying to use this circumstance, Black decided to go for complications on the kingside, thus provoking Viswanathan Anand to push forward the g-pawn, which would weaken his king’s position. The world champion picked up the gauntlet and sharp play started where the opponents had to calculate a great number of lines. Gelfand miscalculated one of them: as he admitted, when making his move 14…Qf6, he hadn’t noticed the reply 17.Qf2!, after which Black’s position immediately became hopeless. Since he failed to find a defence against large material losses or a mate attack, the challenger resigned.
During the press conference, Boris Gelfand said that he strayed away from the continuation that we had seen in the first and third games at move number six, by choosing to play 6. Qc2, a move that he had previously used in practice. Black had an isolated pawn in the centre, but the Champion decided to sacrifice it and castled short on the fourteenth move (14…0-0. Novelty). The Israeli grandmaster refused to say if he had been surprised by Anand’s play. “After the 17th move, it became clear that black had a strong shape. White could not bring its pieces out and therefore had to give up a pawn,” the challenger summed up. He further noted that only home analysis would show whether he could have tried to save the pawn and play for something more. Both competitors agreed that, despite the material balance that had been restored, white nevertheless continued to apply pressure as its pieces were in more active positions. But black was able to neutralise this threat with a series of precise moves. Viswanathan Anand was happy with the moves 20…Qe6, 21…f6, 22…Qc6, after which black was able to simplify the game and move into a drawing endgame.
Boris Gelfand commented on Garry Kasparov’s statement that “the uniqueness of this match lies in the fact that, for the first time in the modern history of the game, the World Championship Match will not decide who the strongest player in the world is.”
“Clearly, Garry wants to remind those who have forgotten that he was once the strongest chess player in the world. I believe that, not only in chess, but in life in general, people place too much stock in ratings – they pay attention to which TV shows have the highest ratings, how many friends they have on Facebook, and it’s funny. The best shows often have low ratings and it is impossible to have thousands of real friends.” For his part, the World Champion said that he tries not to pay attention to such comments and only focuses his thoughts exclusively on what is going on in the match.”
Game 9
In the ninth game, Viswanathan Anand decided against the Slav Defence and played the Nimzo-Indian Defence with black. In response, Boris Gelfand selected the solid Rubinstein System. Following the opening, White acquired moveable pawns in the centre and an advantage of two bishops; at the same time the Black positions had no weaknesses. Soon the challenger had an opportunity to deal a blow to the centre with a move of 19.с5. As a result of this tactical operation, White won a queen for a rook, bishop and pawn. Experts believed that a draw was the most likely outcome, but White nevertheless still had a small chance for victory. Gelfand tried long and hard to undermine the black defence, although he may not have acted as accurately as he should have. White managed to open the kingside, however Anand successfully restructured his forces and with his concise play fought off all threats from his opponent after building a fortress. The opponents agreed to a draw on the forty-ninth move.
Svidler: The game is over. It’s mildly surprising because if you wanted to finish, a3 is a surprising move on which to finish because it seems like the move that actually opens up the position. Lets see why it has been offered for a second before we switch to the press conference.
For Boris I think it is a very reasonable result. He was never better today despite what I may have been saying around move 10. I think he was doing fine but no more than fine. A draw with black in the particular match situation they’re both in right now is a fine result. And now we’e getting into properly nervous territory. There’s two games to go. Each one will have a white after the rest day. It’s important to note that those two games are not immediately following one another. there’s a free day after game 11. So both of them will have an additional day to prepare something for the white pieces.
Game 10
Judith Polgar: “The battle for the crown is getting close to the end. Very solid game. Yes, because they both know that after losing at this final stage of the match it would be extremely difficult to balance again! It seems that neither player would mind if the match would be 6-6, and then the play offs would decide about the crown. Anand avoided the Svesnikov variation as it happened in game 5. Vishy went to a sideline with 3.Bb5 which he barely ever played in classical games. He always goes to the sharp main lines. Anand could not get any advantage today. Even in the final position it was about equal. Maybe with black I would have played it little on. Of course, by now they are trying to save energy for the last 2 clashes. I really hope that we will see some interesting, bloody games at the end of the match) I remember when the Kasparov-Karpov world championship match was going on in Seville, in 1987 (I was 11 years old) and in a 24-game match Karpov took the lead by winning the 23rd game. So Kasparov had to win the last game to equalize, and to remain the WC at. (that time the WC had the draw advantage) I remember how fantastic it was to watch them play. Maybe it was not that amusing for the two Ks though.”
Game 11
During the eleventh game of the match, just as in the ninth, Viswanathan Anand once again selected the Nimzo-Indian Defence for Black. Even during the early stages, the world champion surprised his opponent with the rare move of 8…Сd7, forcing the contender to think long and hard about his next move. The opponents traded queens rather quickly and moved on to the multi-piece endgame. Once again Boris Gelfand held the advantage of two bishops, however his so-called “hanging pawns” in the centre came under fire from enemy rooks. On the twentieth move, the Indian grandmaster launched tactical operations in the centre, preventing his opponent from stabilising the situation and strengthening his advantage. Running out of time to think, Gelfand decided to simplify things after which their positions were completely equalised. On the twenty-fourth move, the opponents agreed to a draw.
Game 12
In the final game of the match with classical time control, the opponents once again played the Rossolimo variation of the Sicilian Defence. Unlike the previous game when this system was used, the world champion managed to provide a surprise, sacrificing the pawn with e5 on the eighth move. Boris Gelfand thought long and hard before finding an interesting solution – on the tenth move he voluntarily returned the material and then sacrificed another pawn in order to reveal the position and activate his pieces. The challenger’s decision proved to be justified as he was well compensated. Anand agreed that he was lacking the sufficient resources to fight for an advantage, eased the situation in the centre, and on the twenty-second move the opponents agreed to a draw.
Kramnik: You just play Nd2, OK absolutely zero risk for white and black still is pawn down. Not a good sign for Anand fans because it means he cannot really hold the pressure. At least for today. It’s one of the strangest decisions I ever saw in the World Championship matches.
Kramnik: Maybe another confirmation of my idea that probably we should abandon draw offers, at least in the World Championship Matches. It’s a really strange end to this actually very interesting game, really quite a lot of entertainment before but now all of a sudden it’s like a typical story, you are watching some very interesting movie and then all of a sudden your TV collapses. … It can happen [the draw]. But I just don’t see the slightest reason to offer a draw. Especially taking into consideration the potential of big time trouble. It’s just a present, a complete present for Boris. I can assure you Boris so relieved after draw offer. Of course he will not tell it during the press conference I’m sure. But I think it was just like a bless[ing] from above.
Kramnik: Now for sure we’ll have an incredibly entertaining last day. Maybe for us it’s not so bad. I think it’s not a wise decision from Anand’s side but for us maybe it’s a good thing that happened.
Game 13
The 1st tie-break game of the World Championship Match finished in a draw. Boris Gelfand playing white surprised his rival by an interesting move 13.b3!? and got better chances, however after Gefand’s inaccuracy 19.a4? the encounter went into complications in which Anand had an advantage, but the assessment of the position has been changed several times. Everything finished with equalization and the draw.
Game 14
In the 2nd and dramatically finished rapid game of the World Championship match the rivals repeated the opening from their classical 10th game of the match. In the Rossolimo variation of Sicilian defence Viswanathan Anand applied a novelty 7.d4!?, and got, as most of the commentators have marked, specific advantage in the complicated endgame. However, Anand couldn’t fully vanish the initiative Black got for the sacrificed pawn. Boris Gelfand achieved as minimum equal chances.
The Israeli fell in a time trouble and the advantage was again in Anand’s hands. At the final stage of the game, the rivals went on an endgame where White could hardly convert their slight advantage if playing the classical game.
But in terms of the time trouble, Gelfand ended up making a terrific mistake with 71…Rf5.
Game 15
Game 16
Garry Kasparov’s opinion about the recently ended World Championship Match was published on the site Crestbook.
“Anand played the match terribly. But, it seems, Gelfand wasn’t fated to win even against such a weakened opponent. Anand played the 2008 match against Kramnik excellently and acceptably against Topalov in 2010, but his current play is at a different level.
The tie-break’s quality was below any criticism. Gelfand should have won in three games out of four.
In the first game he, of course, had to play 28.Qd3 instead of taking on h6.
I played the endgame from the second game of this tie-break against Geller, in the USSR Championship 1979. It was exactly the same, but as a mirror image: with White’s pawn on g4. The audience in the hall was laughing! Efim Petrovch played it for about ten moves and agreed to a draw. It’s unrealistic to lose that with Black.
In the third game Gelfand clearly outplayed Anand. He could have taken on e4 with the knight and ended up with an extra piece; it was won in the endgame as well.
In the fourth game, I think, Black could have won with his hands: just by moving the pawns forward.
Anand was lucky that he faced Gelfand. If the Candidates Matches in Kazan were held according to the system 6-6-8 (6 games in the quarter-final and the semi-final, and 8 games in the final), then Gelfand’s chances to get to the match with the Champion would have been minimal. Anand would have faced another opponent, who could have won: Grischuk, for example. I’m not even talking about the fact that Carlsen would have played in Kazan in that case.
I would repeat again that the finished Title Match had no relation to determining the strongest chess player in the world”.
Nigel Short in DNA of India:
What do you make of the world chess championship?
It was disappointing. There was very cautious and very conservative chess. As a spectacle, it was hugely disappointing.
So you mean to say the quality of chess was poor?
Look, you know if you don’t make many moves, you don’t make many mistakes. A lot of games ended prematurely. I understand their primary concern was to win but they were not creating entertainment. You would think, normally, if two people were going at each other hammer and tongs, you would get a bit more action. It was not the case. In one website, the fans were asked what they thought of the match and two-thirds of them said it was boring or very boring. People who love the game were disappointed.
How did Anand play?
From Anand’s perspective, there was a huge amount of conservatism. He has become mentally old and this showed in his approach. Unlike a lot of people, I didn’t think he was an overwhelming favourite. I expected it to be a lot closer. I still had Anand as the favourite. I thought he had two-thirds chance and Gelfand one-third. It turned out reasonably accurate. Gelfand came pretty close to winning it, although he was written off by a large number of people. It is not that Anand should have crushed Gelfand but there was complete lack of spark in his play. Everything was safety-first. He played middle-age chess.
Then what clinched the title for Anand?
The fact that he was able to bounce back from defeat immediately was very important. And it is known that he is strong at rapid chess. When you are down to rapid chess, you rely on instincts. Anand should play a little more on instincts. His instincts are very good.
Is he still the player to beat in world chess?
The world champion is always somebody to beat, but his recent form has not been good and who knows, whether this is permanent. If you think back to the match he won against (Vladimir) Kramnik in 2008, he was absolutely brilliant. In the last year or two, there has been a decline. I must, however, admit that I’m happy that he has said he is not retiring.
His former second Elizbar Ubilava, too, said Anand hasn’t improved since the 2010 world championship match against Veselin Topalov…
I don’t want to be rude, but it is just my observation. His chess has gone down from a very, very high peak. It is hard to make improvements, but he did not even maintain his level. Gelfand is a perfectly respectable opponent. To have staggered across the finishing line like he did in this match indicates that things are not well. There is a difference in class between Gelfand and Anand. Anand is a chess genius and Gelfand is a good player, not a genius. Anand struggled, not because Gelfand’s brilliant play but because of an accountancy mentality. Had Anand faced someone else, he would have been in trouble.
At 42, is he getting better, worse or stagnating?
He is definitely getting worse. I am 47 and I’m the oldest player among the top 100. And I know the effects of ageing. His play is declining. He has to worry. In the current form, he would have enormous problems against (Magnus) Carlsen and Levon Aronian.
Do you mean to say Anand could be in trouble during the next world championship? After all, Carlsen and Aronian are expected to play…
He has to step up. His position in chess history is absolutely assured. He is a great player. Can he find extra energy for the next time? We’ll see. The monkey is off the back now. Maybe, it will free him up. When I saw him in Moscow, I thought he was very tense. He looked to be thinking, ‘If I win, big deal. And if I lose, I got everything to lose’. This is not the right attitude. I understand how these things come. I understand the ageing process. You need a different attitude if you are going to stay at the top.
Garry Kasparov had said that for the first time, the world championship wouldn’t determine the strongest player of the world. Do you agree?
Garry is fond of making extravagant pronouncements. I’m not sure whether it was the first match like this. Both these guys deserved to be playing the championship — Anand as the defending champion and Gelfand as the guy who got there. If you watch Wimbledon, it is not always the top two seeds that play the final.
Mark Crowther in TWIC: Thus Anand has defended the title he gained Mexico City in a tournament in 2007 for a third time following matches against Kramnik in Bonn 2008 and Topalov in Sofia 2010. Anand paid tribute to Gelfand’s “enormous determination and his strength” starting with 2009’s World Cup in Khanty Mansiysk and through the Kazan Candidates. The match has been criticised for the short draws but it certainly was tough in the openings and neither player gave much in the way of opportunities and Anand by way of explanation pointed out that “the problem in such a tight match is every mistake has a much higher value” which made the match even more cautious. For Anand the “critical moment in the match” was his loss in game 7 “That day I really thought I’d blown the match” and immediate equalisation by winning game 8 which was “very important for my morale”. Given Anand’s state of mind (he hardly slept) perhaps Gelfand was trying to move in for the kill in game 8 which might explain his over-aggression in a game so out of character from the rest of his play. The rapid playoff was dramatic with Gelfand’s time trouble probably being the decisive factor in him losing game two and failing to win game three. Anand acknowledged “I understood that in all fairness this match simply could have gone either way.” Questions over Anand’s current form will continue but he will surely defend his title late in 2013 or early 2014. Not a great match by any means but certainly extremely tough professional chess, in fact a product of the system that Gelfand qualified from.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | Total | |
| Gelfand, B | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | 7 ½ |
| Anand, V | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | 8 ½ |
