The Week in Chess

Home » Chess News » Events » World Chess Championship 2012 » Anand opening surprise allows him to draw Game 11 against Gelfand

Twitter today

The not happy

About the course of the match

Mikhail Golubev @mikhail_golubev Really tired with the match, don't care who will win, even not waiting for the interesting play anymore, only hope there will be no tiebreak

Chess in Translation @ChessinT @mikhail_golubev You were tired before it began. Maybe take a break? Negativity from chess journalists/officials (Danailov) helps no-one.

Mig Greengard @chessninja Everyone is talking about the short draws, but both decisive games were pretty terrible too.

Nakamura objects to upcoming book of his games

Nakamura is letting everyone know there's a book on its way about his games called "Fighting Chess with Hikaru Nakamura" by Karsen Mueller. He has played no part in the preparation of the book and won't get any money. But this has always been the case with similar volumes. Fischer wasn't keen on this either.

Hikaru Nakamura @GMHikaru http://www.edition-olms.com/index.php?id=265 It is truly disgusting that people are allowed to write books and profit off of our games without our permission.

Hikaru Nakamura @GMHikaru @WhzYerDaddy We'll see what the book is like, but the title including the word "with" in its title is disingenuous to begin with...

On Game 11

Chess-News.ru @Chess__News Anand: Everything is interesting for me, and you decide for yourselves.Gelfand: the interest towards the match is shocking and unprecedented

Justin Horton @ejhchess @MarkTWIC Hansen likes 9.Qe2. His best lines for White are in Taimanov-Reshevsky Buenos Aires 1960 and Sanguinetti-Matanovic Lugano 1968

Justin Horton @ejhchess The rare 8...Bd7 in game eleven: Pfister (1995) mentions it on page 79, Hansen (2002) on pages 26-7 #worldchesschampionship

Chess-News.ru @Chess__News Gelfand: the critical moment in the game was after move 16. If I'd manage to put the pawns on a5 and f3 - I'd have a huge advantage. 17.a4!?

Chess-News.ru @Chess__News Anand played 22...Be8!? - Houdini thinks that's not the best choice, but it raises a concrete question for White.

Chess-News.ru @Chess__News A principle choice for Gelfand: should he play 23.c5, which can be strategically dangerous, or he has to seek for other options?

Game 11 notes

Compiled by Mark Crowther from comments from IM Malcolm Pein, Peter Svidler and the Press Conference

Gelfand,Boris (2739) - Anand,Viswanathan (2799) [E54]
WCh 2012 Moscow RUS (11), 26.05.2012
[IM Malcolm Pein and Mark Crowther]

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e3 0-0 5.Bd3 d5 6.Nf3 c5 7.0-0 dxc4 8.Bxc4 Bd7

A Bronstein creation from the Russian Championship of 1957 where he got a couple of quick draws. Catching Gelfand completely by surprise he thought for about 35 minutes.

[8...cxd4 was game 9. 9.exd4 b6 10.Bg5 Bb7 11.Qe2 with an eventual draw.

9.a3

9.Qe2 was expected by Kramnik.

[9.dxc5 Bc6 10.Nb5 a6 11.Nbd4 Bxc5 was played by Bronstein against Petrosian and Furman during the 1957 USSR Championships.

9.Qe2 cxd4 10.exd4 Bc6 "Vlad [Kramnik] was absolutely certain this would happen after Boris finished thinking. And then a game will ensue." - Svidler.]

9...Ba5

[9...cxd4 Was Kramnik's prediction.]

10.Qe2 Bc6 11.Rd1 Bxc3

[11...Qe7 12.Ne5 has been played before.]

12.bxc3 Nbd7

"So far the guess the move percentage of the super-GMs in this position is close to zero. The whole sequence that has appeared on the board has not been predicted by anybody." - Svidler talking about the press room discussion of this game so far. Nbd7 left Kramnik and Svidler "completely lost" as to what Anand is doing.

[12...Ba4 "We thought this whole point of this move order was to play 12...Ba4. Using the fact that there are no really good squares for the rook on the d-file." - Svidler. 13.Re1 Nc6 planning Na5 with a typical complex Nimzo-position. Kramnik and Svidler thought, "Ah this is the point as to why Vishy is doing what he is doing."]

13.Bd3 Qa5

"He still hasn't spent 10 minutes on entire sequence. So it is safe to assume he's still doing what he knows is best. Not just feels is best but knows is best is my point." - Svidler on Anand.

14.c4

[14.Bb2 Be4 White's position can be a bit dull with one of his bishops. Black takes the light squares, prepares e6-e5 and has no problems; 14.e4!? Was my first thought 14...Qxc3 15.Bd2 Qb3 Involves risk for both sides. Although after the game neither player seemed very keen on the move.]

14...cxd4

[14...Be4 Also a plan to remove one of the 2Bs]

15.exd4 Qh5

Black hopes the presence of his queen will neutralise any attacking chances for White. White has to be a bit better here but not much

16.Bf4

[16.a4 "I had to find the time to put the pawn on a5 and at some time place my knight on e5... Maybe 16.a4 was more precise." - Gelfand.]

16...Rac8

Again played quite quickly.

17.Ne5

The time situation will play a huge influence on Boris Gelfand's choice of moves from now on. This commits to a position which Gelfand will be able to play quickly. "Wow, either Boris was a little unnerved by the opening surprise or just wants to grind on in a position of safety. I guess he did not like the Bxf3 option for Black and he was way behind on the clock and wants to avoid very complex play" - Malcolm Pein

17...Qxe2 18.Bxe2 Nxe5 19.Bxe5 Rfd8 20.a4

Coming to a5 to cramp the queenside. If Black plays b6 his pawn can become weak

20...Ne4 21.Rd3

A very solid move indeed. Gelfand seemed confident after playing it.

21...f6 22.Bf4

Gelfand 30 mins to Anand 1hr 9 mins.

22...Be8

A tricky move to meet and one that sent Gelfand into yet another big think.

23.Rb3

Gelfand took over 10 minutes over this move. "Once white is precise enough after 22...Be8 to play 23.Rb3 and to calculate all these things precisely I think draw becomes a huge favourite."

[23.c5 e5 24.dxe5 Rxd3 25.Bxd3 Nxc5 26.Bc4+ Bf7 27.Be2 fxe5 28.Bxe5 was an alternate way to the draw.; 23.f3 Nd6 24.Rb3 Nxc4 25.Rxb7 Rxd4 should be a draw too.]

23...Rxd4

[23...b6 24.Be3 "Is a position where white is co-ordinated and fine" and will eventually be able to press. So Anand didn't have much chance to complicate here even though the clock situation might suggest it. - Svidler.]

24.Be3 Rd7

Gelfand 13 minutes Anand 1 hr 4 minutes. Drawn on Anand's proposal. "I can't really blame Vishy for checking whether Boris wants to continue." - Svidler.

[24...Nc5 25.Rxb7 Nxb7 26.Bxd4 Nc5 is completely equal.]

1/2-1/2

WCh Moscow
Anand, Viswanathan	-	Gelfand, Boris	½-½	24	D85	Gruenfeld Defence
Gelfand, Boris	-	Anand, Viswanathan	½-½	25	D45	Anti-Meran Variations
Anand, Viswanathan	-	Gelfand, Boris	½-½	37	D70	Gruenfeld Defence
Gelfand, Boris	-	Anand, Viswanathan	½-½	34	D45	Anti-Meran Variations
Anand, Viswanathan	-	Gelfand, Boris	½-½	27	B33	Sicilian Sveshnikov
Gelfand, Boris	-	Anand, Viswanathan	½-½	29	D45	Anti-Meran Variations
Gelfand, Boris	-	Anand, Viswanathan	1-0	38	D45	Anti-Meran Variations
Anand, Viswanathan	-	Gelfand, Boris	1-0	17	E60	King's Indian without Nc3
Gelfand, Boris	-	Anand, Viswanathan	½-½	49	E54	Nimzo Indian
Anand, Viswanathan	-	Gelfand, Boris	½-½	25	B30	Sicilian Rossolimo
Gelfand, Boris	-	Anand, Viswanathan	½-½	24	E54	Nimzo Indian

WCh Moscow (BUL), 11 v - 31 v 2012
Name	Ti	NAT	Rtng	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Total	Perf
Anand, Viswanathan	g	IND	2791	½	½	½	½	½	½	0	1	½	½	½	.	5½	2727
Gelfand, Boris	g	ISR	2727	½	½	½	½	½	½	1	0	½	½	½	.	5½	2791

View the games on this Page

Download the PGN from this page

vs

---

The Week in Chess Magazine

Send a £30 donation via Paypal and contact me via email (Email Mark Crowther - mdcrowth@btinternet.com) I'll send you an address for a cbv file of my personal copy of every issue of the games in one database. Over 4 million games.

Alternatively subscribe to donate £4 a month

Read about 25 years of TWIC.

TWIC 1565 4th November 2024 - 8439 games

Read TWIC 1565

Download TWIC 1565 PGN

Download TWIC 1565 ChessBase