Press Release
PARTICIPANTS IN THE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH TALK ABOUT THE FIRST GAME
On 11 May the first game of the FIDE World Chess Championship Match was played in the Engineering Building of the State Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow. The players gave a press conference after the game.
Champion Viswanathan Anand admitted that he had been somewhat surprised by his opponent’s Grünfeld Defence opening. When asked if he could have played more precisely and tried to take the initiative, Anand noted that, once queens had been exchanged, he needed to play an accurate game. “Potentially with the two bishops black could be better,” the champion said. “By that point obviously I’m not fighting for an advantage.” At the same time, Anand stressed that he felt his position was rather safe, as all four rooks were left on the board. Boris Gelfand agreed that, although at first glance black appeared to have a better position, he was unable to find a variation that would have given him a clear advantage. “I spent a long time considering my final move, but I couldn’t see a way to improve my position.”
Gelfand was adamant that he did not feel any pressure in his first ever game in a world championship match, a fact that surprised him a little as he had “read a lot about it”.
The second game of the match will take place tomorrow (12 May), only after which one will be able to discuss the players’ performances.
A digicast and photo reports from the press conference are available on the official World Chess Championship website at http://moscow2012.fide.com/
The FIDE World Chess Championship match between the world champion Viswanathan Anand (India) and the challenger Boris Gelfand (Israel) will take place from 10 to 31 May 2012 in the Engineering Building of the State Tretyakov Gallery. Chess championship match will be taking place in one of the world’s biggest museums for the first time.
Organisers of the match are FIDE (the World Chess Federation) and the RCF (the Russian Chess Federation). Initiator of the idea of holding the match in Moscow and its sponsor is the Russian entrepreneur Andrei Filatov (joint owner of the N-Trans Group). Other sponsors of the contest include businessman Gennady Timchenko and the Ladoga charitable foundation, and also the NVisionGroup, Novatek and Almaz-Antei companies.
Contact information for journalists:
Mark Glukhovsky
Press Attaché for the Russian Chess Federation
at the World Championship Match
Change this match to Nakamura – Carlsen. Much more exciting.