Live chess broadcast powered by ChessBomb and Chessdom
Gelfand-Anand g4: 1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e3 e6 5. Nf3 a6 6. b3 Bb4 Another a6 Slav. LIVE commentary on www.twitter.com/susanpolgar or www.facebook.com/polgarchess.
7. Bd2 Nbd7 8. Bd3 O-O 9. O-O Bd6 10. Qc2 e5 11. cxd5 cxd5 12. e4 exd4 13. Nxd5
Nxd5 14. exd5 Nf6 15. h3 This is a rare move. Krush played it 7 years ago. Both players are cranking out moves at a very fast pace.
15…Bd7 16. Rd1 Re8 Black has a comfortable position. White’s advantage is minimal and without risk.
I am not sure why Gelfand is thinking quite a bit after 16…Re8. Perhaps he’s pretending to be out of book then uncork novelty? 🙂
Very interesting. After thinking for a long time, Anand played 17. Nxd4 and Anand responded immediately with 17…Rc8.
18. Qb1 h6 We are still in Opening Book so far. Safe game for both sides.
I expect 19. Nf5. Black will capture the Knight with the Bishop. Gelfand will have minimal advantage with the Bishop pair.
It would be interesting to know what’s in Gelfand’s mind now. Did he forget his preparation? Is he trying to fake Anand out? What’s going on? Why is he taking a lot of time?
19. Nf5 Bxf5 20. Bxf5 Rc5 21. Rfe1 White is playing for 2 results with virtually no risk.
21…Rxd5 This is heading toward another relatively quick draw. Very little chance for white to make any impact.
22. Bc3 After 22…Be5 White has very little.
22…Rxe1+ 23. Rxe1 Bc5 =
24. Qc2 Black can simply play 24…Bd4. Again, White has nothing. This game is headed for a draw soon.
24…Bd4 The game is equal. 25. Bxd4 Rxd4 26. Qc8 g6 27. Bg4 h5 28. Qxd8+ Rxd8 = I expect them to shake hands soon.
The only logical move for White is 29. Bf3 b6 The question is why are they playing this out?
30. Rc1 Rd6 31. Kf1 a5 32. Ke2 I guess Gelfand is going for the win. Unlikely to happen but it seems that he’s trying.
32…Nd5 33. g3 Ne7 34. Be4 Kg7 1/2
So hows that for symetry?
Another draw – how disappointing after last night
Move 18, Could it be more symetrical? So another draw already – disappointing after last night.
Gelfland is making a mistake playing so safe.He cannot win without some fire….Vishy is just waiting to pounce.
Go vishy….
So is there some penalty for not playing 35 moves or something – or is someone writing a book on drawn endgames for beginners and needs a example from the World Championship.
Hi Susan polgar,
Well,nice game.
Though both the legends has the same goal,their approach towards the game is different,that in fact displays,the interesting game show.
The last two games,would had shown the reason,to those who had felt that,why these two ( Anand & Gelfand ) at this tournament.
These two legends ( Anand & Gelfand )deserved and earned the position to compete at this tournament.
In this game “Anand” had perfect control – Nice.
By
Venky [ India – Chennai ]
Hopefully you would enlighten about the possibility of white Rc6 that both players talked about in the press conf.
Oh what a surprise. Another draw. Magnus Carlsen should play one of these players. He’ll show them how it’s played!
Nice Game and well done for both of them
Perhaps Gelfand is wise to play cautiously. Anand completely overwhelmed Kramnik in 2008, so maybe it is a reasonable strategy for Gelfand to try to keep this match close and hope to capitalize on a mistake by Anand.