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Boris Gelfand vs Viswanathan Anand
Anand-Gelfand World Chess Championship (2012)  ·  Nimzo-Indian Defense: Normal Variation. Gligoric System Exchange at c4 (E54)  ·  1/2-1/2
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May-23-12  SamAtoms1980: <LucB: They are often (and presently) on commercial break (8:45 EDT)>

Sounds like my four favorite radio stations, and it's usually all at the same time.

May-23-12  LIFE Master AJ: IMO, White never had a chance to win the game, the lunge to grab the Queen was flashy, but probably premature.

Nearly always, when one side wins, the other side has to have had a bad position, or been outplayed, that was hardly the case here.

May-23-12
Premium Chessgames Member
  Eisenheim: <LIFE Master AJ> - I have to admit at move 18 I thought Gelfand had a winnable position and then I admired the fireworks with the Q exchange and opined that white was ahead because of having play at both sides of the board, but then as it dragged on it became transparent that the fortress would be hard to crack.

It is so different analyzing the game in the heat of battle, rooting for some action, versus the introspective after its done and knowing the outcome and learning why we had this outcome.

But back to move 18, my chatoic line and plan would be to advance the A pawn and try to dislodge the B pawn. 18 a4 which probably would've been met by ...Qb4, and then I would've played a5 and see what shook out. but then I know these guys play on a different dimension that I do (most of the time).

May-23-12  RookFile: Everybody thinks of the two bishops, but how many noticed black only had two pawn islands in the early middlegame, while white had three?
May-23-12
Premium Chessgames Member
  Marmot PFL: <...However, maybe Black should simply meet 34.g4 with <34...f4>:>

34 g4 f4 35 h4 followed by h5, Kh4, g5 etc. looks dangerous for black. Losing sleep over it won't do Gelfand any good though.

May-23-12
Premium Chessgames Member
  zakkzheng: Gelfand could of at least try to win
May-23-12  Caissas Clown: "BadKnight: I won some chessbucks betting on the opening moves 1.d4 Nf6."

Guess the next 48 and you could be challenging Anand for a million chessbucks:-).

May-23-12  Caissas Clown: I didn't think much of Naiditsch's commentary on chessdom. It looked like he was waiting for Houdini to do all the work , then just transcribed. Csaba Balogh was much more impressive in his Game 8 commentary.
May-23-12  ChessYouGood: If people are looking for a really thorough and indepth analysis of this game, checkout Big Freedia's video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-cT...
May-23-12
Premium Chessgames Member
  OhioChessFan: <Eyal:


click for larger view

White might be able to win with 39.Qe5! Ne7>

My first inclination would be 39...Kf8. Black does seem to be in trouble if the Knight loses his out post support. I am guessing 39. Qe5 Kf8 40. f5 Ke7 I'll have a look and also toss it in Fritz.

May-23-12  SmyslovTheSlayer: This has been an awesome match. There were a lot of draws in the beginning, but the tension is rising, and the games are reflecting that. I think there will be 3 more incredible games, and then possibly tie breakers. Gelfand is showing he belongs here, but Anand is showing that he is the man to beat. This is an intense match, which is awesome.
May-23-12  BKITU: Nice that this championship has finally gotten an interesting draw.
May-23-12  blazerdoodle: <SmyslovTheSlayer> !Hurrah! It's about time to someone isn't about to take out the Ginsu knives and end it all in desperate boredom!

Like that last guy, a few days back, standing on the cliff typing into his cell phone, please make this more exciting, and before things got moving to his personal taste, he leapt. Now he can enjoy the games in the afterlife.

May-23-12
Premium Chessgames Member
  OhioChessFan: Regarding the 39...Kf8 line. Fritz is worthless. White's King is going to eventually capture the h Pawn. I can't figure it out, but I think White should win by pushing the unopposed g Pawn.
May-23-12
Premium Chessgames Member
  PhilFeeley: Shipov on 19. c5:

<"He sold a gold watch for a rouble".>

Gotta love it!

May-24-12
Premium Chessgames Member
  PhilFeeley: <Grischuk: "In my first Linares I set a fortress against Leko, he thought for 30 minutes, & I nearly ordered a beer at the board”.>

Great comments. Still no Carlsen or Kramnik. I wonder why.

May-24-12  rilkefan: Stockfish seems to think 47.f5 was strong: 1.6. Then again I'm not seeing it make any obvious progress.
May-24-12  LIFE Master AJ: <<But back to move 18, my chatoic line and plan would be to advance the A pawn and try to dislodge the B pawn. 18 a4 which probably would've been met by ...Qb4, and then I would've played a5 and see what shook out. but then I know these guys play on a different dimension that I do (most of the time).>>

Capa and Fischer's blueprint for these type of positions should suffice.

May-24-12
Premium Chessgames Member
  Eyal: <OhioChessFan> Looks like [34.g4 fxg4 35.hxg4 Rd7 36.Kg3 Rc7 37.f4 Rd7 39.Qe5] 39...Kf8 also loses to the f5 break: 40.f5 exf5 (40...Ke7 41.fxe6 fxe6 42.Qg7+ & Qxh6) 41.gxf5 Ne7 (41...f6 42.Qe6 Rd8 [42...Nb6 43.Qxf6+] 43.Qc6 and Black has no good way to defend against both Qb7 and Qxf6+) 42.Qh8+ Ng8 43.Qc3 Ne7 (43...Re7 44.f6) 44.f6 Ng6+ 45.Kh5 followed by Kxh6 and the black rook wouldn't be able to hold on to the 7th rank.

Since Gelfand played 34.f4, it's likely that he didn't like the possibility of <34.g4 f4>. But it still looks very dangerous for Black, e.g. 35.h4 Kg8 36.Qe5 Kh7 37.h5 Re7 38.g5 hxg5 39.Qxg5 Re8 (another defence method suggested by Shipov) 40.f3 (40.h6 Rg8) 40...Rg8 41.Qe5 Re8 42.Qe4+ Kh6 43.Kh3 Re7 44.Kh4 Rc7 45.Qd4 Kh7 46.Kg5 f6+ 47.Kh4 Re7 48.Qe4+ f5 49.Qe5 Re8 50.Qd6 Re7 51.Qd8 Rg7 52.Qe8:


click for larger view

And the blockade is soon busted (starting from move 40, this line is given by Dennis Monokroussos).

Yet another option for Black is to play 34.[g4] Rd7 and allow 35.gxf5 exf5, but it looks very suspicious.

May-24-12
Premium Chessgames Member
  Eyal: <Yet another option for Black is to play 34.[g4] Rd7 and allow 35.gxf5 exf5>

This might be the best defence for Black, actually; e.g. 34.g4 Rd7 35.gxf5 exf5 36.Qe5 Kg6 37.h4 Nf6:


click for larger view

Black seems to be holding everything together - hard to see how White makes progress here.

May-25-12  Chess Network: I created a YouTube video of this game.

http://youtu.be/lBbfLz3apuA

May-25-12
Premium Chessgames Member
  notyetagm: http://www.qualitychess.co.uk/blog/...

Game 9 in Moscow

May 23rd, 2012Jacob AagaardLeave a commentGo to comments

As far as I can see, here at move 35 we are heading for a draw. Gelfand did not play the ending in the most dangerous way, but it was even a bit worse than that. At move 19 he decided to win the queen, when 19.Bg3 was immensely strong as far as I could see. After 19…Qb4 White has 20.Qb7! with strong pressure. For example 20…Qa5 21.Bd6 and as far as I could see, Black is just busted. Disappointing…

May-25-12  BadKnight: I would like to hear more about 15...Bxf3. Is it a simple miscalculation, misjudgement or mixing up preparation on Anand's part? I guess we will have to wait until the end of the match to get an answer to this.
May-25-12  RookFile: There's another possibility, which is that it is a good move.
Jun-20-12
Premium Chessgames Member
  Eyal: <I would like to hear more about 15...Bxf3. Is it a simple miscalculation, misjudgement or mixing up preparation on Anand's part?>

From Anand's post-match chessvibes interview:

<In game 9, an important moment in the match was, I think, his decision to play 19.c5 in that first Nimzo-Indian. Were you relieved? During the game, how big did you think White's advantage was?

I thought that it was plus minus, simply. The problem was, I couldn't remember exactly what my preparation was in this line and then I started to get a bit confused. At some point I calculated a line with ...Bxf3 and ...e5 which worked, and then I took on f3, and he took on f3 and I realized ...e5, Bf5 is more or less resigns on the spot. Suddenly I realized that you make a ridiculous impression if you take on f3 and then don't follow up with something very specific. I was already feeling pretty embarrassed about all this, and then I saw there was hope with ...Qd6. I think c5 is a mistake because even if he found some way around this fortress, which is very hard to see far ahead, I think still it is a relief for Black to resolve this thing. It's better to just keep the bishops and continue.> (http://www.chessvibes.com/reports/v...)

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