Oct-03-12
 | | whiteshark: "Boris Gelfand went for the Moscow variation of the Slav defence against Kasimdzhanov. Boris made a courageous decision with <14.b4> giving up an exchange in purpose. In compensation, white had a very strong pawn’s centre on “b4-c4-c5”. 
click for larger view Rustam had to lose some tempi with his bishop from a4 to c2, and meanwhile white was pressuring. <31…Rfa8?> was the decisive mistake, which gave away the b7 pawn. Position became too difficult to defend and Boris, by winning his last game, is finally sharing the first place!" source: tournament bulletin |
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Oct-03-12
 | | Ulhumbrus: On 48...Kh5 49 Nf6+ Kh4 50 g3+ fg 51 fg+ is mate. Having drawn the Moscow match against Anand Gelfand divides the first prize at London. |
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| Oct-03-12 | | M3ANDROS: Poor Rustam - he fell into a Gelfand mating net. Second time he's done it in this tournament. The first time it was in Round 2 with Nakamura's 60. Rd2+ with mate to follow:
Kasimdzhanov vs Nakamura, 2012 |
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Oct-03-12
 | | Bishoprick: A very fine game, beginning to end. |
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Oct-03-12
 | | Eyal: <Poor Rustam - he fell into a Gelfand mating net. Second time he's done it in this tournament. The first time it was in Round 2 with Nakamura's 60. Rd2+ with mate to follow> This time, though, his position (with a piece down) was already utterly lost when he fell into the net; he could have actually resigned with a clear conscience already on move 41, when Gelfand emerged out of his time trouble with a clearly winning position. |
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Oct-03-12
| | Eyal: <Boris made a courageous decision with <14.b4> giving up an exchange in purpose.> Gelfand himself, in the post-game interview, calls 14.b4 a "blunder" because Black has the strong intermediate move 14...Bc6! (attacking Ne4), the point apparently being 15.Nd6 Bxf3 16.Bxf3 Be5! (though after 17.Rfd1 Qxh2+ 18.Kf1 Bxa1 19.Bxb7 it's still far from simple). But after 14...Bxa1? he got excellent compensation for the exchange |
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Oct-03-12
 | | Naniwazu: Gelfand plays very nicely in this game. 14. b4 might not be wholly sound but is nonetheless a gutsy move to make. I'm glad it worked out for him.. |
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Oct-03-12
 | | Sokrates: 14.b4 may objectively have been a mistake, but many brilliant games among the greatest masters have been won by dubious moves made with the bold urge to deviate from the expected and shake the opponent. You may get far as a GM playing safe, but it's the extra courage that makes you a winner of tournaments. Players like Tal and Larsen lost occasionally due to such "blunders", but they also won numerous games presenting their opponents with unexpected problems. As a spectator I salute that courage and I'd rather view one exiting battle of imperfection than ten boring games of perfection. So congrats to Boris for this brilliant entertainment for the mind. |
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sac: 14.b4