World Chess Championship Update

With the match tied at 4 points apiece, the challenger, Boris Gelfand had white, while the champion, Viswanathan Anand, had black. For the fifth time in this match, Gelfand opened with P-Q4. Up to this point, Anand has responded to this opening with the Slav Defense (1. P-Q4 P-Q4; 2. P-QB4 P-QB3. But today he went with the Nimzo-Indian Defense:

1. P-Q4 N-KB3

2. P-QB4 P-K3

3. N-QB3 B-N5

This is another "hypermodern" opening, and it was developed in the early 20th century by Aron Nimzowitsch. The idea, again, is to concede the middle of the board to white in order to leave black with more flexibility in response. But this time, the Nimzo-Indian Defense did not work very well for Anand:

4. P-K3 O-O

5. B-Q3 P-Q4

6. N-B3 P-B4

7. O-O QP x P

8. B x P P x P

9. P x P P-QN3

10. B-KN5 B-N2

11. Q-K2 N(1)-Q2

12. QR-B3 R-B3

13. B-Q3 B x QN

14. P x B Q-B2

15. P-B4 B x N

16. Q x B KR-K1

At this point, Anand was in a pretty poor position. He had effectively exchanged his bishops for white's knights, and his pieces were not as well developed as Gelfand's. According to the computer on the official web page, Gelfand was effectively up half-a-pawn. But then the situation changed.

17. KR-Q1 P-KR3

18. B-R4 Q-Q3

Now at this point, the computer recommends P-QR3, a nice safe move. But Gelfand decided to advance his queen's bishop's pawn in order to threaten black's queen.

19. P-B5 P x P

This proved to be a mistake.

20. P x P R x P

21. B-R7(ch) K x B

22. R x Q R x R(ch)

23. R-Q1 R(1)-B1

24. P-KR3 N-K4

25. Q-K2 N-N3

26. B x N P x B

So now Anand had exchanged his queen and his knight for Gelfand's two bishops and a rook. At this point, white had a queen, a rook, and four pawns, while black had two rooks, a knight, and five pawns. The computer still showed Gelfand with a slight advantage, but Anand erected a fortress around his king.

27. R x R R x R(ch)

28. K-R2 R-B2

29. Q-N2 K-N2

30. P-QR4 N-K2

31. P-R5 N-Q5

32. P-R6 K-R2

33. Q-Q4 P-B4

34. P-B4 R-Q2

Gelfand tried to bring his king into the attack, but he could not break through.

35. K-N3 K-N3

36. Q-R8 N-B3

37. Q-QN8 P-R4

38. K-R4 K-R3

39. Q-N2 K-N3

40. Q-B3 N-K5 (threatening the queen)

41. Q-B8 N-B3

42. Q-QN8 R-K2

43. P-N4 RP x P

44. P x P P x P

45. Q-K5 N-N1

46. Q-KN5(ch) K-R2

47. Q x P P-B3

48. Q-N2 K-R1

49. Q-K4 K-N2

Even at this point, the computer still thought that Gelfand had a very slight edge. But he simply couldn't see any way for his queen to break through against Gelfand's knight, rook, and extra pawn. So the players agreed to a draw after the longest game of the match, which remains tied. You can read about it here. Tomorrow Anand will have the white pieces, and we will see what he can do.

SCORE AFTER NINE MATCHES

Anand (IND) 4 1/2 - 4 1/2 Gelfand (ISR)