World Chess Championship Update

With the match tied at 4 1/2 points apiece, Champion Viswanathan Anand (who had white), opened with P-K4. This was only the second time that move has been used to open a game in this match, and both times it was used by Anand. As he did the last time Anand tried P-K4, challenger Boris Gelfand responded with 1. . . . P-QB4. So we had another Sicilian Defense. According to Wikipedia, the main reason that white does better to start with P-Q4 instead of P-K4 is the effectiveness of the Sicilian Defense. The theory behind black's defense is that white can take the initiative, but it will probably have to lose one of its center pawns.

Whatever the theory may be, the defense worked as advertised, and the match ended in a quiet draw after only 25 moves.

So the players are all tied at 5 points each with only two games left. Those of you who just saw the European Cup in soccer decided by penalty kicks will not be surprised to learn that the Europeans have come up with another silly tie-breaker in case this match ends in a 6-6 tie. Here is what will happen next:

1. The players will play four rapid games -- each player will be given 25 minutes plus 10 extra seconds for each move.

2. If the score is tied after the four rapid games, the players will play two blitz games -- each will be given 5 minutes plus 10 extra seconds per move.

3. If the score is tied after two blitz games, the players will play two more blitz games.

4. If the score is still tied after 10 blitz games (that is, five groups of two games each), then the players will play a single sudden-death game to decide the title.

The sudden-death game has its own special rules:

1. Whoever wins a draw of lots gets to decide what color he plays.

2. White has five minutes; black has four minutes.

3. If the game reaches move 61, then three seconds will be added to the clock for each new move.

4. If the game ends in a draw, whoever is playing black will be declared the world champion.

Amazingly, all of these tie-breaker games would be played on the same day.

Now this seems ludicrous to me, but it's really not more ludicrous than penalty kicks.

Anyway, with only two real games left, Anand and Gelfand have a huge strategic decision to make: should they go all-out for victory, or should they play conservatively, accept two more draws, and take their chances with the goofy playoff? No one in the chess world seems to have any idea what the players will do. But given that there have been eight draws in 10 matches, and that most of those draws lasted less than 40 moves, it seems clear that they've been pretty conservative so far.

SCORE AFTER TEN MATCHES:

Anand (IND) 5 - 5 Gelfand (ISR)