World champion Viswanathan Anand and Boris Gelfand remain tied with just one game to play in the World chess championship here after a quiet draw in the penultimate game of their title bout on Saturday.
The score in the $2.55m match is tied 5.5-5.5 but in the final game Anand will have the advantage of the white pieces and therefore the first move in the final game. If that game is drawn, the Indian champion will be forced to rapid tiebreakers for the first time since his unsuccessful title challenge against Anatoly Karpov in 1998.
Two years ago, Anand entered the final day of his world title match with Bulgaria's Veselin Topalov and won the 12th and final game to avoid tiebreakers, but Anand did not want to draw too many conclusions from that win.
“I am going to get ready for the next game and take it one step at a time. [2010] was a tough struggle and so is this. I am trying not to get ahead of myself but with the scoreline you can see the similarity.”
New idea
Anand repeated the Nimzo-Indian opening which had brought him to the brink of defeat three days earlier, but this time he had a new idea ready on move 9, one which caused Gelfand to think for almost 40 minutes on his reply.
Well prepared for Gelfand's response, Anand continued playing fast, averaging 20 seconds per move for his first 12 moves. For the third game in a row, Anand conceded the bishop pair to his opponent but he refused to allow Gelfand to stabilise the position.
The Israeli challenger began to run short of time and forced a liquidation into an endgame where neither player could make progress. After 24 moves and two and three-quarter hours, Anand offered the draw which Gelfand accepted after thinking for three minutes.
With just one regulation game to play, Anand has returned to slight favouritism, not least because he is a feared opponent at the fast time limits which will be used for the tiebreakers.
Gelfand admitted as much; “I would say that with all his results Vishy has proved that he is one of the best, or maybe the best at all time controls. Look at his record — otherwise he wouldn't have been World champion for so many years.”
The 12th and final regulation game will be played on Monday, with the winner being declared world champion.
Should the 12th game end as a draw a series of up to 15 tie-breaking games at faster and faster time limits, will be played on Wednesday, starting at 13.30 IST.
Ian Rogers is an Australian Grandmaster
