It's Anand vs. Gelfand for the World Chess Crown

Boris Gelfand of Israel won the Final FIDE Candidates Match, defeating GM Alexander Grischuk of Russia 3.5 to 2.5 in Kazan, Russia, on Wednesday. It is a culmination of his successful chess career. With the victory, he earned the right to challenge the world champion Vishy Anand of India for the world title next year.

At 42, Gelfand was the oldest participant in the Candidates matches, but he showed a steady hand and good nerves in difficult positions and prevailed against the American GM Gata Kamsky and Grischuk. His match against Anand, 41, could be interesting. Both players have vast opening knowledge, strive for initiative, can defend well and love to play dynamic chess. It could be the last time players over forty play for the championship. The young players such as Magnus Carlsen of Norway or the American Hikaru Nakamura are knocking on the door. Nakamura defeated the former FIDE world champion Ruslan Ponomariov of Ukraine in an exhibition match in St. Louis. He won the classical match 3.5 to 2.5 and prevailed in the rapid match as well.

Gelfand's match victory came in the sixth game in the Grunfeld Fianchetto. We covered this facinating opening in January. Gelfand stuck with a long-term positional strategy of slowly unleashing his central pawns. Grischuk threw most of his pieces against the white king. Gelfand blunted the attack and his powerful positional pressure decided the game.

Gelfand - Grischuk
Final Candidates Match, sixth game
Kazan, Russia 2011

Fianchetto Grunfeld

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nf3 Bg7 4.g3 d5 5.cxd5 Nxd5 6.Bg2 Nb6 7.Nc3 Nc6 8.e3 0-0 (This dynamic line in the Fianchetto Grunfeld, with the black pieces combating white's pawn center, attracted many top grandmasters, including Garry Kasparov.) 9.0-0 Re8 (A high-class waiting move postpones the advance e7-e5, taking advantage of white's inability to develop the queenside smoothly. It has been in the repertoire of the top Czechoslovakian players for several decades and it could be called the Czech variation of the Grunfeld defense.)

10.Re1 (The main point of black's idea is 10.b3 e5 11.d5 e4! quickly turning the tables.) 10...a5 (The former world champion Vassily Smyslov used this plan in similar positions. Black runs his pawn to a4, moves his rook to a5 and controls the center vertically as Grischuk is about to do.) 11.Qe2 (Reshuffling his heavy pieces and planning 12.Re1-d1.) 11...Bg4 (The idea is to provoke h2-h3. The immediate 11...Be6 has been played more frequently.) 12.h3 Be6 13.b3 (Denying black the square c4.) 13...a4 (So far so good, but Gelfand plays a new idea on his next move.)

14.Rb1!? (Gelfand gives away the a-file and the square b4, but keeps the tension. He is following a long-term strategy to put his central pawns into motion.) 14...axb3 15.axb3 Qc8 (Hitting the square b4 with 15...Nb4 16.Rd1 [Or16.Bd2 c6.] 16...c6 17.e4 h6 is another way to hold the center.) 16.Kh2 (After16.Ng5 comes 16...Bd7.) 16...Ra5 17.Rd1 Rh5 (Grischuk throws as many pieces as possible against the white king, but Gelfand remains calm.) 18.Nh4 (Gelfand had to play this move. After 18.h4 Bg4 black is ready to strike with e7-e5.) 18...Bf6 19.f4 Rd8 (Sacrificing the exchange 19...Bxh4 20.gxh4 Rxh4 21.Kg3 Rxh3+ [21...Rh5 22.d5+-] 22.Bxh3 Bxh3 does not work. White simply plays 23.d5 with advantage.) 20.Qf2 Bxh4? (Strategically doubtful, but Grischuk has an amazing defensive idea in mind: he wants to sacrifice the exchange and take over the light squares. But he should have kept the dark bishop and retreat with his rook to the queenside: 20...Ra5 21.Nf3 Nd5 with a playable game. Another version of the positional sacrifice is 20...Nd5 21.Nxd5 Rdxd5 [21...Bxd5 is met by 22.e4] 22.Bxd5?! Bxd5.) 21.gxh4 Nd5 22.Nxd5 Rhxd5!?

23.Bb2! (Gelfand ignores the sacrifice and is ready to squeeze black by marching the central pawns.) 23...Rb5 24.Qe2 (Chasing the unstable rook.) 24...Rh5 (The rook has to stay on the fifth rank. For example, after 24...Rxb3 25.d5 white wins a piece.) 25.e4! (The pawns are beginning to roll. Black may soon regret the exchange of his dark bishop.) 25...Bxb3 26.Rdc1 Na5 (Black wants to protect his bishop, but his pieces are scattered. It was better to soften the blow with 26...e6 27.Bc3 Ba4.) 27.d5 b6 (After 27...Ba2 28.Ra1 Nb3 29.Rxa2 Nxc1 30.Bxc1 the bishop pair should prevail against the rook.) 28.Be5 c5 (After 28...Rd7 29.Qb5 Ba2 30.Rb2 f6 31.Qxb6 fxe5 32.Qxa5 wins.) 29.dxc6 f6

30.Ba1 (White could have included 30.c7! for example 30...Rd7 and now white wins either with 31.Rxb3 Nxb3 32.Qc4+ Kg7 33.Qxb3 fxe5 34.Qxb6 exf4 35.Qb8 ;or with 31.Qg4 fxe5 32.Qxd7! Qxd7 33.c8Q+.) 30...Rc5 (Trying to isolate the pawn on c6, but 30...b5 31.c7 Rd7 32.e5 Rxc7 33.Qxb5] 31.Rxc5 bxc5 32.Qb5

32...Qc7? (Grischuk misses his best chance: 32...Ba2 33.Rb2 Qc7 34.e5! [Not 34.Rxa2? Qxf4+ 35.Kg1 Rd1+ 36.Bf1 c4 and black wins.], although after 34...Be6 35.Qb6 Rc8 36.Qxc7 Rxc7 37.Rb7! white should win.) 33.Rxb3 Nxc6 (Black is a piece down now, but after 33...Nxb3 34.Qxb3+ Kf8 35.e5 white should win anyway.) 34.e5 Nd4 35.Qc4+ Black resigned.

Note that in the replay windows below you can click either on the arrows under the diagram or on the notation to follow the game.

 

Comments

[Bocalou3]

01:50 PM on 05/27/2011

Congratulations to the winner, Gelfand; he is a magnificent player and deserved to win!

[Tron Walseth]

05:12 PM on 05/26/2011

I enjoyed the comments of the game immensely. Kavalek answered all the patzer questions (at least mine) without loosing the game thread.

[tadbanyon]

10:29 AM on 05/26/2011

Yeah, I'm not so enthusiastic. No offense to Mr Gelfand, I don't know a heck of a lot about him and have nothing against him whatsoever, but what the heck happened to our standards for playing for the World Championship? For a game that prides itself on being less reliant on chance that just about all others, Gelfand's selection illustrates just how much pure chance and random fluctuation we now permit to choose a challenger for the world title. After all, he's not even in the top 15 in the world, and he didn't win a single game using traditional (long) time controls. Mathematically speaking, in a match of that many games, the weaker player is expected to win a not insubstantial number of times purely due to random fluctuation. Throw in deciding it with progressively fast time controls, in which the strength of the player with long time controls is not necessarily equivalent, and the likelihood of random errors is even greater, and you're not doing a whole lot better than flipping coins. The World Champion title used to mean a lot more than I fear it means now. No disrespect to Mr Gelfand, who is a very talented grandmaster. But this is the world championship we're talking about. I don't think what he went through to get to the title match is particularly compelling evidence that he deserves to there over the other top 15 players in the world, even if he did have one really good week.

[SeptimusDSX]

11:39 AM on 05/26/2011

Don't be ridiculous. Gelfand, apart from Topa and Gata were the only ones who actually seemed like they wanted to play. The other so called big guns were more interested in making ridiculous short draws. You can blame the system (4 games is not enough) or anything else, but no way in hell was Gelfand undeserving.

For crying out loud he came in blasting at every game. Don't tell me his match with Gata was nothing short of nail-biting! Gelfand deserves it ten times over. As a spectator I'd rather see a fighter like him, Gata or Topa over boring players like Kramnik or Grischuk.

[tadbanyon]

02:07 PM on 05/26/2011

That's fine, you will get your wish. Personally, I'd rather see as close as I can get to the 2 best players in the world, not the guy who got the first wins in a couple of rapid matches. That proves very little. Play that entire qualifying tournament again in a week and Gelfand is just as likely not to qualify this time. Too much randomness for me, thanks. Not for the world championship. Unless Gelfand makes a lot of progress, I can't see ever placing his name besides Korchnoi, Bronstein, etc. But that's just me.

[tadbanyon]

02:13 PM on 05/26/2011

"You can blame the system..."

Yes, that is exactly what I'm blaming. The system. Four games is not nearly enough, especially if you can win without winning even a single game with standard time control. Why not just have a Swiss blitz tournament?

[SeptimusDSX]

10:08 AM on 05/26/2011

Great game by Gelfand! Congrats!

What is the purpose of Be6? Why not try 12. ..Bf5 and after 13.b3 go for Nb4 eying the d3 square?

For example:
h3 Bf5, g4 Be6, Ng5 Bc5, Qd2...

Now maybe attack the center with e5. White's Bc1 is locked in and things are not entirely hopeless for Black.

[Lubomir Kavalek]

11:51 AM on 06/06/2011

Thanks for the question.
After 12...Be6 black tries to disrupt white's development, threatening 13...Bc4, for example 14.Qc2 Nb4 15.Qb1 e5 (now 16.dxe5 allows 16...Bd3). That's why Gelfand played 13.b3.
Your suggestion 12...Bf5 makes more sense one move earlier as Topalov played against Gelfand this year in Monaco. After 11...Bf5 white doesn't have to play 12.b3 and can continue to prepare the central pawn advance with 12.Rd1, for example 12...Nb4 13.e4; or 12....a4 13.d5 Nb4 14.Nd4 with advantage.

[TheBaffler]

08:20 PM on 05/25/2011

I'm so happy to see Gelfand advance. He's been an elite player for a long time, albeit an underrated one, and deserves a shot at the title.

I expect Anand to win, but Gelfand should make him work for it.

[Lubomir Kavalek]

08:58 PM on 05/25/2011

I could not agree with you more.