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| May-29-12 | | Eyal: <Hesam7> Here are a couple of more lines that look dangerous for Black (the first is given by Shipov, the second by Monokroussos): 13.Qg3 Bxc4 14.bxc4 Qa5+ (14...Bb4+ 15.Ke2 Qd4 16.Rb1) 15.Ke2 f6 16.Rb1 Qa6 17.f4 (17.Bd2 is also interesting) 17...exf4 (17...e4 18.Re1) 18.Bxf4 Kf7 19.Rhf1 Be7 20.h5 Rad8 21.Be5 Rhg8 22.Qf4: 
click for larger viewAnd White has a strong attack (with ideas such as h6, g4, or Qe4) Even the liquidation of bishops, in case White allows that, might not solve Black's problems: 15.Bd2 Bb4 16.Bxb4 Qxb4+ 17.Ke2 Qc3 18.Qxg7 Qxc2+ 19.Kf1 Qxd3+ 20.Kg1: 
click for larger viewAnd Black's king is much less safe than White's.
Anand of 2008 would surely have played 13.Qg3... |
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May-29-12
 | | piltdown man: Go Boris! |
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May-29-12
 | | Honza Cervenka: <AVRO38><Define "beats". Gelfand can draw all the games on Wednesday and still become World Champion! This does not qualify as "beats" in my book.> Well, in the worst case scenario, when it would go down to the "Armageddon" game with Gelfand as black, it can be technically true. But according to current rules, which were not made by Gelfand, the draw with black in Armageddon game, where black has the draw odds against the time odds of white, is equal to win of the game. It is probably the most idiotic but still legitimate way to decide the match. |
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| May-29-12 | | Hesam7: <Eyal: 13.Qg3 Bxc4 14.bxc4 Qa5+ (14...Bb4+ 15.Ke2 Qd4 16.Rb1) 15.Ke2 f6 16.Rb1 Qa6 17.f4 (17.Bd2 is also interesting) 17...exf4 (17...e4 18.Re1) 18.Bxf4 Kf7 19.Rhf1 Be7 20.h5 Rad8 21.Be5 Rhg8 22.Qf4> 13. Qg3 Bxc4 14. bxc4 Qa5+ 15. Ke2 f6 16. Rb1 is one of the critical lines and here I think Black should try 16. ... Qc7. 
click for larger viewI have not been able to come up with anything concrete for White, after 17. d4 Qa5 I tried: (a) 18. dxe5 Qxa2 19. Qb3 (forced if trying to win) 19. ... Qxb3 and after both recaptures Black's best move is ... a5. I don't see anyway White can get any advantage here. (b) 18. Qg4 f5 (forced) 19. Qh5+ g6 (forced) 20. Qf3 Qa4! and White has no way of pushing forward. (c) 18. Qh3 f5 (forced) 19. dxe5 Bc5 (19. ... Qxe5? 20. Qe3! and the White rooks invade the 7th rank) 20. Bd2 Qa6 and again White's attack ends. And if instead of 17. d4 White plays something slow like 17. Be3 then Black can escape: 17. ... Kf7 18. Rb3 Be7 19. Rhb1 Rab8. |
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| May-29-12 | | Hesam7: <Eyal> I think I will never bother with any analysis by IM Malcolm Pein. Here is his take on 13. Qg3: <13.Qg3 Bxc4 14.bxc4 Qa5+ 15.Bd2 Bb4!=> |
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| May-29-12 | | Ulhumbrus: At the end of the game Anand's opinion may have been that his game was not objectively won and he followed his opinion. He may have considered it unwise to attempt to win the game and a remark of Shipov's suggests that it was not true, as Kramnik said, that White would have run no risk trying to win. The risk would be justified if in Anand's opinion White's game was won but Anand's opinion was that it was not. In that case his choice may have been wise. |
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| May-29-12 | | Hesam7: <Anand of 2008 would surely have played 13.Qg3...> Several points:
1. We don't know what is going on behind the scenes, Anand could have personal problem (like Kramnik back in 2004). 2. In 2008, Anand's preparation helped his game a lot more than people think. With that kind of advantage in preparation, you will perform much better once you are on your own as well: while you know what you are dealing with a lot of time on the clock, your opponent will be tired and approaching time trouble. 3. In 2008, Anand had his bad moments as well. See games 2, 9 & 10. His succeeded because he had 2 big novelties and he got 3 wins with them! And that is quite lucky, Kramnik could have played other openings and we would have seen an entirely different match. 4. Anand might really like his chances in rapid. He has been a legendary rapid player and you can make a case that Gelfand would not do so well in rapid. In the match whenever Gelfand faced an unknown position he burnt extraordinary amounts of time. I think if today's game was rapid, White would have won. Gelfand would not play a move like 10. ... c4 and without that move White's game is extremely easy and Black has to suffer with no end in sight. |
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May-29-12
| | Honza Cervenka: <10^120 number of possible positions> I think that the number 10^120 represents rather an estimate of the game-tree complexity based on statistical data of the average lenght of the game and an average branching factor. Estimates for the number of "possible positions" are much lower ranging from 10^40 to 10^50. I think that all these numbers are vastly exaggerated as they include majority of illegal positions (and I mean not only Pawns on the first rank or both Kings under check but also positions, which cannot be reached by any legal order of moves from the starting position) and maybe even duplicate positions. Of course, the game-tree complexity includes many transpositions and utter nonsenses. |
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| May-29-12 | | Rob Morrison: I'm amazed by black's opening play. If I didn't know who played this I would have guessed from the first seven moves that white was Nimzovitch and black was some patzer who had zero understanding of Nimzo's principles. Clearly I'm the patzer and I will have to get a new understanding of what was going on in this opening. |
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May-29-12
 | | blazerdoodle: Interesting then that this Patzer drew the world champion. |
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May-29-12
 | | Open Defence: <Eyal> <Hesam7> is there any analysis for 13.Qg3 f6 ? |
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| May-29-12 | | Eyal: <Deffi> 13...f6 is certainly possible - it's Houdini's second recommendation. Haven't seen any published analysis of it, though. I think that people have been focusing on 13...Bxc4 both because it's the comp's first recommendation and because it's quite clear that's what Gelfand would have actually played - in the press conference, when asked about the possibility of 13.Qg3, he mentioned this immediately, saying "Getting rid of the bishop is my dream"... |
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| May-29-12 | | acirce: <Looks like <10…c4>, which was commended by Anand himself in the press conference, is indeed the star move of this game. For those who didn’t follow the game live, it's worth noting that Gelfand thought for almost a whole hour at this point. This time, for a change, Anand as White managed to surprise him in the opening, probably getting with 5.d3 & 6.b3 (a very rare move) the kind of play that he wanted to get in game 10 and that Gelfand spoiled after 5.b3 e5!
With 10…c4, Gelfand avoided getting into passive play with, for example, 10...Be7 11.Bb2 f6 (11...0–0 12.h5 or 12.Qg4) 12.Qh5+ g6 13.Qh6 Kf7 14.Ne4, which would have promised White lasting initiative. Instead, he sacrificed two pawns to remain one down in order to activate his bishops and improve his pawn structure.> Yes. During his long think, I started to think that Gelfand would lose the game and the match, based on the passive and difficult kind of position such lines would have led him into, combined with him being far behind on the clock. When 10..c4 came, Kramnik didn't like it. He had indicated it after a move like 10.Bb2, but thought that 10.Nd2 eliminated it because Nxc4 would be so much stronger than having to capture with a pawn. But, as he also said, Gelfand had actually spent time thinking about the position, while "after all we've just been sitting here drinking coffee and talking about the Babushki". :-) And it indeed turned out to be a very good and creative solution. I like it a lot. Very nice. |
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| May-29-12 | | Judah: <http://main.uschess.org/content/vie...>: Thanks for the link, Jennifer: lots of interesting ideas there and in the articles linked from that one. I'm especially intrigued by the one your brother quotes of allowing the opponent to switch sides upon a draw offer. |
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| May-29-12 | | ajile: <Hesam7: 4. Anand really likes his chances in rapid.> fixed. |
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| May-29-12 | | Hesam7: <Open Defence: <Eyal> <Hesam7> is there any analysis for 13.Qg3 f6 ?> <Eyal: <Deffi> 13...f6 is certainly possible - it's Houdini's second recommendation. Haven't seen any published analysis of it, though. I think that people have been focusing on 13...Bxc4 both because it's the comp's first recommendation and because it's quite clear that's what Gelfand would have actually played - in the press conference, when asked about the possibility of 13.Qg3, he mentioned this immediately, saying "Getting rid of the bishop is my dream"...> 13. Qg3 f6?! 14. O-O:
click for larger view(a) 14. ... Bxc4 if Black wanted to play this move he should have done it a move earlier, this is just a worse version: 15. bxc4 Qd7 16. Rb1 Bd6 17. Rb3 O-O 18. Bd2. White has the better bishop, controls the b-file and can continue harassing the Black King with h5-h6. If Black tries to neutralize White's control over the b-file, he will end up improving White's pawn structure. (b) 14. ... Kf7 (an engine suggestion) 15. Bb2 Be7 (15. ... Bxc4? 16. dxc4! is bad for Black: 16. ... Qe4 17. Rad1 the Rd7 threat is not easy to meet, 16. ... Qd7 17. Qf3 the pawn on e5 is hard to defend) 16. Rae1: (b1) 16. ... Rhd8? 17. Nxe5! fxe5 18. Rxe5 Qd6 19. Ra5!!  
click for larger view19. ... c5 (forced) 20. Qxg7+ Ke8 (only move) 21. Re1! Kd7 and now 22. d4! with the threat of d5 brings down the house. (b2) 16. ... Rhf8 (best)
(b21) 17. Nxe5!? fxe5 18. Rxe5 Qd8 19. Re4 Bf6 (19. ... g6? 20. Qe5! ) 20. Bxf6 gxf6 21. Rg4 Ke8 (21. ... Ke7 22. Re1 Bc8 leads to similar positions) 22. Re1 Bc8 (forced) 23. Rg7 Rf7 24. Re4 
click for larger viewI am amazed Black is holding, however in the resulting endgames White gets 4 healthy pawns for the bishop and I doubt Black can survive those endings. (b22) 17. Qg4! (White should opt for a less forcing line, in which he keeps all of his advantage) 17. ... Bc8 (17. ... Kg8? 18. Nxe5! ) 18. Re3 Kg8 19. Rg3 Rf7 20. Re1  |
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| May-29-12 | | Hesam7: <acirce: When 10..c4 came, Kramnik didn't like it. He had indicated it after a move like 10.Bb2, but thought that 10.Nd2 eliminated it because Nxc4 would be so much stronger than having to capture with a pawn. But, as he also said, Gelfand had actually spent time thinking about the position, while "after all we've just been sitting here drinking coffee and talking about the Babushki". :-) And it indeed turned out to be a very good and creative solution. I like it a lot. Very nice.> Based on the analysis I have seen and done myself I strongly disagree with this. After 11. ... Ba6 Black had 53 minutes left on the clock (I think Gelfand spent a few minutes on 12. ... Qd5 as well). Had Anand played 13. Qg3, and then Gelfand blundered in the ensuing complications due to time trouble, you would get a totally different picture. 10. ... c4 would be dismissed (correctly IMO) as an overly drastic measure on Gelfand's part because he did not have the nerves to defend passively for a long time. |
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| May-30-12 | | Mr. Bojangles: For me 10 ... c4 was the move of the match. It was so deep and effective as it simplifies and makes black's position easier to play and leads to a draw in all lines. An ingenious pawn sacrifice. In the press conference after the match, Anand singled out this move especially as a testimony to Gelfy's brilliant defensive play throughout the match. |
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| Jun-04-12 | | Ulhumbrus: <Hesam7> Assuming that the move 13 Qg3 creates greater difficulties for Black than the move 13 Qxd5 creates difficulties for Black an alternative to the pawn sacrifice 10...c4 is to play it two moves earlier, at a moment when White cannot reply to it by Nd2xc4, by 8...c4, offering White a pawn instead of accepting it. On 8...c4 9 exd6 Qxd6 10 h5 Nf4 12 Bxf4 Qxf4 13 bxc4 Black has two bishops for two knights and perhaps more than sufficient positional compensation for the pawn. |
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| Jun-05-12 | | Hesam7: <Ulhumbrus: <Hesam7> Assuming that the move 13 Qg3 creates greater difficulties for Black than the move 13 Qxd5 creates difficulties for Black an alternative to the pawn sacrifice 10...c4 is to play it two moves earlier, at a moment when White cannot reply to it by Nd2xc4, by 8...c4, offering White a pawn instead of accepting it.> But after 8. ... c4 White has 9. d4! dxe5 10. h5! Ne7 (forced) 11. Nxe5 Nf5 12. c3 c5 13. bxc4 cxd4 14. O-O Bd6 (14. ... d3?! 15. g4!) 15. cxd4 O-O 
click for larger viewand White has a number of pleasant moves to choose from. |
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| Jun-05-12 | | Ulhumbrus: <Hesam7: <Ulhumbrus: <Hesam7> Assuming that the move 13 Qg3 creates greater difficulties for Black than the move 13 Qxd5 creates difficulties for Black an alternative to the pawn sacrifice 10...c4 is to play it two moves earlier, at a moment when White cannot reply to it by Nd2xc4, by 8...c4, offering White a pawn instead of accepting it.>
But after 8. ... c4 White has 9. d4! dxe5 10. h5! Ne7 (forced) 11. Nxe5 Nf5 12. c3 c5 13. bxc4 cxd4 14. O-O Bd6 (14. ... d3?! 15. g4!) 15. cxd4 O-Oand White has a number of pleasant moves to choose from.>
In the sequence above 10...Ne7 is not forced. An alternative is 10...Nf4 eg 11 g3 Nd5 12 bxc4 e4. After 9 d4 two alternatives to 9...dxe5 are 9...d5 and 9...Ba6 with ...Qb6 to follow. |
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| Jun-24-12 | | lost in space: Even though I think a lot of games in this event were dull and boring: 10. c4 is BRILLIANT. Would be interesting to see if comps find this move or not. |
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Jun-24-12
| | Open Defence: i thought the match was very interesting from a chess theory aspect, but perhaps not very exciting to watch live except when the blunders started happening |
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| Jun-24-12 | | Eyal: <To put the match in restaurant parlance, the problem wasn't with the food, which was generally tasty, but with the size of the portions.> (http://www.thechessmind.net/blog/20...) |
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Jun-24-12
| | Open Defence: yes, I think that sums it up. Also if you analyse some of the games especially this one there is quite a bit to go through and quite deep too |
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