World Chess C'ship: Anand holds Gelfand to a draw

Moscow: World champion Viswanthan Anand played his fourth draw in the world chess champion against Boris Gelfand of Israel as the deadlock continued in the prestigious contest, here today. Playing black for the second time in the match, Anand continued his faith in the Slav defense and yet again did not have much difficulty equalising. It was a continuation of discussion in the second game of the match wherein Anand had gone for a fifth move surprise and yet again the World champion went for it, emphasising that it was not an opening gamble he had gone for in his first game as black. The fact that Anand went for something new that has obviously been home-cooked a long time and that Gelfand could not find any way to break is a good sign for the defending champion but as Anand himself mentioned, “I cant tell you much about what was around unless I have a deeper look at it.” [caption id=“attachment_310357” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Vishy still hasn’t managed to get a win. AFP”]  [/caption] The five-time champion was referring to a question in the post match conference when he was if Gelfand could have done better. As it happened in the game, there were some striking similarities to the second game if one looked at the material balance as Gelfand found a way to win a pawn and it seemed secured for sometime. However, in the last game when Anand had played, he was close to attaining the decisive edge, something that Gelfand could only hope for without coming really closer to it any time. The first real move in the game yet again came from Anand when he went for the development of his rook on his 16th turn and by move 21 it was a perfect balance with level material on board. Gelfand fought in the vain hope of attaining what was proving to be an elusive advantage and Anand nullified all white’s attempts with some perfect manoeuvres. Gelfand made it clear with his 26th move that he was satisfied with a draw as the Israeli went for trading of the queens signaling his peaceful intentions. Soon after Anand pushed his pawns on queenside to a safer square away from the glares of Gelfand’s Bishop and on move 34, the draw was agreed to. Eight games still remain in the battle for the highest crown in world chess and also for the prize fund of USD 2.55 Million out of which 60% is reserved for the winner. With every game Anand gives the impression that he is pushing, equalizing easily as black and pushing for something, except in game one, as white. In the third game the Indian ace was tantalizingly close to a victory, something that might have given a big advantage in ashort match like this. However that did not happen and now in the fifth game after another rest day, the battle begins afresh. The Moves: Gelfand, B (2727) - Anand,V (2791) World Chess Championship Match Moscow (4), 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e3 e6 5.Nf3 a6 6.b3 Bb4 7.Bd2 Nbd7 8.Bd3 0–0 9.0–0 Bd6 10.Qc2 e5 11.cxd5 cxd5 12.e4 exd4 13.Nxd5 Nxd5 14.exd5 Nf6 15.h3 Bd7 16.Rad1 Re8 17.Nxd4 Rc8 18.Qb1 h6 19.Nf5 Bxf5 20.Bxf5 Rc5 21.Rfe1 Rxd5 22.Bc3 Rxe1+ 23.Rxe1 Bc5 24.Qc2 Bd4 25.Bxd4 Rxd4 26.Qc8 g6 27.Bg4 h5 28.Qxd8+ Rxd8 29.Bf3 b6 30.Rc1 Rd6 31.Kf1 a5 32.Ke2 Nd5 33.g3 Ne7 34.Be4 Kg7. 0.5-0.5. PTI