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1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 Anand has come back to Nimzo Indian!
3. Nc3 No more Slav defense today. Interesting to see what Gelfand prepared for that.
3... Bb4 4. e3 the very main 4.e3 line, especially during the last year 4.e3 proved itself to be quite dangerous for Black - a move for a long game...
4... O-O And again the main move, now White has a few choices: the very main is 5.Bd3, 5.Nge2 or 5.Nf3 are also very playable options
5. Bd3 d5 6. Nf3 c5 we see the very main Nimzovich variation, the line with d5 and c5. Anand himself played many games in this position, as well as Gelfand with Black. The position is very well known was popular opening even 70 years ago!
7. O-O in this position the main move is 7...Nc6
7... dxc4 Anand is going for the 7...dxc4 and we are as well in a very popular lines with hundreds of games played
8. Bxc4 cxd4 9. exd4 b610. Bg5 another main move was 10.Qe2, but we are still in well explored territory, waiting for the bomb in the game. Which team will bring the novelty?
10... Bb7 11. Qe2 not so long ago in this position been played a game between Nakamura-Giri where Black continued with 11...Bxc3 12.bxc3 Nbd7 13.Bd3 Qc7. The game was played in Dortmund 2011 (replay it here), Black managed to get a good play, but the position was not that clear. Anand started to think and this is because 11.Qe2 is a rare move in comparison to the main 11.Re1. The major ideas: White will try to develop a play on the king side, where Black will try to do something on the queenside. Another idea of White can be to break through with d5, but this is very rare.
11... Nbd7 Anand is not taking immediately on Bxc3 and playing 11...Nbd7. In the game of one of Anand's seconds Wojtaszek-Gajewsky from 2006, White continued here with 12.Ne5. Following lines of seconds is one of the key things we predicted in the daily WCC newsletter, so let's see if Gelfand studied this game.
12. Rac1 Gelfand seems to know it well and plays very quickly 12.Rac1, as well a logical move. White wants to play at 12...Rc8 13.Bd3 and now Black got not the chance to play Qc7 move, which is usually the right position for the Queen. Seems like Gelfand managed to surprise Vishy, which could mean a game full of action for us! In case White do not managed to create something serious on the King side, Black can be better! It is an interesting moment now. On one hand Black should not try to play Bxc3 because this makes the White isolated pawn on d4 stronger and for sure Black would dream about blocking it with Nd5, on the other hand in case of White pawn c3-d4, Black is getting new ideas to play for the e5 push or try to play Qc7-Qc6! Of course an exchange of any piece is very positive for Black
12... Rc8 after a long thinking Anand is playing the logical 12...Rc8 and probably we can expect to see now 13.Bd3
13. Bd3 now logical would be 13...Bxc3 14.bxc3 and Qc7. Maybe Black can first try to play 13...h6!? but I think it is a dangerous move, because it is weakening the diagonal b1-h7 and Black will but not able to hold it with the usual g6
13... Bxc3 14. bxc3 Gelfand is clearly still is his preparation, and maybe Anand as well...
14... Qc7 and 14...Qc7 was played. From here on it is very hard to say what Gelfand wants to do next. Maybe 15.c4 to cover the field d5 and maybe threat to play d5 himself!? In comparison to the main move 11.Re1, White is trying to save sort of a tempo by maybe putting the rook on Rfd1 or maybe to push d5 even with a rook on f1
15. c4 Black has now a couple of moves as well, I think 15...Qd6 is looking very solid, maybe 15...Qc6!? also interesting
15... Bxf3 this is really a surprising move by Anand, 15...Bxf3?! does not look good to me
16. Qxf3 Black probably wants to play 16...e5 17.d5 and now try to make a blockade on the dark squares, but I think the bishop pair should give White some advantage. Maybe at 16...e5 White can try to 17.Bf5! and at 17...exd4 18.Bxf6 Nxf6 19.Bxc8 and I think White got pretty good winning chances.
16... Rfe8 the moves of Anand are hard to understand...2 things are clear. Anand is not in his preparation and Gelfand is doing better here. White could just continue now with 17.Rfd1. It is important for White to keep the center flexible and in a good moment crush Black structure by playing d5. Another idea could be to play h4-h5 and check how is the Black doing on the kingside...
17. Rfd1 h6 17...h6 doesn't change much, probably we will see 18.Bh4 now, and Black is in deep trouble. Not an easy task to find a useful move..
18. Bh4 Qd6 Gelfand started to play slower, but until now he can be very happy with the opening phase. What to do next?! this is a big question... I think White should try to prepare the d5 move, or maybe try to put the bishop to a better position, like Bg3 and maybe then Bc2-a4. The position is good for white, but of course it is still complex. Here we are analyzing live, the real quality analysis comes every Friday in the 30 pages CEWN magazine (pdf and pgn) straight to your mailbox.
19. c5 What a strange decision... why to play 19.c5?!...in such a nice position White had no need at all to go for this forced line
19... bxc5 the position that will arrive now after 21.Bh7 in my opinion will be very hard to win for White
20. dxc5 Rxc521. Bh7+ Kxh722. Rxd6 Rxc1+ 23. Rd1 the Black knight on d5 will take a fantastic place controlling over the whole board and White's only chance is to play on the a7 pawn and to be honest I don't see here a real chance. White's only possibility to keep winning chances now is, to keep the bishop alive, in case of exchange of bishop against knight, Black will just put the rook on d7 and White will have zero chances to play for a win. So probably 24.h3 should be the move, or maybe first 24.Qd3 and then 24.h3
23... Rec8 24. h3 Ne5 Now is it time to think for Black, how to exchange the knight against the bishop on h4, and in case it is not possible, where to put which piece to make a fortress... 24...Ne5, very quickly played by Anand, probably Black found a way to eat away the bishop. Maybe at 25.Qe2 Ng6!? is a possible more, at 26.Bg3 is coming now 26...Ne4! and in case of 26.Bxf6 gxf6 position seems to be very forced. or White is in time to take away the a7 pawn and win, or Black can consolidate and bring the rook on the 7th rank with probably a draw. Exciting game ahead, besides the live commentary, stay tuned for video analysis right after the game, all videos so far are here
25. Qe2 Ng6 the game goes on and probably Black has to take on d1, exchange of rooks should be good for Black. The question is what white can do?
26. Bxf6 gxf6 27. Rxc127.Kh2 would leave chances
27... Rxc1+ now the question is, can Black bring the knight to d5 or not. In case yes, it is immediate draw, in case no - probably Gelfand could try to win for some time, by putting the pawn on a6, and the push the King pawns forward
28. Kh2 Rc7 29. Qb2 a great move by Gelfand, 29.Qb2!! The idea is to stop the black knight from moving away from g6. Now at 29...Kg7 30.Qb8! Re7 and 31.Qd8 or Qd6. Black will probably continue with 31.Qd6 Rb7 32.Qc6 Re7 33.g3! and maybe White has some chances.
29... Kg7 30. a4 Oh, this is a real surprise to me, Gelfand is giving a chance to Black to play Ne7-Nd5 now. What can be White hopes for a win? Maybe to bring the King to h5! and try to take away the pawn on h6, could be interesting, maybe the position is not as drawish it looks.
30... Ne7 of course Anand is playing 30...Ne7, and probably White will play now a5-a6. But maybe White should play first the move 31.g4!? to fix the Black's pawn structure.
31. a5 so Gefland is putting the pawn on a6. This is logical to have always the Qb7 move which would paralyze the Black pieces
31... Nd5 seems to be not an easy draw at all... now we see why Gelfand was thinking for so long about the move 19.c5. The position is looking to be quite a draw - from the first look, but Gefland showed great understanding of the position! Difficult time for Anand ahead .
32. a6 Kh7 Black wants to play f5 now, so 33.g4 is looking very logical to counter it. But it seems like 33.g4 is not giving White any objective chances to win. Black would just keep on moving Kh7-Kg7 and at Whites Kg3-Kh4 just play Rc3! with mating threats. The good thing, for the first time during the match we got a chance to see a game over 40 moves!! :)
33. Qd4 Gefland is letting Anand choose whether he wants to play f5 or not and playing 33.Qd4
33... f5 and Anand is going for 33...f5, quite unclear to me actually why, in case Black keeps on waiting with Kg7 what could be White's idea... not clear at all
34. f4 Why does Gelfand play first 34.f4 and not 34.g4!? Also a bit strange, but the idea probably stays the same. The g4 move is needed, no way to play without it. Maybe Black could try now to avoid taking on g4. The move 34.f4 is really strange. One thing Gelfand did well for sure, with his 34.f4 he made Anand think long.
34... Rd7 so Anand played the 34...Rd7, until now not that clear what he wants to do at 35.g4
35. Kg3 Gelfand is not playing the normal 35.g4, but decides first to bring the King to h4. Probably it would end up in about the same, but I would not like to have the king on h4 first, gives Black some chances for mating tricks...
35... Kg6 36. Qh8 Nf637. Qb8 Gelfand's play is a bit unusual the last moves, maybe he is just waiting up until move 40? But it shows clearly no self confidence. Of course this doesn't change much the position, and probably after the move 40 White will try to find a way to push the g4 , but it could have been done much earlier...
37... h5 and by playing 37...h5!? Anand is saying, no more g4 in this game... now the g5 square is getting a bit weak, but I guess it will be hard for White to make use out of it.
38. Kh4 Gelfands says all or nothing, the only idea of White is not to hope for the g4 move... It seems like 38...Kh6! is the right move. In case of 38...Re7 39.g4 seems to be very dangerous for Black, 39...hxg4 40.hxg4 fxg4 41.Qe5! and Black has no good defense against the Qg5+
38... Kh6 39. Qb2 Kg640. Qc3 Ne4 we reached the 40th move and both players are getting additional 1hour to think about it... I guess during next couple of moves we will see both players taking care about every move... The game stays hot, can Gelfand find a way to rock the house!? We will certainly bring you multiple GMs point analysis in the nextWCC newsletter here to be sure all possibilities are explored. One example, Black can put on a nice trap: 41.Qf3 Nf6 42.Qg3 Kh7 43.Qg5 Ne4 44.Qh5 Kg7 and Black is winning!! Black is winning after Rd8-Rh8. So even white has to be careful.
41. Qc8 Nf6 41.Qc8 Nf6 doesn't give us any extra information, if Gelfand managed to find a winning plan or if the position is just a draw
42. Qb8 so Gelfand is playing 42.Qb8 and after Kh6 we will be back to the move 39, it doesn't seem like Gelfand found any winning ideas.
42... Re7 43. g4 and playing the very wrong 42...Re7 giving White a chance for 43.g4! [6:42:51 PM] A: how can this be? did Anand forgot that he had already this position on the board and played the absolutely correct 42...Kh6! Just amazing! And the thing is, the position might be winning now for White!
43... hxg4 44. hxg4 fxg445. Qe5 Ng8 of course 45...Nd5 was losing due to 46.Qg5 Kh7 47.f5! exf5 48.Qxf5 and the knight on d5 is getting lost. At a second thought we can confirm the game seems to be a draw! Very well evaluated by Black. 45...Ng8! was extremely strong and probably White cannot progress now any further... in case of 48.Kh5 now Black got the 48...Kh8!
46. Qg5+ Kh7 47. Qxg4 f648. Qg2 Kh8 49. Qe4 I think Gelfand had his chances to win today, and in my opinion his decision to play 19.c5?! been not correct. He could have done more out of his bishop pair. The position Queen against R+N was too hard to win with too many defensive ideas. Thank you for follwoing with me GM Naiditsch and see you in later rounds for more commentary! Also do not miss the collection mega pack at the Chessdom shop
49... Kg7 ½-½
3. Nc3 No more Slav defense today. Interesting to see what Gelfand prepared for that.
3... Bb4 4. e3 the very main 4.e3 line, especially during the last year 4.e3 proved itself to be quite dangerous for Black - a move for a long game...
4... O-O And again the main move, now White has a few choices: the very main is 5.Bd3, 5.Nge2 or 5.Nf3 are also very playable options
5. Bd3 d5 6. Nf3 c5 we see the very main Nimzovich variation, the line with d5 and c5. Anand himself played many games in this position, as well as Gelfand with Black. The position is very well known was popular opening even 70 years ago!
7. O-O in this position the main move is 7...Nc6
7... dxc4 Anand is going for the 7...dxc4 and we are as well in a very popular lines with hundreds of games played
8. Bxc4 cxd4 9. exd4 b610. Bg5 another main move was 10.Qe2, but we are still in well explored territory, waiting for the bomb in the game. Which team will bring the novelty?
10... Bb7 11. Qe2 not so long ago in this position been played a game between Nakamura-Giri where Black continued with 11...Bxc3 12.bxc3 Nbd7 13.Bd3 Qc7. The game was played in Dortmund 2011 (replay it here), Black managed to get a good play, but the position was not that clear. Anand started to think and this is because 11.Qe2 is a rare move in comparison to the main 11.Re1. The major ideas: White will try to develop a play on the king side, where Black will try to do something on the queenside. Another idea of White can be to break through with d5, but this is very rare.
11... Nbd7 Anand is not taking immediately on Bxc3 and playing 11...Nbd7. In the game of one of Anand's seconds Wojtaszek-Gajewsky from 2006, White continued here with 12.Ne5. Following lines of seconds is one of the key things we predicted in the daily WCC newsletter, so let's see if Gelfand studied this game.
12. Rac1 Gelfand seems to know it well and plays very quickly 12.Rac1, as well a logical move. White wants to play at 12...Rc8 13.Bd3 and now Black got not the chance to play Qc7 move, which is usually the right position for the Queen. Seems like Gelfand managed to surprise Vishy, which could mean a game full of action for us! In case White do not managed to create something serious on the King side, Black can be better! It is an interesting moment now. On one hand Black should not try to play Bxc3 because this makes the White isolated pawn on d4 stronger and for sure Black would dream about blocking it with Nd5, on the other hand in case of White pawn c3-d4, Black is getting new ideas to play for the e5 push or try to play Qc7-Qc6! Of course an exchange of any piece is very positive for Black
12... Rc8 after a long thinking Anand is playing the logical 12...Rc8 and probably we can expect to see now 13.Bd3
13. Bd3 now logical would be 13...Bxc3 14.bxc3 and Qc7. Maybe Black can first try to play 13...h6!? but I think it is a dangerous move, because it is weakening the diagonal b1-h7 and Black will but not able to hold it with the usual g6
13... Bxc3 14. bxc3 Gelfand is clearly still is his preparation, and maybe Anand as well...
14... Qc7 and 14...Qc7 was played. From here on it is very hard to say what Gelfand wants to do next. Maybe 15.c4 to cover the field d5 and maybe threat to play d5 himself!? In comparison to the main move 11.Re1, White is trying to save sort of a tempo by maybe putting the rook on Rfd1 or maybe to push d5 even with a rook on f1
15. c4 Black has now a couple of moves as well, I think 15...Qd6 is looking very solid, maybe 15...Qc6!? also interesting
15... Bxf3 this is really a surprising move by Anand, 15...Bxf3?! does not look good to me
16. Qxf3 Black probably wants to play 16...e5 17.d5 and now try to make a blockade on the dark squares, but I think the bishop pair should give White some advantage. Maybe at 16...e5 White can try to 17.Bf5! and at 17...exd4 18.Bxf6 Nxf6 19.Bxc8 and I think White got pretty good winning chances.
16... Rfe8 the moves of Anand are hard to understand...2 things are clear. Anand is not in his preparation and Gelfand is doing better here. White could just continue now with 17.Rfd1. It is important for White to keep the center flexible and in a good moment crush Black structure by playing d5. Another idea could be to play h4-h5 and check how is the Black doing on the kingside...
17. Rfd1 h6 17...h6 doesn't change much, probably we will see 18.Bh4 now, and Black is in deep trouble. Not an easy task to find a useful move..
18. Bh4 Qd6 Gelfand started to play slower, but until now he can be very happy with the opening phase. What to do next?! this is a big question... I think White should try to prepare the d5 move, or maybe try to put the bishop to a better position, like Bg3 and maybe then Bc2-a4. The position is good for white, but of course it is still complex. Here we are analyzing live, the real quality analysis comes every Friday in the 30 pages CEWN magazine (pdf and pgn) straight to your mailbox.
19. c5 What a strange decision... why to play 19.c5?!...in such a nice position White had no need at all to go for this forced line
19... bxc5 the position that will arrive now after 21.Bh7 in my opinion will be very hard to win for White
20. dxc5 Rxc521. Bh7+ Kxh722. Rxd6 Rxc1+ 23. Rd1 the Black knight on d5 will take a fantastic place controlling over the whole board and White's only chance is to play on the a7 pawn and to be honest I don't see here a real chance. White's only possibility to keep winning chances now is, to keep the bishop alive, in case of exchange of bishop against knight, Black will just put the rook on d7 and White will have zero chances to play for a win. So probably 24.h3 should be the move, or maybe first 24.Qd3 and then 24.h3
23... Rec8 24. h3 Ne5 Now is it time to think for Black, how to exchange the knight against the bishop on h4, and in case it is not possible, where to put which piece to make a fortress... 24...Ne5, very quickly played by Anand, probably Black found a way to eat away the bishop. Maybe at 25.Qe2 Ng6!? is a possible more, at 26.Bg3 is coming now 26...Ne4! and in case of 26.Bxf6 gxf6 position seems to be very forced. or White is in time to take away the a7 pawn and win, or Black can consolidate and bring the rook on the 7th rank with probably a draw. Exciting game ahead, besides the live commentary, stay tuned for video analysis right after the game, all videos so far are here
25. Qe2 Ng6 the game goes on and probably Black has to take on d1, exchange of rooks should be good for Black. The question is what white can do?
26. Bxf6 gxf6 27. Rxc127.Kh2 would leave chances
27... Rxc1+ now the question is, can Black bring the knight to d5 or not. In case yes, it is immediate draw, in case no - probably Gelfand could try to win for some time, by putting the pawn on a6, and the push the King pawns forward
28. Kh2 Rc7 29. Qb2 a great move by Gelfand, 29.Qb2!! The idea is to stop the black knight from moving away from g6. Now at 29...Kg7 30.Qb8! Re7 and 31.Qd8 or Qd6. Black will probably continue with 31.Qd6 Rb7 32.Qc6 Re7 33.g3! and maybe White has some chances.
29... Kg7 30. a4 Oh, this is a real surprise to me, Gelfand is giving a chance to Black to play Ne7-Nd5 now. What can be White hopes for a win? Maybe to bring the King to h5! and try to take away the pawn on h6, could be interesting, maybe the position is not as drawish it looks.
30... Ne7 of course Anand is playing 30...Ne7, and probably White will play now a5-a6. But maybe White should play first the move 31.g4!? to fix the Black's pawn structure.
31. a5 so Gefland is putting the pawn on a6. This is logical to have always the Qb7 move which would paralyze the Black pieces
31... Nd5 seems to be not an easy draw at all... now we see why Gelfand was thinking for so long about the move 19.c5. The position is looking to be quite a draw - from the first look, but Gefland showed great understanding of the position! Difficult time for Anand ahead .
32. a6 Kh7 Black wants to play f5 now, so 33.g4 is looking very logical to counter it. But it seems like 33.g4 is not giving White any objective chances to win. Black would just keep on moving Kh7-Kg7 and at Whites Kg3-Kh4 just play Rc3! with mating threats. The good thing, for the first time during the match we got a chance to see a game over 40 moves!! :)
33. Qd4 Gefland is letting Anand choose whether he wants to play f5 or not and playing 33.Qd4
33... f5 and Anand is going for 33...f5, quite unclear to me actually why, in case Black keeps on waiting with Kg7 what could be White's idea... not clear at all
34. f4 Why does Gelfand play first 34.f4 and not 34.g4!? Also a bit strange, but the idea probably stays the same. The g4 move is needed, no way to play without it. Maybe Black could try now to avoid taking on g4. The move 34.f4 is really strange. One thing Gelfand did well for sure, with his 34.f4 he made Anand think long.
34... Rd7 so Anand played the 34...Rd7, until now not that clear what he wants to do at 35.g4
35. Kg3 Gelfand is not playing the normal 35.g4, but decides first to bring the King to h4. Probably it would end up in about the same, but I would not like to have the king on h4 first, gives Black some chances for mating tricks...
35... Kg6 36. Qh8 Nf637. Qb8 Gelfand's play is a bit unusual the last moves, maybe he is just waiting up until move 40? But it shows clearly no self confidence. Of course this doesn't change much the position, and probably after the move 40 White will try to find a way to push the g4 , but it could have been done much earlier...
37... h5 and by playing 37...h5!? Anand is saying, no more g4 in this game... now the g5 square is getting a bit weak, but I guess it will be hard for White to make use out of it.
38. Kh4 Gelfands says all or nothing, the only idea of White is not to hope for the g4 move... It seems like 38...Kh6! is the right move. In case of 38...Re7 39.g4 seems to be very dangerous for Black, 39...hxg4 40.hxg4 fxg4 41.Qe5! and Black has no good defense against the Qg5+
38... Kh6 39. Qb2 Kg640. Qc3 Ne4 we reached the 40th move and both players are getting additional 1hour to think about it... I guess during next couple of moves we will see both players taking care about every move... The game stays hot, can Gelfand find a way to rock the house!? We will certainly bring you multiple GMs point analysis in the nextWCC newsletter here to be sure all possibilities are explored. One example, Black can put on a nice trap: 41.Qf3 Nf6 42.Qg3 Kh7 43.Qg5 Ne4 44.Qh5 Kg7 and Black is winning!! Black is winning after Rd8-Rh8. So even white has to be careful.
41. Qc8 Nf6 41.Qc8 Nf6 doesn't give us any extra information, if Gelfand managed to find a winning plan or if the position is just a draw
42. Qb8 so Gelfand is playing 42.Qb8 and after Kh6 we will be back to the move 39, it doesn't seem like Gelfand found any winning ideas.
42... Re7 43. g4 and playing the very wrong 42...Re7 giving White a chance for 43.g4! [6:42:51 PM] A: how can this be? did Anand forgot that he had already this position on the board and played the absolutely correct 42...Kh6! Just amazing! And the thing is, the position might be winning now for White!
43... hxg4 44. hxg4 fxg445. Qe5 Ng8 of course 45...Nd5 was losing due to 46.Qg5 Kh7 47.f5! exf5 48.Qxf5 and the knight on d5 is getting lost. At a second thought we can confirm the game seems to be a draw! Very well evaluated by Black. 45...Ng8! was extremely strong and probably White cannot progress now any further... in case of 48.Kh5 now Black got the 48...Kh8!
46. Qg5+ Kh7 47. Qxg4 f648. Qg2 Kh8 49. Qe4 I think Gelfand had his chances to win today, and in my opinion his decision to play 19.c5?! been not correct. He could have done more out of his bishop pair. The position Queen against R+N was too hard to win with too many defensive ideas. Thank you for follwoing with me GM Naiditsch and see you in later rounds for more commentary! Also do not miss the collection mega pack at the Chessdom shop
49... Kg7 ½-½
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