World Championship G11 – Anand draws with a Nimzo Indian

The World Chess Championship 2012 is being staged in the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow, between the current World Champion Viswanathan Anand of India and the winner of the Candidates tournament Boris Gelfand of Israel. The match is over twelve games and lasts from May 11 to 30. The prize fund is US $2.55 million, the winner getting $1.53 million (60%), the loser $1.02 million (40%).

Round eleven – Anand draws with a Nimzo Indian

The 11th game of the World Chess Championship was a tantalising one, having its exciting moments initially, which perhaps raised hopes of a positive result for fans of reigning World Champion Viswanathan Anand.

In former times people would sharpen their swords or oil their guns before a battle...

Anand at the start of the game (after playing 6...c5)

Boris Gelfand mulling over Anand's suprise move 8...Bd7

Boris Gelfand appeared to have been caught off-guard on the eighth move with a rare continuation by Anand, who had once again opted for the Nimzo Indian Defence. Gelfand pondered long and hard (for about 50 minutes) on this move, causing a buzz of excitement and many wondered whether the Indian ace had something exciting to unleash from his home preparation. Gelfand appeared troubled, gesticulated nervously and stayed hunched for a long time on the board. Quite clearly the move had rattled him but the Israeli GM kept his cool and solved his problems on board to once again steer the game to a draw after 24 moves.

The final minutes of game eleven – Boris Gelfand ponders after 22...Be8

Gelfand has played 23.Rb3 and Anand looks very relaxed about his prospects

After 24...Rd7 Gelfand has accepted the draw offer by Anand

The twelve-game match has just one more game remaining, to be played on Monday after a rest day on Sunday. The match is delicately poised with a 5.5-5.5 score, and a victory by either would mean the world title. Anand will be wielding white and in case of a draw, the tie break games are scheduled to be played on May 30th.

Anand finds himself in a similar situation as in Sofia in 2010, where the score was tied 5.5-5.5 and he scored a thrilling victory over Veselin Topalov in the final twelfth game to retain the crown. Anand first won the title in 2000, then lost it the next year. He regained back the title in 2007 in Mexico, and since then successfully defended it in 2008 and 2010.

Game eleven analysis by GM Gilbert Milos

Game ten analysis by Malcolm Pein

IM Malcolm Pein comments on the games on TWIC and live during each game via Twitter #telegraphchess.

Analysis of game eleven by GM Daniel King on Playchess

Video commentary by Andrew Martin

GM Robert Fontaine and his video producer Gérard Demuydt are in Moscow, producing video reports and interviews after each round for the French chess magazine Europe Echecs. We are grateful to receive the reports very soon after the end of the games, so that we are able to publish them on the same day. It is also great to catch a glimpse of the many interesting personalities that visit the World Championship.

Video report by Vijay Kumar for Doordarshan Indian TV Network

Pictures by Anastasya Karlovich in Moscow

One of the camera people responsibe for the HD video broadcast of the event

Scoreboard

Remaining schedule

Days of play, with live commentators on Playchess.com. Note that the games start at 15:00h local time = 13:00 CEST, 07 a.m. New York or here in your location.

Links Official web site of the World Championship match All ChessBase reports on the World Championship All games in PGN The games are being broadcast live on the official web site and on the chess server Playchess.com. If you are not a member you can download a free Playchess client there and get immediate access. You can also use ChessBase 11 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs.

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