OMG World Championship is On Anand Vs Gelfand

[jewbinson]

Anand came close today to a win. I don't know if 10.d6 is a theoretical line or if it's better than the game, but the computer recommends it.

Also, the computer says that 34. d7 is a draw from what I gathered on brief analysis.

Other than that, nothing was going on.

[sixfour]

when this obviously goes to 12 consecutive draws and tiebreaks, it isn't an auto-anand win, right? iirc gelfand isn't a huge fish at rapid

[wlrs]

No not at all, I doubt it will go go 12 draws though - I think Anand was fairly close yesterday already. Art videos on the live stream again, yoo hoo. Dirk Jan promised they won't send them at critical junctures, which I guess is another way of saying we'll be seeing plenty of them today as well

[DiggertheDog]

Another wellworn Slav.

[Sugar Nut]

LOL, i just tuned in and realized that, if this would be the first time for me and I didn't already know about this art ****, I would probably be damn sure that I'm either on the wrong stream or there's an error on their end.

I'm still not entirely sure whether it's stupidity or just outright audacity that made them botch the official coverage of the most important chess match since 2010.

[wlrs]

Looks like this one will be really boring, I predict a draw before move 30

[Sugar Nut]

According to Houdini the position is dead. I obviously suck too much at chess to add anything else of value.

[wlrs]

Timman wants to play Bb4, not sure if he has something in store for Qb6 hitting b4 and f2

[wlrs]

Anand is making drawfaces at Gelfand now, liking my prediction

edit: god damn gelfand, ruined it by turning down the draw offer. Understandable from a psychological warfare point though, not willing to let Anand be the boss

[KyleJRM82]

This match is dying for some 1. e4!

[wlrs]

yes let's get some Berlins going

[Do it Right]

Originally Posted by sixfour

when this obviously goes to 12 consecutive draws and tiebreaks, it isn't an auto-anand win, right? iirc gelfand isn't a huge fish at rapid

Anand is really already on another level than Gelfand in classical, an edge that's only being magnified with Gelfand apparently content to play for a draw as white. So it's unlikely Gelfand makes it to the tie breaks. If he does, it's over. Their record excluding draws in rapid is 8-1 Anand. In blitz it's 3-0 Anand. For that matter, the last time Gelfand beat Anand in classical chess was nearly 2 decades ago - 1993.

I can only assume Gelfand's strategy here is to simply get through the first 9 or 10 games without losing since a loss would be all but impossible for him to come back from. Then in the last handful of games go for the jugular, hope to get lucky and hold onto the point against a newly motivated and energized Anand. I think the most likely result is Gelfand ends up losing a game before the end, then goes all out trying to regain the point and ends up losing another at which point he goes into a shell just trying to save some face. I'll call it here: +2 =10 -0 Anand.

[Sugar Nut]

Sounds reasonable. Now let's just hope Anand wins game 5, so we can see a few exciting games soon (and become experts at medieval russian art along the way).

[EGarrett]

This match was severely unanticipated by most everyone, and it's coming out even worse than expectations. 4 draws in a row and counting.

Who put up 2 million dollars for this? And that's not a rhetorical question. I genuinely would like to know who agreed to pay the prize pool and why.

[YouKnowWho]

People need to learn to give at least some amount of damn respect. You dislike the match/players? That's your right of course.. but to blatantly throw all sorts of random **** at them (and mainly at Gelfand) is just low IMO. Gelfand did not just randomly get to play for the crown you know? Had he got to play this match via some politics/finance/other bull****, I proly woulda been hating too. Yet he qualified lawfully and via some brilliant play, so for the love of God, cut a guy some slack. Or maybe he shoulda just withdrawn from the match because he is not the most interesting chess player in the world.. Boohoo.. Petrosian must be rolling in his grave right about now.