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Administrator: International coaches and FIDE instructors Praful Zaveri and Prasad Deshmukh are here to take us through the first game of the World Chess Championship, exclusively for DNA.
If you are following the game, you can mail your comments at: dnawebdesk@gmail.com.
Enjoy!
FI. Prasad Deshmukh: Anand goes for the rarely played line - 10.d5. New ideas in this line?
FI. Praful Zaveri: Anand has sacrificed material for activity of his pieces
FI. Praful Zaveri: With 13.Rb2, both the players are now in the fresh waters!
FI. Prasad Deshmukh: 14. d6 seems obvious- opening lines and trying to catch the black King in the centre
FI. Praful Zaveri: Only from this point has Anand started thinking! White current time on the Chess Clock is 1h 26m and Gelfand is behind by 10 minutes.
FI. Praful Zaveri: Only from this point has Anand started thinking! White current time on the Chess Clock is 1h 26m and Gelfand is behind by 10 minutes.
FI. Prasad Deshmukh: Here it comes
FI. Praful Zaveri: With 14.d6 - the Pawn push - Anand has shown his aggressive intentions
FI. Prasad Deshmukh: The only move since 14... exd6 would lose to 15. Qxd6 as the black king is stranded in the centre
FI. Praful Zaveri: As in any contest, the 1st game sets the trend for domination and, that is precisely what Anand is trying to do!
FI. Praful Zaveri: The game now dynamically hangs in balance as Gelfand is equal to the defensive task!
FI. Prasad Deshmukh: Anand has consumed just over an hour while Gelfand about 56 mins
FI. Praful Zaveri: Anand has restored material balance on the 17th move with 17. Qxc6 and now threatens Black's Bishop on the c8 square
FI. Praful Zaveri: With 17... Qc7, Gelfand has forced exchange of Queens. He now threatens capture of Anand's c3 Pawn
FI. Prasad Deshmukh: two bishops coupled with an outside passed pawn on the a file seems to offer black a faint edge
FI. Praful Zaveri: The World Chess Championship is altogether a different contest - the difference in ratings becomes insignificant!
FI. Praful Zaveri: With the text move - 19.Rc2, we now find Anand on the defensive!
FI. Prasad Deshmukh: ... but as is said" the gods have put the middle game before the endgame" white should put the activity of his rooks to good us in this middlegame without queens
FI. Praful Zaveri: Black now has a 'Double Bishop' advantage and, Anand has to reckon Black's outside passer on the 'a' file
FI. Praful Zaveri: In their head-to-head encounter, Anand leads Gelfand by 6-5 games with 26-draws.
FI. Prasad Deshmukh: to add that, for the past 19 years Gelfand hasn't been able to beat Anand in a Classical encounter
The Double Bishop advantage that Praful mentioned means that Gelfand's two bishops are considered to be much more stronger than Anand's bishop and a knight when the game goes into endgame.
And all the while, Anand has to worry about that black pawn on the left extreme.
FI. Praful Zaveri: The contest is being held at the State Tretyakov Gallery, which was established in the year 1856
FI. Prasad Deshmukh: White probably wants to fortify his e4 pawn with f3
FI. Praful Zaveri: Presently, the Tretyakov gallery has a mammoth collection of 1,70,000 works of art!!
FI. Prasad Deshmukh: and thereafter the white knight will hop on to the juicy c4 square
FI. Praful Zaveri: Anand is chasing his 5th World crown whereas for Gelfand, this is his first shot at the title!
FI. Prasad Deshmukh: and probably the last !!
FI. Prasad Deshmukh: Black's last move is aimed to free the centre of pawns
FI. Prasad Deshmukh: an open position is a habitat where the bishops prosper and black has two of them
FI. Praful Zaveri: Anand is ahead on the clock by 16 minutes
FI. Prasad Deshmukh: hope he gets ahead in position
FI. Praful Zaveri: Yes, Prasad! The Chennai Tiger is a great fighter on the board!!
Just to give you an idea of how competitive this is, our experts, Praful and Prasad, say that even the two players' last destination before arriving in Moscow was kept under wraps!
Thus, we wouldn't know till the end of the match who those helping these two prepare for this match are.
FI. Prasad Deshmukh: Boris Gelfand is known for his positional mastery while Anand is a tatical genius
FI. Praful Zaveri: The engine evaluates the position after Black's 23rd move as roughly equal
FI. Prasad Deshmukh: coming back to the game 24. Nxe4 looks obvious
FI. Prasad Deshmukh: pretty even at this point
FI. Praful Zaveri: With material fast disappearing on the board, the game appears to be heading for a draw!
FI. Prasad Deshmukh: Game drawn
FI. Praful Zaveri: Peace treaty signed!!
FI. Prasad Deshmukh: A cautious start by both.
FI. Praful Zaveri: Yes, indeed a cautious start but fireworks are in the offing!
FI. Praful Zaveri & FI. Prasad Deshmukh: Game 2, which is scheduled for tomorrow - 11th May, 2012 at 16.30 hours IST - will see Gelfand having the advantage of the first move.
FI. Praful Zaveri: Bye for now from DNA!
A huge thank you from DNA and its readers for international coaches Praful Zaveri and Prasad Deshmukh for putting the match in perspective for our readers.
Join them for the second game tomorrow at 4.30 pm, where they think Gelfand, playing white, will have a surprise or two up his sleeve for Anand.
FI. Praful Zaveri: In reply to Anand's Queen Pawn Opening, Gelfand has opted for the sharp Grunfeld Indian Defense.