World Chess Championship Round-8 Review

Grandmaster at work

Anand was trailing in the scoreline by a point after seven games due to his highly unexpected loss in Round 7. But true to his moniker “TIGER OF MADRAS” he pounced on the next given opportunity in Round 8 and that too in emphatic fashion – in just 17 moves.

Playing white Anand started with 1.d4 which has been his pet move in recent times, and Gelfand changed track from Game 3 of this match by playing the pawn push c5 on his 3rd move.

Anand steered the game away from well-known and prepared lines to unchartered territory by playing 7.Nec3 which was an very interesting move as generally the c3 square is occupied by the b1 knight. Gelfand reacted with 7.Nh5 which was a new move with no previous played games in that position, and both players were well out of their preparation as early as move 7. The whole chess world expected a lively and tense battle and hoped that blood was spilt on the end of the day.

Before his win yesterday Gelfand was generally playing very safe chess by trying to take the game to position with minimal chances of losing. But when Gelfand captured the white bishop with the e-pawn on move 9, it showed his increase in confidence after his previous day win.

With the position getting complicated after 12.g4 Gelfand thought for a long time to calculate the ensuing complications and played 12…Re8 check. Anand reacted by playing the best move in the position 13.Kd1 forcing Gelfand to play 13…Bb1 for which Anand the played the only move 14.Rb1. This was a crucial position in the game as Gelfand’s knight on h5 was under attack and it had to retreat back to g7 or f6 but either of those continuations would lead to a slightly passive position for Gelfand and Anand would have started his pawn roll with 15.h4 in that scenario.

So Gelfand, trying to avoid getting into a passive position, played 14…Qf6, aiming to solve his problems tactically. But that was a huge blunder as Anand cashed on the tactical oversight by taking the hanging knight on h5 with the g pawn for which Gelfand played Queen takes f3 with a check on the white king on d1 and also attacking the rook on h1. Anand calmly played 16.Kc2 for which Gelfand in an instant replied 16…Qh1, and then came the move which shocked Gelfand – 17.Qf2 – with the threat to trap the the black queen on h1 by playing Bd3 in the next move. Having no playable alternative to even continue the game, Gelfand resigned, bringing the scoreline once again back to equal.

During the post-game press conference, not only Gelfand but even Anand revealed that they actually missed the star move 17.Qf2 at first. Anand had intended to play 17.Qf4 which wasn’t as strong as the text move, but then during his calculation over the board he found the improvised Qf2, and that was the single biggest reason that helped him win Round-8 of this World Chess Championship.

Tomorrow being a rest day, we have to wait with bated breath till Wednesday to see what’s in store for chess fans across the globe in Game 9.

The author K. Priyadharshan is an International Master.