The 2012 World Chess Championship is still tied with 2 games remaining in this best of 12 match between the current champion, Viswanathan Anand of India and the challenger, Boris Gelfand of Israel.
Similar to the fifth game, Anand started the tenth game
with 1.e4. The opponents once again played the Sicilian Defence, but on
the third move the world champion veered away from the Sveshnikov
variation, choosing 3.Bb5. Just two moves later Gelfand showed a
new plan – 5…e5, which resulted in an interesting position with mutual
chances. Judging by how quickly the moves were made, the Israeli
grandmaster had analysed this variation very deeply. Soon the queens
were exchanged, the position simplified considerably, but, according to
many experts, all three results of the game were still possible. Black’s
position was weakened by doubled pawns on the queenside, but he had the
two-bishop advantage. New exchanges followed, and the position
simplified even further. On move 25 the opponents agreed to a draw.
The score is equal after 10 games – 5-5. Today, the opponents will have a rest day. The next game will be played on Saturday, May 26th with Gelfand playing White. After draws in the first 6 games, Gelfand drew first blood, in game 7, only to see Anand rebound in a 17 move shocker in game 8. With 2 games left, Anand will retain his title if he can avoid a loss, or win at least one more game. However, if the match ends in a tie, the players will then play a 4 game, sudden death match to decide the title.
Anand-Gelfand (2012 World Chess Championship Game 8)
Kings Indian Defence
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.f3 c5 4.d5 d6 5.e4 Bg7 6.Ne2 0-0 7.Nec3 Nh5 8.Bg5 Bf6 9.Bxf6 exf6 10.Qd2 f5 11.exf5 Bxf5 12.g4 Re8+ 13.Kd1 Bxb1 14.Rxb1 Qf6Qf6 15.gxh5 Qxf3+ 16.Kc2 Qxh1 17.Qf2 1-0
Kings Indian Defence
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.f3 c5 4.d5 d6 5.e4 Bg7 6.Ne2 0-0 7.Nec3 Nh5 8.Bg5 Bf6 9.Bxf6 exf6 10.Qd2 f5 11.exf5 Bxf5 12.g4 Re8+ 13.Kd1 Bxb1 14.Rxb1 Qf6Qf6 15.gxh5 Qxf3+ 16.Kc2 Qxh1 17.Qf2 1-0
Gelfand-Anand (2012 World Chess Championship Game 7)
Slav Defence
1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e3 e6 5. Nf3 a6 6. c5 Nbd7 7. Qc2 b6 8. cxb6 8. cxb6 Nxb6 9. Bd2 c5 10. Rc1 cxd4 11. exd4 Bd6 12. Bg5 0-0 13. Bd3 h6 14. Bh4 Bb7 15.0-0 Qb8 16.Bg3 Rc8 17.Qe2 Bxg3 18.hxg3 Qd6 19.Rc2 Nbd7 20.Rfc1 Rab8 21.Na4 Ne4 22.Rxc8+ Bxc8 23.Qc2 g5 24.Qc7 Qxc7 25.Rxc7 f6 26. Bxe4 dxe4 27.Nd2 f5 28.Nc4 Nf6 29.Nc5 Nd5 30.Ra7 Nb4 31.Ne5 Nc2 32.Nc6 Rxb2 33.Rc7 Rb1+ 34.Kh2 e3 35.Rxc8+ Kh7 36.Rc7+ Kh8 37.Ne5 e2 38.Nxe6 1-0
Nakamura and Krush win 2012 US Chess Championships
Meanwhile, GM Hikaru Nakamura scored a huge victory in round 10 over GM Gata Kamsky, then bested GM Yasser Seirawan in the final round to seal the deal. IM Irina Krush defeated IM Anna Zatonskih in a rapid playoff to clinch her fourth U.S. Women's Championship title. Krush won the first game handily, and took advantage of time-pressure blunder by Zatonskih to seal the victory.Kamsky-Nakamura (2012 US Chess Championship Round 10)
Sicilian Defence
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.a4 e5 7.Nf3 Be7 8.Bc4 O-O 9.O-O Be6 10.Bb3 Nc6 11.Bg5 Na5 12.Bxf6 Bxf6 13.Bd5 Rc8 14.Nd2 Qc7 15.Re1 Bg5 16.Nf1 Qb6 17.Rb1 Nc4 18.Qe2 Bh6 19.h4 Qb4 20.g3 Rc7 21.Kg2 Nb6 22.Bb3 Bxb3 23.cxb3 Qxb3 24.a5 Na4 25.Nh2 g6 26.Ng4 Bg7 27.Nd5 Rc2 28.Qe3 Nc5 29.h5 Qxe3 30.Ngxe3 Rd2 31.Nc4 Rd4 32.Nxd6 Rd8 33.b4 Nd3 34.Nxb7 Nxe1+ 35.Rxe1 Ra8 36.f3 Bf8 37.Rc1 Bxb4 38.Rc7 gxh5 39.Kh3 Kg7 40.Kh4 Ra7 41.Kxh5 Rxd5 42.exd5 Bxa5 43.Re7 Bb6 44.d6 a5 45.Kg5 a4 46.Kf5 a3 47.Nd8 a2 48.Ne6+ Kh6 49.Ng5 a1=Q 50.Nxf7+ Kg7 0-1
