The match for the title of world champion in chess 2012

Gelfand and Anand are waiting for the official opening of the World Cup 2012 match

Viswanathan Anand held the world title since 2007. Anand won the title in the tournament of the strongest chess players in the world, and then defended it in matches with Vladimir Kramnik and Veselin Topalov ^[1] . He is the only chess player in the world who won the chess crown in three different systems for the FIDE title fight ^[2] . Anand's seconds in the match: Peter-Heine Nielsen, Rustam Kasymzhanov, Radoslav Vojtushek and Surya Ganguli ^[3] .

Boris Gelfand received the right to participate in the Match for the World Chess Champion title after winning in 2011 at the challenger matches in Kazan . Before that, the 2009 FIDE World Cup was won in Khanty-Mansiysk . Gelfand's seconds in the match: Alexander Khuzman , Maxim Rodshtein and Pavel Eljanov ^[3] .

In June 2011, the Russian Chess Federation filed an official application with FIDE to hold a match for the title of world champion in chess in Moscow in spring 2012 ^[4] . The initiator of the match in the capital of Russia and its main sponsor was a Russian businessman, Candidate Master of Sports in chess Andrei Filatov . Another contender for the match was the Indian Chennai . The deadline for submitting applications for the competition expired on July 31, 2011 ^[5] . In early August 2011, it was decided to hold the match in Moscow. According to the FIDE representative, the competitors had approximately equally strong arguments. The commission that considered the applications finally bent in favor of the Russian capital after the prize fund guaranteed by the Moscow organizers of the match was increased from $ 2 million to $ 2.55 million ^[5] . The last time Moscow accepted the Match for the World Chess Champion title was in 1985 , when Garry Kasparov and Anatoly Karpov fought for the world chess crown.

On November 26, 2011, in the capital of Russia, an official contract was signed to hold a match for the chess crown in Moscow. The contract was signed by FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov , head of the Supervisory Board of the Russian Chess Federation, assistant to the president of Russia Arkady Dvorkovich , world champion Viswanathan Anand and contender for the title Boris Gelfand. “I am very happy to sign the contract and return to Moscow again to defend my title,” said Anand after signing. Gelfand noted that for him it is “a great honor to be in Moscow and sign a contract” ^[6] .

As the head of the Supervising Council of the Russian Chess Federation announced after signing the contract, “the match will take place not just in Moscow, but in a beautiful place - in the Tretyakov Gallery. The union of chess and culture is a good example to follow, with this we are laying down good traditions ” ^[6] . To use the Tretyakov Gallery as a venue for the championship match was suggested by businessman Andrei Filatov. According to the entrepreneur, the match in one of the largest Moscow museums "will contribute, among other things, to the popularization of Russian culture abroad, given the enormous international interest in the event" ^{[5] [7]} . The match participants were pleased with the choice of the venue for the World Championship title. As the current world champion Viswanathan Anand noted, “this is a very beautiful gallery. I hope that such a (attractive) place will inspire us to play good, artistic, chess. ” In turn, Boris Gelfand stressed that “the Tretyakov Gallery is an amazingly beautiful place, it is one of the best museums in the world. I am sure that the upcoming match will be a great event and will attract enormous attention to chess around the world ” ^[8] .

On February 20, 2012, the State Tretyakov Gallery and the Russian Chess Federation signed an agreement to hold a match for the title of World Chess Champion in the Engineering Building of the Tretyakov Gallery ^{[9] [10]} .

The game was held in the conference hall of the Engineering Corps of the Tretyakov Gallery with 400 seats, which is usually used for scientific symposia and press conferences. In one of the exhibition halls of the building is located the press center. Video broadcast of the match was organized from the premises of the children's studio.

The honored guests invited by the organizers appeared daily at the match, among whom were not only outstanding chess players, but also famous chess lovers from various fields - writers, musicians, sportsmen, businessmen. The guests participated in press conferences, and chess players held dozens of sessions and master classes.

As part of the match, the Russian Chess Federation organized a special children's program that allowed the two hundred of the best young Russian chess players to visit Moscow and see the outstanding grandmasters with their own eyes ^[11] .

The oldest grandmaster of the world, Yuri Averbakh , the 12th, 13th and 14th world champions Anatoly Karpov , Garry Kasparov and Vladimir Kramnik , World Cup winner Peter Svidler , the Blitz world champion Alexander Grischuk , the world fast chess champion, became the honored guests of the match Sergey Karjakin , European champions Dmitry Yakovenko and Valentina Gunin . Another group of honored guests included non-professional chess players, amateurs and fans: writer and historian Edvard Radzinsky , pianist Nikolai Lugansky , cellist Alexander Knyazev, composer Vladimir Dashkevich , bard Timur Shaov , football coaches Anatoly Byshovets and Haji Hajiyev .

The video broadcast of the match - for the first time in the history of matches for the title of world champion in chess - was accompanied by comments in two languages, Russian and English. The player with the broadcast was posted not only on the official site of the match and some chess online resources, but also on the site of the oldest Israeli daily newspaper Haaretz , as well as on a number of Indian websites and digital channels. In each broadcast, considerable time was devoted to live broadcasts with art historians, prepared jointly with the Tretyakov Gallery. The constant commentators of the match were Grandmaster Ilya Smirin (in Russian) and the chief editor of the magazine New In Chess Dirk Jan ten Huizandam (in English) ^[12] .

The official website of the match during its holding recorded about two million unique visitors and more than six million views. The video broadcast of the match on the Internet was watched by about three million people ^[13] . On average, 200,000 users watched each batch in real time using live video. The most spectacular was the last day of the match, when the record was recorded: more than 50 thousand simultaneous connections to the server.

Match Media

The fight aroused great interest from the media. The information partners of the match were: the Internet newspaper Gazeta.Ru , the television channel NTV-Plus , the sports news agency R-Sport (sports editorial staff of RIA Novosti ), the radio station Ekho Moskvy , the newspaper Soviet Sport .

More than 400 journalists accredited for the match. The main Russian TV channels, as well as representatives of the leading world media outlets, including BBC , France Press , and Associated Press , worked at the match ^[13] .

Cup for the winner

The winner of the match received two cups created by Russian sculptors at once. The main cup is made in the form of a cube, inside of which is the winner's gilded crown. The part of the cube is transparent, its back half imitates the cells of a chessboard. As conceived by the author, the design symbolizes the struggle on the board, through which the champion must pass before trying on the crown. To reproduce a chess field in the thinnest stone, it took more than 300 elements.

The second cup of gilded bronze is made in the shape of a scroll, on which six key games hand-engraved at different times in matches for the world champion title are engraved, starting with the match of 1927 between Alexander Alekhin and José Raul Capablanca and ending with the game of 2004 between Vladimir Kramnik and Peter Leko ^[14] .

The exhibition "Chess pieces. Century 20th »

From May 17 to June 24, the exhibition “Chessmen. Century 20th ", dedicated to the match for the title of world champion. The exhibition featured not only photographs of famous grandmasters, but also chess itself, from gift ones to those made in the Gulag . In addition, as part of the exhibition, films are shown - the famous comedy “ Chess Rush ” (1925) and the film “The Grand Master” (1972), which was banned in Soviet times, by Sergei Mikaelian . In the exhibition hall there was a playground for park chess, where you could play with anyone you meet ^[15] .

• The two participants in the match are the current world champion and the challenger, who will be determined by the results of the 2011 candidate matches ^[16] .
• The winner of the Match of 2012 will be declared the world champion from 2012 to 2013.
• The match for the world champion title will consist of 12 games and a tie-break party (if necessary).
• The draw will be held during the opening ceremony. The colors will be changed after the sixth game (the player receiving the white color in the first game plays the seventh game in black).
• Time control for each game: 120 minutes for the first 40 moves, 60 minutes for the next 20 moves and then 15 minutes until the end of the game with an addition of 30 seconds for each move, starting from the 61st move.
• A tie-break will be held if the result of the first 12 games remains a draw. Tie-break entirely held in one game day. For the tie-break parties, a separate draw is held. 4 games will be played with a time control of 25 minutes plus 10 seconds for each move made.
• If the tiebreak is completed with an equal score, a match of 2 games is held with a time control of 15 minutes plus 5 seconds for each turn. The draw for the match is held separately. If this match does not reveal a winner, a second match of the same is played, and so on, up to 10 matches in total.
• If, as a result of the tiebreak, the score remains drawn, one “party of sudden death” will be played: five minutes white, four minutes black, after the 60th move, 3 seconds are added for each turn. In case of a tie, the victory is awarded to black.
• The closing ceremony should take place the day after the World Chess Champion is determined or the day after.
• If any of the players refuses to participate in the Match, he will be replaced as follows: the finalist of the 2010 Match, grandmaster Veselin Topalov, replaces the world champion Vishy Anand, and the finalist of the 2011 challenger matches replaces the challenger.
• The prize fund is divided in proportion: 60% to the winner and 40% to the loser, if the Match ends in 12 regular games. If the winner is determined on a tiebreaker, the winner gets 55%, and the loser - 45%.

The opening ceremony of the match took place on May 10, 2012 ^[17] in the hall of Mikhail Vrubel of the State Tretyakov Gallery. The ceremony was attended by the first President of the USSR Mikhail Gorbachev , Chairman of the Russian Olympic Committee Alexander Zhukov , 12th World Chess Champion Anatoly Karpov .

The draw, held by the chief judge of the competition, supported the idea of ​​the inseparability of the connection of chess with world culture. Easels were set on the stage with the drawn parts of two previously played games between Anand and Gelfand. One of those fights was won by the current world champion, the other ended with a contender's victory. Two wooden caskets were prepared for the match participants, in which there were jars of white and black paints and tassels. The right of choice was granted to Anand as a world champion. The players approached the easel with their won games, dipped their brushes in paint and left autographs on the drawings. Anand signed a picture in white paint, and Gelfand signed it in black. Thus, it was determined that the world champion would play with white pieces in the first round. Also, he will be granted the right to speak in the 3rd, 5th, 8th, 10th and 12th games. Gelfand will play white in the 2nd, 4th, 6th, 7th, 9th and 11th games.

The opening ceremony was followed by a concert by the famous pianist Denis Matsuev and young Russian musicians.

Following the draw, Anand played the first game with White ^[18] .

First batch

Anand - Gelfand
May 11
Grünfeld Defense (D85)
1.d4 Кf6 2.c4 g6 3.Кc3 d5 4.Кf3 Сg7 5.cxd5 Кxd5 6.e4 Кxc3 7.bxc3 c5 8.Сb5 + Кc6 9.d5 Фa5 10.Лb1 a6 11.Сxc6 + bxc6 12.OO Фxa2 13. Lb2 Фа5 14.d6 Лa7 15.Сg5 exd6 16.Fxd6 Ld7 17.Fxc6 Fc7 18.Fxc7 Lxc7 19.Сf4 Лb7 20.Лc2 OO 21.Сd6 Лe8 22.Кd2 f5 23.f3 fxe4 24.Кxe4 Сf5 ½: ½

Second batch

Gelfand - Anand
12 May
Slavic protection (D45)
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Кc3 Кf6 4.e3 e6 5.Кf3 a6 6.b3 Сb4 7.Сd2 Кbd7 8.Сd3 ОО 9. OO Сd6 10.Лc1 e5 11.cd cd 12.e4 de 13. Кxe4 Кxe4 14.Сxe4 Кf6 15.de Кxe4 16.ed Фxd6 17.Сe3 Сf5 18.Фxd6 Кxd6 19.Кd4 Лfe8 20.Кxf5 Кxf5 21.Сc5 h5 22.Лfd1 Лас8 23.Крf1 f6 24.Сb4 Крh7 25.Лc5 ½ : ½

Third Party

Anand - Gelfand
May 14
Grunfeld Defense (D70)
1.d4 Кf6 2.c4 g6 3.f3 d5 4.cxd5 Кxd5 5.e4 Кb6 6.Кc3 Сg7 7.Сe3 OO 8.Фd2 e5 9.d5 c6 10.h4 cxd5 11.exd5 К8d7 12.h5 Кf6 13. hxg6 fxg6 14.OOO Сd7 15. Крb1 Лc8 16. Краа1 e4 17.Сd4 Ка4 18.Кge2 Фа5 19.Кxe4 Фxd2 20.Кxf6 + Лxf6 21.Лxd2 Лf5 22.Сxg7 Крxg7 23.d6 Лfc5 24.Лd1 a5 25.Лhc6 24.Лd1 а5 26.b3 Кb2 27.Lb1 Кd3 28.Кd4 Лd2 29.Сxd3 Лxd3 30.Le1 Ld2 31.Crb1 Сf5 + 32.Кxf5 + gxf5 33.Le7 + Crg6 34.Лc7 Ле8 35.Лh1 Лее2 36.d7 Лb2 + 37.Крcr1 c3. ½

Fourth Party

Gelfand - Anand
May 15
Slavic protection (D45)
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Kc3 Kf6 4.e3 e6 5.Kf3 a6 6.b3 Cb4 7.Cd2 Kbd7 8.Cd3 0-0 9.0-0 Cd6 10.Fc2 e5 11.cd cd 12.e4 ed 13.K: d5 K: d5 14.ed Kf6 15.h3 Cd7 16.Lad1 Le8 17.K: d4 Lc8 18.Fb1 h6 19.Kf5 C: f5 20.C: f5 Lc5 21.Lfe1 L: d5 22. Cc3 L: e1 23.L: e1 Cc5 24.Fc2 Cd4 25.C: d4 L: d4 26.Fc8 g6 27.Сg4 h5 28.F: d8 L: d8 29.Cf3 b6 30.Lc1 Ld6 31.Kpf1 a5 32.Kpe2 Kd5 33.g3 Ke7 34.Ce4 Kpg7 ½: ½

Fifth installment

Anand - Gelfand
May 17
Sicilian Defense (B33)
1.e4 c5 2.Кf3 Кc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Кxd4 Кf6 5.Кc3 e5 6.Кdb5 d6 7.Сg5 a6 8.Кa3 b5 9.Кd5 Сe7 10.Сxf6 Сxf6 11.c4 b4 12.Кc2 OO 13. g3 a5 14.Сg2 Сg5 15.OO Сe6 16.Фd3 Сxd5 17.cxd5 Кb8 18.a3 Кa6 19.axb4 Кxb4 20.Кxb4 axb4 21.h4 Сh6 22.Сh3 Фb6 23.Сd7 b3 24.Сc6 Лa2 25.Лxa2 bxa2 26.Fa3 Lb8 27.Fxa2 ½: ½

Sixth Party

Gelfand - Anand
May 18
Slavic protection (D45)
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Кc3 Кf6 4.e3 e6 5.Кf3 a6 6.Фc2 c5 7.cxd5 exd5 8.Сe2 Сe6 9.OO Кc6 10.Лd1 cxd4 11.Кxd4 Кxd4 12.Лxd4 Сc5 13. Лd1 Фe7 14.Сf3 ОО 15.Кxd5 Сxd5 16.Сxd5 Кxd5 17.Лxd5 Лас8 18.Сd2 Сxe3 19.Сc3 Сb6 20.Фf5 Фe6 21.Фf3 f6 22.h4 Фc6 23.h5 Лfd8 24.Лxd8 + Лxd8 25. Фxc6 26.Le1 Krf7 27.g4 Cd4 28.Xc1 Cxc3 29.Lxc3 Ld4 ½: ½

Seventh Party

Gelfand - Anand
May 20
Slavic protection (D45)
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Кc3 Кf6 4.e3 e6 5.Кf3 a6 6.c5 Кbd7 7.Фc2 b6 8.cxb6 Кxb6 9.Сd2 c5 10.Лc1 cxd4 11.exd4 Сd6 12.Сg5 OO 13. Сd3 h6 14.Сh4 Сb7 15.OO Фb8 16.Сg3 Лc8 17.Фe2 Сxg3 18.hxg3 Фd6 19.Лc2 Кbd7 20.Лfc1 Лб8 21.Кa4 Кe4 22.Лxc8 + Сxc8 23.Фc2 g5 24.Фc7 Фxc7 25.Лxc7 f6 26.Сxe4 dxe4 27.Кd2 f5 28.Кc4 Кf6 29.Кc5 Кd5 30.La7 Кb4 31.Кe5 Кc2 32.Кc6 Лxb2 33.Лc7 Лb1 + 34. Крh2 e3 35.Лxc8 + Крh7 36.Лc7 + Крh8 37ККe5c.55 Крh2 e3 35.Лxc8 + Крh7 36.Лc7 + Крh2 e3 35.Лxc8 + Крh7 36.Лc7 + Крh2 e3 35.Лxc8 + Крh7 Kxe6 1: 0

Eighth installment

Anand - Gelfand
May 21st
Old Indian Defense (E60)
1.d4 Кf6 2.c4 g6 3.f3 c5 4.d5 d6 5.e4 Cg7 6.Ke2 OO 7.Cec3 Ch5 8.Cg5 Cf6 9.Cxf6 exf6 10.Fd2 f5 11.exf5 Cxf5 12.g4 Le8 + 13. Крd1 Сxb1 14.Лxb1 (see diagram) Фf6? 15.gxh5 Фxf3 + 16.Крc2 Фxh1 17.Фf2! This is what Gelfand did not take into account in the preliminary calculations, 1: 0

Party Nine

Gelfand - Anand
May, 23rd
Nimzowitz Defense (E54)

1.d4 Кf6 2.c4 e6 3.Кc3 Сb4 4.e3 ОO 5.Сd3 d5 6.Кf3 c5 7.OO dc 8.Сxc4 cd 9.ed b6 10.Сg5 Сb7 11.Fe2 Кbd7 12.Lac1 Lc8 13. Сd3 Сxc3 14.bc Фc7 15.c4 Сxf3 16.Фxf3 Лfe8 17.Лfd1 h6 18.Сh4 Фd6 19.c5 bc 20.dc Лxx5 21.Сh7 + Крxh7 22.Лxd6 Лxc1 + 23.Лd1 Лec8 24.h3 Кe5 25.Фe2 Кg6 26.Cxf6 gf 27.Lxc1 Lxc1 + 28.Crh2 Lc7 29.Fb2 Crg7 30.a4 Cr7 31.a5 Cd5 32.a6 Crh7 33.Fd4 f5 34.f4 Ld7 35. Crg3 Crg6 36.Fh8 Cf6 37.Fb8 h5 38. Крh4 Крh6 39.Фb2 Крg6 40.Фc3 Кe4 41. Фc8 Кf6 ​​42.Фb8 Лe7 43.g4 hg 44.hg fg 45.Fe5 Кg8 46.Фg5 + Крh7 47. Фxg4 f6 48.Фg2 Крh8 49.Фe4 Крg7 Krh8 49.Fe4 Крg7 Krh8 49.Fe4 Крg7 47.Fxg4 f6 48.Fg2 Krh8 49.Fe4 Крg7 Krh8 49.Fe4 Крg7 Krh8 49.Fe4 Крg7 47.Fxg4 f6 48.Fg2 Krh8 49.Fe4 Крg7 Krh8 49.Fe4 Крg7 Krh8 49.

Tenth Party

Anand - Gelfand
May 24
Sicilian Defense (B30)

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 e6 4.Bxc6 bxc6 5.b3 e5 6.Nxe5 Qe7 7.Bb2 d6 8.Nc4 d5 9.Ne3 d4 10.Nc4 Qxe4 + 11.Qe2 Qxe2 + 12.Kxe2 Be6 13. d3 Nf6 14.Nbd2 OOO 15.Rhe1 Be7 16.Kf1 Rhe8 17.Ba3 Nd5 18.Ne4 Nb4 19.Re2 Bxc4 20.bxc4 f5 21.Bxb4 cxb4 22.Nd2 Bd6 23.Rxe8 Rxe8 24.Nb3 c5 25.a3 ½ : ½

Eleventh Lot

Gelfand - Anand
26 of May
Nimzowitz Defense (E55)

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e3 OO 5.Bd3 d5 6.Nf3 c5 7.OO dxc4 8.Bxc4 Bd7 9.a3 Ba5 10.Qe2 Bc6 11.Rd1 Bxc3 12.bxc3 Nbd7 13. Bd3 Qa5 14.c4 cxd4 15.exd4 Qh5 16.Bf4 Rac8 17.Ne5 Qxe2 18.Bxe2 Nxe5 19.Bxe5 Rfd8 20.a4 Ne4 21.Rd3 f6 22.Bf4 Be8 23.Rb3 Rxd4 24.Be3 Rd7 ½: ½

Twelfth Party

Anand - Gelfand
May 28
Sicilian Defense (B30)
1.e4 c5 2.Кf3 Кc6 3.Сb5 e6 4.Сxc6 bxc6 5.d3 Кe7 6.b3 d6 7.e5 Кg6 8.h4 Кxe5 9.Кxe5 dxe5 10.Кd2 c4 11.Кxc4 Сa6 12.Фf3 Фd5 13. Фxd5 cxd5 14.Кxe5 f6 15.Кf3 e5 16.OO Крf7 17.c4 Сe7 18.Сe3 Сb7 19.cxd5 Сxd5 20.Лfc1 a5 21.Сc5 Лhd8 22.Сxe7 ½: ½

Tie break

Since the main part of the match did not reveal the winner, in accordance with the rules passed a tie-break. According to the results of the draw, the first game of the tiebreak fell to play with white Gelfand.

In the first installment of a tie-break, a bitter struggle eventually led to a draw. In the second game, Gelfand got into time trouble (18 seconds versus 4.5 minutes with Anand) and already in the endgame, which was completely drawn, made a fatal mistake and lost. In the third installment, the Israeli got a much better position in the opening, but made a mistake in realizing the advantage, but in the endgame again found himself in time trouble and finally missed the chances of winning; the party ended in a draw. In the fourth installment, the last advantage was again on the side of the challenger, moreover, Anand, who was satisfied with the draw, did not show any inclination for active offensive play. However, the same lack of time did not allow Gelfand to turn his chances into something real, and the game ended in a draw, bringing Anand victory in the match and allowing him to keep the world title.

The result of the match was the victory of the current champion by a margin of one point. Anand retained the 2007 world champion title, having defended him in the match for the third time. ^[nineteen]

You can see that of the past four world championship matches held according to the formula “12 games with classical control plus a tie-break”, this match turned out to be a record-low result: 13 out of 16 games played a draw, 10 of them - in the main part of the match . Of the ten drawn games in the main part of the match, less than 30 moves were made in seven, in five - 25 moves or less.

The first half of the “classic” part of the match disappointed many commentators: most of the games were clearly drawn after leaving the opening. Only in the third installment did Anand have a chance of winning, but, finding himself in time trouble, that he was very rare, he did not find the right continuation at the board. The second half of the main part was more intense. The seventh game lost to Anand. The eighth, in which Gelfand, because of his mistake, put his queen in a bind, surrendered on move 17, brought another historical record, becoming the shortest in the entire history of matches for the world championship. ^[nineteen]

The second time in the world championship matches according to the modern formula, the main series of games ended in a draw and a tie-break was required (previously this happened only once, in the 2006 unification match Kramnik-Topalov in Elista). In the forecasts for this part of the match, cautious preference for some experts (in particular, grandmasters Sergey Smagin and Yevgeny Bareev) ^[19] gave Gelfand, considering him more prepared and in somewhat better shape.

Commenting on the results of the tiebreak, the experts (grandmasters Peter Svidler, Ilya Smirin, Yevgeny Bareev) unanimously concluded that Gelfand’s defeat was the result of a non-rational approach to spending time: in each of the last three games the applicant could easily get half a point more, but everyone since he was let down by the time trouble in which he found himself, spending too much time thinking about the moves in the opening. The rivals themselves fully agreed with this assessment: Anand said in an interview that he “played reasonably enough,” but admitted that in the third and fourth games Gelfand had good chances of winning. Boris Gelfand, in turn, said that he “played with dignity”, but agreed with the opinion that his defeat was due to the impractical use of time.

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