Monday, May 21, 2012

The shortest decisive game in World Chess Championship final?

Vishy Anand has just won the 8th game of the 2012 World Chess Championship Final against his challenger - Boris Gelfand. The game ended in move 17th after Gelfand miscalculate a combination and has to lost a significant amount of material which is good enough for Anand to convert into a full point.

 Viswanathan Anand - Boris Gelfand
 World Chess Championship Final,  Game 8, 21.5.12

After a series of draws ( 6 draws in a row), Gelfand, the challenger, draw first blood yesterday (20th May) by beating Anand in game 7.

1.d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. f3 c5 Gelfand choose a different move. In earlier game, he played - 3...d5 4. d5 d6 5. e4 Bg7 6. Ne2 O-O 7. Nec3 Nh5 A novelty and it seems a good one. 8. Bg5 Bf6 9. Bxf6 exf6 10. Qd2 f5 11. exf5 Bxf5 12. g4 Re8+ 13. Kd1 Bxb1 14. Rxb1 Qf6?



Gelfand misjudged the position. Even top commentator - GM Peter Leko and GM Ian Nepomniachtchi 'trust' this move. Leko even said that 15.Kc2 is the 'only' move for white .  However both he and Gelfand probably think that they can sacrifice the knight on h5 and gain back material with advantage after ... 15. gxh5 Qxf3+ 16. Kc2 Qxh1 Unfortunately they missed white's 17th move . Both top commenter analyzed 17.Bd3 Qf3 18.hxg6 hxg6 19.Rf1 Qe3 20.Qg2 and think that white didn't get enough compensation but what they missed is Anand brilliant reply ...


From left: Dirk Jan Ten Geuzendam (New in Chess editor) , Ian Nepo and Peter Leko could not detect Anand's brilliant reply 17. Qf2!

17.Qf2!


Gelfand reaction after Anand reply with 17.Qf2!
...and black resign 1-0. White threaten to trap black's queen with 18.Bd3 so Black  have to give material with 18...Nc6 18. dxc6 Qxc6 and after 19. Bd3 followed by Nd5 black position is hopeless.

I've never seen any shorter decisive result  from previous world chess championships final than tonight's game. Could this be a record?

3 comments:

Jimmy Liew said...

Yes, this is the shortest loss in a WC match. Actually Gelfand can play on another 4-5 moves but quite sporting to resign and make himself into the records book :)

Keyboard Warrior Joel Property said...

When Almost All GM prefer Gelfand... When All Hope Lost... Even GM Sofia Polgar Mention That GM Gelfand In KID... His Favourite Opening... But The King Indian Onslaught By Tiger From Madras, India... Hohoho...

SM said...

Mistake happens even at the highest level...punishment for overconfident and complacency after leading!!