Impressions on Game 5, Anand-Gelfand world championship match, Moscow
Sensation! Anand opened with the king-pawn for the first time in the match. And the only time he employed it in his title matches was against Kramnik all the way back in 2008. Alas that was the only ripple of excitement as both players were theoretically very equipped. Soon all the action drained out of the game and a peace treaty was signed.
Grandmaster Ulibin, among all the assembled experts was able to predict the champ's surprise return to the king-pawn. Gelfand, as he has been showing this match, answered surprise for surprise opting for the belligerent Sicilian defence. Before the match most experts had expected him to stick to the Petroff, a very solid defensive construction. It appears that it is part of Gelfand's plan to be consistently aggressive with black. And so it proved with the challenger opting for the Sveshnikov variation, an unbalanced project where black accepts a "backward" pawn in order to generate attacking chances.
This line has various offshoots and continuation which bear the names, The Pelikan (after the Czech master, not the bird), the Chelyabinsk (after a industrial town in the Urals) and the Kalashnikov (after the assault rifle). Kind fate arranged that Grandmaster Evgeny Sveshnikov himself was in the audience, a proud moment for the veteran undoubtedly as he saw his brainchild enacted on the highest stage.
As has been the trend in this match, both player were prepared to the gills and were able to block any hostile forays. There was some mild excitement when it seemed that Anand would be able to win a pawn, but the Israeli had foreseen everything and both sides lost their entire queen sides in mutually assured destruction. This left a position of sterile equality and after a mutual exchange of glances, the combatants decided to call it a day.
