Impressions on Game 7, Anand-Gelfand world championship match, Moscow
Chess fans were less than enthused by the plethora of draws. The halfway point had been crossed. What would happen in Game 7?
Gelfand opted for the queen-pawn and soon the familiar contours of the Chebanenko Slav appeared. Gelfand varied first with his 6th move, a pawn thrust on the flanks. Anand reacted by attempting to undermine Black's pawn chain which was encroaching into his queen-side. He then fought back with a pawn push of his own. Gelfand meanwhile manouevred to set up an attack on Anand's king-side. The champion reacted creatively, sliding his queen on the last rank, taking long range aim for a possible counter strike. He offered the possiblity that the pawn wall around his own king would be fractured, but this would lead to chances for a counter attack. The commentators called this queen slide a "high class move", which was "all about the dark squares" i.e aiming at controlling them.
Gelfand however was wary. He took a calm decision to drain the position of all vitality, to play in the safest manner possible. As events would show, this riskfree approach was appropriate. Now the battle entered a new phase. The initial skirmishing had seen both sides trying to set up long-range attacks on each other's kings. Now the encounter entered different terrain.
Essentially the game now became a massive battle over the c-file. Files are long 'roads' into the enemy camps. Fighting for control over these strategic files is rather like a battle over a strategic mountain pass . For example, historically speaking, most attempts to control Afghanistan generally depended on control over the strategic mountain passes such as the Bolan and the Khyber, something which we see even now.
Gelfand began a major buildup of forces, assembling a force of a knight, two rooks, further reinforced by his queen. The goal of this battle group was clear - seize the c-file and use it to smash through to the undefended territories of the enemy.
Anand sank into deep thought. With the clock ticking, he had 40 mins for 20 moves. It was rare to see the one-time "Lightning Kid" let his clock run down. And Anand was faced with twin pressures - pressure to solve the problems on the board, and pressure to complete his moves quickly before time ran out.
Still, There didn't seem much wrong in the position, it was just that it suited Gelfand's temperment perfectly. As time continued to run down, Anand began making a series of mistakes. He lashed out with a pawn move on the opposite flank but this brought no succour as Gelfand finally invested and then seized the c-file. To add to black's problems, he had a 'bad bishop', a bishop hampered by his own pawns. This unfortunate prelate was transiting through the c-file to a better position but the invasion caught it right in the eye of the storm. The queens were exchanged and Gelfand activated his knights which began weaving a deadly tango. Anand in desperation triggered a pawn avalance but the nimble knights leapt over the plodding infantry right into the heart of the black camp.
With minutes left on his clock and checkmate looming Anand was forced to resign. After 7 games the deadlock was broken, in favour of the Israeli. Dirk Jan Ten Geuzendam, the editor of New in Chess opined that "It (the defeat) might have a liberating effect" on Anand. The worst had happened and now he could go out and play his game. Concurred former challenger Peter Leko, it "frees a lot of emotions and I think the match has just started". The next game shall validate these prophecies.
