We are half-way through to the WCC 2012, which is being played at the State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow between the defending champion from India, GM Vishy Anand and the defender from Israel, GM Boris Gelfand. The event has a prize fund of US $ 2.55 million with the winner pocketing a cool US $ 1,53 and the loser also has nothing to lose in terms of money – he gets US $ 1.02 million!! We are yet to see a decisive result in this match (Anand came tantalisingly close to victory in game 3) and are approaching a record of…

Well, the expected e4 was seen from Anand in game 5 of the WCC 2012, however, Gelfand also had an ace up his sleeve as countered it with Sicilian instead of his pet, the Petroff! He opted for the Sveshnikov variation. Both the players were totally prepared as we saw 20-moves blitzed out! It was rather a positional battle with players fighting hard to maintain equality. The players traded material and after 27 moves all they were left with was Queen, Rook and opposite coloured Bishops with 5 pawns each on the same file. Re-play game 5: [Event "WCC 2012"]…

The excitement in the 3rd game had a tiring effect on the players with the result that the 4th game turned out to be a very dull affair and they called it a truce after 34-moves of the ‘once again repeated’ Semi-Slav variation of the QGD. We saw an almost perfect symmetry on both the sides, which can produce only one result – Draw! Of course, Gelfand had a chance to go for a Bishop v/s Knight endgame with a slight edge however; Anand had created a virtual impregnable fortress, which was difficult for White to break. The lines are analyzed so…

The 3rd game of the World Chess Championship 2012, played between the defending champion, Vishy Anand and the challenger, Boris Gelfand on 14th May, 2012 turned to be the most interesting game of the event so far. To Anand’s Queen Pawn opening, we once saw Gelfand adopting the Grunfeld Indian Defence. The first surprise was uncorked by Anand with the rarely played move – 3. f3 – in this variation. This line was used by Anand’s second, GM Peter Heine Nielsen. However; Gelfand was up-to the task as he just blitzed out the moves in the opening. He also sacrificed…

The WSH final (02nd April, 2012) was scheduled at 09.00 pm whereas I had reached the stadium by 5.45 pm. Since the gates were scheduled to open only at 08.00 pm, I had two options to while away the time: 1) Watch the sun go down at the Queen’s Necklace 2) Go through the treasure of Chess books at the ‘Kanga Library’ – I opted for the 2nd!! While going through the vast array of books on Chess, I came across an article by Cecil Purdy (1906 – 1979), an IM from Australia – who was also the World Correspondence Chess Champion.…

It’s exam times for students, which means a well-deserved break for the trainers!! While my colleague decided to enjoy this break by playing a tournament, I am trying to re-wind the clock by going to places, which I used to frequent during my younger days! One of the visit was at the MHA stadium on 02nd April, 2012 to watch the WSH finals between Shere-E-Punjab and Pune Strykers. It took me down the memory lane, when a Hockey match used to draw much more vociferous crowd than Cricket! I distinctly remember the 1982 World Championship held simultaneously at the Mahindra…