Go back
The World Championship Predictions

The World Championship Predictions

Only Chess

Vote Up
Vote Down



I cannot see this appearing on Anands home prep looking for a plus so
maybe the Gelfand pawn sac was unexpected.

Unless....They have run through a box and it likes the pawn plus not
considering how difficult it is to convert. (does it?).

I'm following it on chessdom and I see they are now considering swapping
Queens was a bad idea. I too was wanting Qg3 - which has just been mentioned.
It seems to fit in with the pawn on h4 if Black plays g6 he always has to consider h5.


But I cannot as yet judge (to my standard) the ramifications of Bxc4 bxc4
and Bb4+.

Vote Up
Vote Down

Gelfand's long spell in the tank seems to have paid off - White surely can't play for anything after 21. Bc5 Bxc5 22. Rxc5 Bxf3. I'm no expert on rook endings but that's got 0.5-0.5 all over it.

Whoops - and Gelfand just played 21. ..Rhd8. What do I know.

2 edits
Vote Up
Vote Down

It has finished. A draw.

These GM's are seeing positions and say it's an easy drawn Rook ending.
To me it all seems unclear and both sides can win or lose it.

I messed about with the final position on winboard. It looked OK till I looked
again. (see OOPS! there is better than 8.f3). See what I mean about players
of our ilk can easily chucking these positions.

Vote Up
Vote Down

I can understand them - Anand did not like his position, so he offered a draw, but Gelfand did not want to risk due to time on his clock.

Vote Up
Vote Down

I don't understand Anand's decision. Gelfand was taking lot of time even for last few moves. So, surely Anand, could have put the question to Gelfand to make accurate moves till move 40.

Vote Up
Vote Down

I've enjoyed all the pawn sacs in this WCh. It's something I'm not terribly good at over the board. I prefer to hang on grimly and try to force the opponent to prove their compensation (which is not always a good idea, especially when they really DO have compensation).

c4 as played earlier by Gelfand would not have been one of my immediate candidate moves; I may have got there after quite a bit of thought but only after seeing how ineffective Black's light squared bishop might become. Even then I would have this nagging instinct just to hang onto it.

3 edits
Vote Up
Vote Down

Originally posted by vishyanand
I don't understand Anand's decision. Gelfand was taking lot of time even for last few moves. So, surely Anand, could have put the question to Gelfand to make accurate moves till move 40.
That's what I've been saying for the past two games. Anand should complicate the position as much as possible and force Gelfand to play through until the next time control. Anand was up a pawn and Gelfand had 15 minutes to play 18 moves! That has to be an easy win, no?

Edit: Here's the tiebreaker schedule:

The tiebreaks are on Wednesday at 15:00h Moscow time (03:00h CEST, 07 a.m. New Your) and will consist of four 25mins+10s rapid games, then five pairs of 5min + 3s blitz, then sudden death.

Vote Up
Vote Down

Originally posted by 93confirmed
That's what I've been saying for the past two games. An

Edit: Here's the tiebreaker schedule:

The tiebreaks are on Wednesday at 15:00h Moscow time (03:00h CEST, 07 a.m. New Your) and will consist of four 25mins+10s rapid games, then five pairs of 5min + 3s blitz, then sudden death.
r u sure about the wednesday's schedule?

1 edit
Vote Up
Vote Down

I took that from chessbase.com and earlier the analysts on chessdom.com made a comment that the championship will be decided on Wed. I'm pretty sure all the remaining games, which could be a max of 15 games (!), take place in the same day.

Vote Up
Vote Down

yes it's wednesday

they need another rest day 😕


Vote Up
Vote Down

Originally posted by vishyanand
I don't understand Anand's decision. Gelfand was taking lot of time even for last few moves. So, surely Anand, could have put the question to Gelfand to make accurate moves till move 40.
It sounds to me like he was saying, I'll give him the draw and just win in blitz.

Vote Up
Vote Down

Originally posted by sonhouse
It sounds to me like he was saying, I'll give him the draw and just win in blitz.
Possibly but why risk it (especially at this level) when you can push for a relatively easy time win without much risk? I hope the journalists get more insight from him on this after the match.

Vote Up
Vote Down

I stick with my initial prediction- Gelfand is going to win this.

Vote Up
Vote Down

Here's another prediction:
this match will not be remembered as one of the most epic battles for the crown 😛

Cookies help us deliver our Services. By using our Services or clicking I agree, you agree to our use of cookies. Learn More.