The defeat came after Garry Kasparov’s comments after the sixth game that Anand has lost motivation.
Gelfand gets upper hand with win over Anand
May 20, 2012
Indian Grandmaster Viswanathan Anand suffered a jolt in his title defence as he lost to his Israeli challenger Boris Gelfand in the seventh game of the World Chess Championship here today. It turned out to be a disastrous day for Anand and he now trails 3.0-4.0 in the 12-game match with five games still to go. The momentum now shifts in favour of Gelfand who started as an underdog coming into the match.
The defeat came after Garry Kasparov’s comments after the sixth game that Anand has lost motivation. To Gelfand’s credit, he got the advantage for the first time in the match and he was able to convert it into a full point. Anand was not able to do so in game three when he had his best chance thus far.
Playing his second white in a row, Gelfand went for another deviation in the Slav-meran by Anand and finally his efforts paid off. The opening gave white a small advantage and it would have remained so had Anand not gone for unwarranted complications in the middle game.
As it happened, Gelfand got a firm control of the only open file in the game, posting both his rooks there. It was time to be extremely careful but Anand, who had thus far remained rock-solid as black, could not really cope with the pressure and went for an erroneous plan.
Gelfand seized the initiative by eliminating one rook and according to analytical machines the way out for Anand was to play very precise moves.
That however did not happen. “I don’t know when I realised that it was gone, but the position was bad anyway,” Anand said at the post-match conference.
Source: http://www.firstpost.com
It’s a pity.
Obviously Gelfand’s preparation,strategy and choice of seconds is excellent. Imagine Aronian! Anand is now playing Aronian by proxy! I cannot see a way out for Anand,except to give up his title. Gelfand would then have earned the title the hard way and will fully deserve the crown,despite all those naysayers out there. Anand was brilliant vs Kramnik,but had already stagnated when it came to Topalov and since has been extremely lackluster. I wonder if he can ‘regain that sparkle’. I certainly hope so,because he is/was a colossal talent.
And what say you now Mr Praveen Thipsay? I was thunderstruck by your pre-match comments saying that Anand would easily slay Gelfand – funny assessment by a GM no less.
The post match press conference says it all. Anand seems close to tears and there is no ‘sparkle in his eyes’. Can he come back from behind – a la Fischer or Kasparov? He too has done it before, BUT does not look confident now.
anand has lost his spark,being one of his fans its sad to say this but he has lost his confidence.he is trying to “defend” the title than to play his natural play.He has been dull the last year i hope he finds his motivation by this loss and play some exciting games in the rest of the games.
… and what a turn around in the eighth game, as Anand demolished his opponent in just seventeen moves! Jeez, where did that come from after the first six games? this is shaping up to be another man city/man u league championship with lotsa cliffhangers on!!!
and what a game no. 8 was… in only 17 moves. somebody is gonna pull d cat outta d hat very soon. score tied 4-4. game 9 dares…