…and the fifth draw

And the fifth draw …
Tuesday, 24 May 2011

Series of draws in the final match of the Candidates Matches for FIDE World Championship went on with the game 5. Russian Alexander Grischuk, playing white, and Israeli Boris Gelfand, agreed to share the point on move 39 after a little less than four hours of playing. Before the last final regular game, scheduled on tomorrow, the score is 2,5:2,5.

Grischuk did not change the opening, but this time, probably with the help of his opponent, he got a lot of room for his pieces and already in the opening forced Gelfand to take a very passive defend. It’s not very often in top grandmasters games to see such a position, where all black pieces are nailed on the lines eight and seven for very long. Furthermore, the only black piece to come on the white side was the knight, just for a move, followed by the exchange for the bishop.

So it was absolutely clear that white had had more than a good position, but the answer how to break the black wall was not so clear. Like a hedgehog and a fox, that might be not too bad. Grischuk, as a fox, was making his position stronger and stronger, while Gelfand had no other way, but to wait.

The moment had come, when white allowed him to liberate with e5. If not all, then almost all the problems for black were immediately solved. Grischuk miscalculated a little bit, but it was enough for Gelfand. Once more, he managed to escape in a draw position. In dead equal situation, opponents spent another ten moves and agreed for a draw one move before the time control.

In the last final regular game, scheduled on tomorrow, the opening move will belong to Gelfand. In case of tie, the challenger for the world champion Viswanathan Anand of India will be determined by the tie- break, scheduled on Thursday 26 May, 2011.

http://kazan2011.fide.com/