Press Release
THE FIRST GAME OF THE FIDE WORLD CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP IS DRAWN
The first game of the FIDE World Chess Championship Match was played on 11 May in the Engineering Building of the State Tretyakov Gallery.
The World Champion played white. The two contenders immediately engage in open combat. Boris Gelfand chose an opening that was unusual for him, while Viswanathan Anand responded with surprise after surprise, playing a fairly rare but subtle variation. The challenger reacted in the most radical way: he took a flank pawn, thus subjecting his king, which remained in the centre, to a certain risk. Black rebuffed all threats with precise play and forced a transition to an ending that was somewhat better for itself. However, the assessment of the position did not depart much from parity, and literally within a few moves the contenders agreed to a draw.
At the press conference Boris Gelfand attributed his decision to the fact that he could not see any specific ways for Black to fight for an advantage. So the challenger, who has successfully entered the game and will play white six times during the rest eleven games, is retaining a certain moral advantage.
The video from the players’ press conference is available at the match official web site – http://moscow2012.fide.com/en/.
The FIDE World Chess Championship Match between World Champion, Viswanathan Anand (India), and challenger, Boris Gelfand (Israel), is taking place from 10 till 31 May 2012 in the Engineering Building of the State Tretyakov Gallery.
The organisers of the match are FIDE (the World Chess Federation) and the RCF (the Russian Chess Federation). The initiator and sponsor of the match in Moscow is the Russian entrepreneur Andrey Filatov (co-owner of N-Trans Group). Other sponsors of the competition are businessman Guennadi Timtchenko, as well as the Ladoga charity foundation, NVision Group the company Novatek and Academician A.A. Raspletin Almaz-Antei OJSC SHDB.
Further information can be found on the match’s official website http://moscow2012.fide.com/en
11 May 2012
Contact information for members of the press:
Press Officer for the Russian Chess Federation at the World Championship Match
Mark Glukhovsky
m.gluhovsky@gmail.com
Gelfand has a shot.