The shortest world championship game ever was a triumph by Viswanathan Anand of India, White, against challenger Boris Gelfand of Israel, Black, in Round 8. Though the game is short, its hidden complications are hopelessly intricate, as demonstrated by the notes below. Anand, faced with disaster in the form of a one game deficit in the match, elected to take his opponent out of preparation and probably surrendered his own. Openings are very arbitrary affairs and past games as well as computers supply the best lines. Without them, there are a few rules that might help. One is to develop pieces swiftly and empty the back rank to connect rooks. A second rule is to control the center. A third rule, which can be in conflict with the first two, is that there must be accurate tactical calculation that does not lose material. That rule applies to this game.

    In this King’s Indian Defense, Anand blocked his king’s knight to build up a strong center.  Gelfand sinned by moving his king’s knight twice in the opening, looking for an early pawn attack against Anand’s king. He also gave up his powerful king’s bishop in an exchange. Both players were no doubt flying blind, but in the end Gelfand overlooked a tactical nuance and suffered a cruel fate.

 a) In Game 3, Gelfand played 3…d5 and struggled after 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.e4 Nb6 6.Nc3 Bg7 7.Be3 O-O 8.Qd2 etc. This time he decides to play a King’s Indian setup, but it does not go so well.

b) This is a clear attempt by Anand to use the move order to his advantage. Normally White would have reached this position via 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 etc. with the queen’s knight already on c3.

c) And this move attempts to exploit the fact that White’s knight is now missing from the kingside. But it is dangerous for Black, with the more cramped position, to move pieces multiple times in the opening!

d) Now Black has a clear plan for counterplay in …f6-f5, but it has come at the cost of losing time.

e) If 11…Qh4+ 12.Kd1! (12.Qf2 Re8+ 13.Ne4 [13.Be2 Qxc4] 13…Qf4!? gives Black lots of play) 12… Bxf5 (12…Ng3 13.Qf2! Nxf5 14.Qxh4 Nxh4 15.Nb5 wins material, an; 12…gxf5 13.g3 is good for White) 13.g4 Bxb1 14.Rxb1 looks better for White, but it is still a hard fight with chances for both sides.

f) This was just a miscalculation. Correct was 14…Nf6, when White would have an advantage but it would still be a tough fight with plenty of play left for both sides.

g) Apparently when calculating 14…Qf6 Black had only considered 17.Qf4, which would be met by 17…Qg1. Now the only move to save the queen from 18.Be2 is 17…Nc6 (to play 18…Nd4), but after 18.dxc6 Qxc6 19.Bg2 Qd7 (19…Qa6 20.Bd5!) 20.Nd5, Black’s position implodes.

 Anand – Gelfand

World Chess Championship 2012, Game 8

King’s Indian Defense