World Chess Championship 2012: Nerves to Decide Anand, Gelfand Match

Tiebreak Format

Tune in for the tiebreak live broadcast of 2012 Anand, Gelfand World Chess Championship - India time 1.30 pm on Wednesday, May 30, at official website. 

How many games will be played? It could be four rapid games, 10 blitz games and an Armageddon! In fact, fans could witness as many as 15 fast and furious chess games between India's reigning world chess champion Viswanathan Anand and Israel's challenger Boris Gelfand. World Champions who have won the crown on tiebreaks include Anatoly Karpov in 1998; Rustam Kasimdzhanov in 2004 and Vladimir Kramnik in 2006. The system of tiebreaks has not been applied in the World Chess Championship for quite some time. 

India's Viswanathan Anand starts as favourite for the rapid games on Wednesday. Traditionalists view the tiebreaks as a profane method to decide a world chess championship match of the classical time controls. 

Tiebreak Rules:
Colors will be drawn and four rapid games will be played. The time control for these games will be 25 minutes plus 10 seconds per move. If the score is tied after the four rapid tie break games, colors will be drawn and two blitz games (5 minutes plus 10 seconds increment per move) will be played. If the score is tied after two blitz games, another two-game blitz match will be played, under the same terms. The process will repeat, if necessary, until five blitz matches have been played.

If the score is tied after ten blitz games, a single sudden-death Armageddon game will determine the champion. The winner of a draw of lots gets to choose the colour to play, with white given 5 minutes and Black 4 minutes. Beginning with move 61, a three-second increment will be added following each move. If the game is drawn then the player of the Black pieces is declared champion.

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