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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World Chess Championships - Sexy, Exciting, and Fast?

Top Seed Anna Muzychuk

If you are a little taken aback by that chess headline, don't be. Such a chess championship can truly take place. In fact, it would be true from May 31 itself! The World Rapid Chess Championship for Women is taking place from May 30 to June 6 in Batumi, Georgia. The championship will be held at the swanky Sheraton Hotel. It is being organized by the ACP and the Georgian Chess Federation. Read full post for top players' list and format. Women's World Chess Championship challenger Koneru Humpy is the second seed. Also playing is the very attacking 12th Women's World Chess Champion Alexandra Kosteniuk, European Women's Chess Champion Valentina Gunina, Armenia's top woman player Elina Danielian, and others.

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Chess Fan Israeli PM Netanyahu Follows Anand, Gelfand Game 12 Live

Gelfand playing chess with
Israeli PM Netanyahu and
Sharansky in 2010.

Jerusalem: Chess has really caught on in Israel thanks to Grandmaster Boris Gelfand playing the 2012 World Chess Championship against India's Viswanathan Anand in Moscow. Game 12 - the last one in the classical time controls during the match - was played on Monday. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who is a chess lover followed the entire match even during his busy schedule! 

The official website off the championship had a high-definition live broadcast of Game 12 - as of all other games - and the same was relayed on a giant screen in a room next to Prime Minister Netanyahu's office. The Israeli Prime Minister watched the game along with former minister Natan Sharansky in between meetings.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu loves chess and is known to promote it enthusiastically. He had met Israeli Grandmaster Gelfand in March 2010. Meanwhile, thousands of Israeli chess fans have landed in Moscow to cheer their favourite chess player. Gelfand is the first Israeli chess player to have gone so far high up on the chess ladder. 

Anand and Gelfand are tied at 6-6 points after 12 chess games of classical time control and a tiebreak would be held on Wednesday to decide the 2012 World Chess Champion. You can follow the live broadcast of the chess match tiebreak from India time 1 pm onwards at the official website.

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World Chess Championship 2012 Goes into Tiebreak Slugfest with Game 12 Draw

World Chess Championship 2012 

Game 12 about to begin. Photo: Official Website.

Game 12 of the Anand, Gelfand 2012 World Chess Championshi phas ended in a draw. The match will now be decided on Wednesday with a rapid/blitz tiebreak. In Game 12, the opening was another Rossolimo Sicilian and although Anand seemed to be in an attacking mode initially, the game ended in a draw in 22 moves.You can tune in to the live tiebreak broadcast of the 2012 World Chess Championship on May 30, Wednesday at the official website at 1 pm India time.

The World Chess Championship 2012 is being staged in the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow, between the current World Champion Viswanathan Anand of India and the winner of the Candidates tournament Boris Gelfand of Israel. The match is over twelve games and lasts from May 11 to 30. The prize fund is US $2.55 million, the winner getting $1.53 million (60%), the loser $1.02 million (40%).

Here are the Game 12 moves to replay in our Chess King applet

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A Piece for Every Chess Game - Dedicating a Tretyakov Masterpiece to Every Game at Anand-Gelfand 2012 World Chess Championship (Посвящение шедевры Третьяковской Каждая игра в 2012 году, Ананд, Гельфанд Чемпионате мира по шахматам)

The venue for the 2012 World Chess Championship between India's reigning world chess champion and challenger Israel's Boris Gelfand is a unique one. The Match is being staged in the Tretyakov State Gallery in Moscow. After a 6-6 equal score, for the first time in the history of chess, a rapid/blitz tiebreak play would decide the champion! 

But, back to art and chess. They indeed go together. Theory of technique, style, and methods all find a fascinating interpretation – a unique one at that – in a master's hands: both in art and chess. 

Every single position during a chess game is a work of art. Every move creates a new painting. Every chess player is an artist. Like for art, interpretation is everything.

The State Tretyakov Gallery is one of the most famous museums in the world. Its collection highlights Russian art with exclusive completeness from the ancient time (11-12th century) to the present day. 

Shilpa Mehra dedicates masterpieces from the Tretyakov Gallery to each of the 12 games of classical control at the 2012 World Chess Championship between Viswanathan Anand and Boris Gelfand. Read this full special chess article here.

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Gelfand: Vishy is not just an excellent speed chess player – he’s an excellent player in all time controls!

At the press conference after Game 11, the challenger explained why he had spent almost 40 minutes pondering the opening. “What can I say? We were playing a rare system, and you hardly ever see 8...Bd7. I knew it was an important moment – White had to decide what to do next. I had many options... I came up with a basic plan and started to play a lot quicker. The first critical moment arose at the 16th move. I spent a lot of time on this move as well because I knew that White had quite a few options once again. I needed to get my pawn to a5 somehow and play Ne5. I started by moving the knight. Perhaps 17.a4 would have been a more accurate move.”

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