During the press conference, Boris Gelfand said that he strayed away from the continuation that we had seen in the first and third games at move number six, by choosing to play 6. Qc2, a move that he had previously used in practice. Black had an isolated pawn in the centre, but the Champion decided to sacrifice it and castled short on the fourteenth move (14…0-0. Novelty). The Israeli grandmaster refused to say if he had been surprised by Anand’s play. “After the 17th move, it became clear that black had a strong shape. White could not bring its pieces out and therefore had to give up a pawn,” the challenger summed up. He further noted that only home analysis would show whether he could have tried to save the pawn and play for something more. Both competitors agreed that, despite the material balance that had been restored, white nevertheless continued to apply pressure as its pieces were in more active positions. But black was able to neutralise this threat with a series of precise moves. Viswanathan Anand was happy with the moves 20…Qe6, 21…f6, 22…Qc6, after which black was able to simplify the game and move into a drawing endgame.
After discussing the game, journalists moved on to other questions. It turns out that the players and their teams have been able to keep up with the latest football news. Anand said that his seconds would probably be going for Bayern, while Gelfand wasn’t even sure if he would watch the match, as Barcelona, his favourite team, would not be playing.
When asked which of the Tretyakov’s paintings they would like to see in their own homes, the World Champion expressed his affinity for Shishkin’s Morning in a Pine Forest and Vasnetsov’s Bogatyrs (or Three heroes), while Gelfand chose the paintings of Aivazovsky. At the same time, both players noted that they have absolutely no talent for art and recalled that once, at the opening of a tournament in Monaco, they were asked to showcase their creative prowess in painting. Neither was happy with their attempts, although both were very lauding at the press conference of Vassily Ivanchuk and Loek van Wely, who also took part.
Boris Gelfand commented on Garry Kasparov’s statement that “the uniqueness of this match lies in the fact that, for the first time in the modern history of the game, the World Championship Match will not decide who the strongest player in the world is.”
“Clearly, Garry wants to remind those who have forgotten that he was once the strongest chess player in the world. I believe that, not only in chess, but in life in general, people place too much stock in ratings – they pay attention to which TV shows have the highest ratings, how many friends they have on Facebook, and it’s funny. The best shows often have low ratings and it is impossible to have thousands of real friends.” For his part, the World Champion said that he tries not to pay attention to such comments and only focuses his thoughts exclusively on what is going on in the match.
Official website: http://moscow2012.fide.com/en/
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