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Good evening everyone and welcome to the Chessdom live coverage of the World Chess Championship. Vishwanatan Anand has wonderful opportunity to take the title of World Champion one round before the end. We are about to find out, stay tuned. IM Miodrag Perunovic starts the commentary and Goran Urosevic will join us soon. Enjoy!
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 e6 5.Bg5 h6 Once again, Anand is using his favourite weapon Leningrad variation with 5... h6!? Let's see if he will try his luck in the same line as he used against Aronian in round 2 where he won a really great game, or he will try to change and surprise Grischuk with completely new position.
6.Bh4 dxc4 7.e4 g5 8.Bg3 b5 9.Be2 Bb7 10.h4 g4 11.Ne5 Rg8! Aha! Here we go! Seems that Anand is aware of possible "dead preparations" by Grischuk and he is going for completely different line, I guess even more sharp than line that he used in game vs Aronian. This is going to be real pleasure since we might expect wild game!
12.Nxg4!? Grischuk is taking the challenge! Now after 12...Ng4 13. Bg4 b4 - this could lead to total "anarchy"!
12... Nxg4 13.Bxg4 b4 14.Na4 Looks almost forced. Other moves would lead white to disaster.
14... c5 Without thi s move, Anand's position would be more than depressing... I am all eager to see if Grischuk will play the following line: 15. Be6!? fe6 16. Qh5 Ke7 17. Nc5 Rg3!? 18. fg3 Qd4 which would announce unbelievably interesting game and full of surprises for both sides. I think "We" spectators would like the most to see mentioned line.... There is another probable line - after 15. Nc5 Bc5 16. dc5 Qd1 17. Bd1 Be4 18. Rh2 Nd7, I suspect Grischuk will go into that variation which involves immobilized pieces and difficult chances to win the game.
15.d5 Hardly predictable move and even harder to estimate.This could give Grischuk some advantage after... ed5 16.ed5 Qd5 17.Qd5 Bd5 18. 0-0-0 and white will get better chances thanks to open "d" and "e" files and mighty bishops on g3 and g4.
15... exd5 16.exd5 Qxd5 17.Qxd5 Bxd5 18.O-O-O Rxg4 19.Rxd5 Nd7 20. Re1!? - this move could give some "energy" to the game since Anand will have vulnerable king.
20.Re1+ Kd8 21.Red1 Rd4 Forced move that leads to about equal game. Although, thanks to better pawn structure, Grischuk will have better chances in the ending.
22.R1xd4 cxd4 23.Rxd4 Rc8 24.Bd6 Ke8 25.Re4+ Kd8 26.Bxf8 Nxf8 27.a3 a3! Very important move which completely breaks black pawns! Now if Anand captures on a3 after ba3 , Grischuk will play against isolani on c4!
28.bxa3 Rc6 29. Kc2 would be logical follow up.. .Anand will suffer a lot to make draw here in my opinion...
29.Nb2 Rf6 Anand is trying to use old rule in endings - play active! He is definitely ready to lose c4 pawn but can he get something back?! The time will show ...
30.Re2 30. Nd1 was looking good too, blocking the pawn on c4 and defending f2 pawn. Now after 30.Re2 white will threaten Nc4 and black will not have Rc6 in a view of Rc2!
30... c3 31.Nd1 Ra6 Thank you IM Miodrag Perunovic for the wonderful commentary! Goran Urosevic is taking over.
32.Ra2 Ng6 33.g3 Rc6 Probably best for Grischuk is to continue with 34. Kc2 and take pawn on the next move. 34. Rc2 Ne5! with Nd3 next is not so clear.
34.Kc2 Ne7 35.Nxc3! On 35...Nd5 36. Kd3! Rxc3 37. Kd4 taking piece back.
35... Nd5 36.Kd3 Rxc3+ 37.Kd4 a5 38.Kxd5 a4 39.Kd4 Rb3 40.Kc4 Kc8 White had tricky idea of 41. Rd2 and Rd3, but now 41. Rc2! looks wonderful!
41.Rc2! He saw it! Great winning chances for Grischuk now. 41...Rxa3? 42. Kb4...
41... Kd7 42.Rc3 Rb2 43.Rf3 Ke6 44.g4 The outcome of the game depends on Grischuk's ability to find winning plan, if there is any. Black rook on the b-file is surely annoying and king should be capable of protecting kingside pawns.
44... Ke7 45.Kd5 Rb3 46.Ke4 Rb2 47.Kf5 Anand will just hang on b-file with his rook. Now Rb5 is possible, or even Rb3, and white has achieved nothing.
47... Rb5+ 48.Kf4 Kf6 49.Rd3 Rb2 Perhaps Rb3 was also okay. Anand is willing to trade "a" for "f" pawn, which would probably help him hold the draw because white's rook would be in front of the passed a-pawn.
50.f3 Now Rb3 maybe?
50... Ra2 51.Ke4 Rh2 52.Rd4 Rxh4 53.Rxa4 Now h5! looks simplifying enough.
53... Rh1 Anand obviou sly wants rook behind a-pawn as soon as possible. Leaving weak h6 pawn on the board might cost him.
54.Rb4 Ra1 55.a4 Kg6 56.Kd5 Ra3 57.Kc6 Rxf3 58.a5 f5! The only chance! 59. a6 is now holding the key.
59.a6 Ra3 60.gxf5+ Kxf5 61.Kb6 h5! It seems like this move finally secures the draw.
62.Rb5+ Kg4 63.Ra5 Rf3 64.a7 Rf8 65.a8=Q Rxa8 66.Rxa8 h4 67.Kc5 h3 68.Kd4 h2 69.Rh8 Kg3 70.Ke3 Kg2 71.Rg8+ Kf1 72.Rh8 Kg1 73.Rxh2 Kxh2 Anand put some fantastic resistance to save this game. He keeps the full point advantage ahead of Boris Gelfand and is scheduled to play Peter Leko in the last round. Thank you everyone for following the live coverage, join us again tomorrow for the last round commentary.
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