Candidates Final: Game 1 is Drawn
And a good, hard-fought draw at that, despite Alexander Grischuk's having White. (Perhaps this is just part of his strategy: he wants to wear Boris Gelfand out, even with the White pieces, before the blitz.*) Gelfand had some deep preparation in the unofficial theme opening of this year's Candidates' event, the Queen's Gambit Declined, but even so he had to sweat it out in an ending where Grischuk's queenside majority gave him some practical winning chances. Good defense from Gelfand and the sober "truth" that all rook endings are drawn saved him, and tomorrow he'll have his chance to make Grischuk sweat. We'll see.
For now, here's today's game, with my notes.
* For those of you wondering if I've lost my mind or if I've ingested too much Adorjan, and forgotten that it's advantageous, all things being equal, to have White, I'm alluding to Grischuk's semi-absurd White games against Kramnik in their rapid playoff.
Reader Comments (3)
The presbyter? Good one, DM!
I wonder if Grischuk just did not want to use up his opening prep unless he absolutely had to. If he gets by Gelfand he'll need every trick up his sleeve to beat Anand. Actually he need a little something extra to beat Gelfand.
[DM: I'm sure he's not saving anything for Anand, as that match - which he first needs to get to - is a year or so away, and in contemporary chess secrets don't last that long. Additionally, Anand's general repertoire differs from Kramnik's and Gelfand's (though nowadays everyone borrows from everyone else), so it's also unlikely on that score as well.]
Hey Dennis, you did some very interesting live commentary during the Anand Topalov match. If you have some time, please do the same for this one too, it is very very interesting.
Thanks and regards,
Parag