Boris Gelfand will meet Viswanathan Anand in 2012 for the world title. The Israeli GM will celebrate his 43rd birthday this June, which makes him 18 months older than the champion - they first played each other in 1989. Although Gelfand's a rock solid, top-level player, nobody expected him to edge ahead of Aronyan, Kramnik and Topalov.
Gelfand would be seen as a respected but not exceptionally creative player who does most things well. Anand would be the heavy favourite — but Gelfand is used to being the underdog. The head-to-head record is lopsided. Anand leads 17-5, with 45 draws across all time controls.
But both the finalists, Boris Gelfand or Alexander Grischuk, were unexpected contenders. Grischuk wouldn't even have been there if Carlsen hadn't withdrawn. The final was a slightly strange affair. Grischuk decided to follow an unusual match-strategy of taking short draws often and trying to stretch his matches till the lottery of rapid-blitz tiebreaks. There, the Russian GM's world class poker-playing nerves stood him in good stead against Aronyan and Kramnik. Gelfand did things more conventionally — playing his normal, technically proficient, chess. He produced one counter-punching masterpiece versus Mamedaryov, and a solid performance against Kamsky, where he won thrice in a row while trailing the tiebreaks.
The first game was drawn in a technical rook ending where Gelfand defended coolly from an inferior position. In game 2, Grischuk was again close to a win before the position fizzled. Game 3 and 4 were both drawn, in 14(!) and 18(!) moves, respectively.
Game 5 was a positional slug-fest where Gelfand found a way to neutralise pressure. In Game 6, Gelfand defended brilliantly and then broke back with a massive roller to clinch a match, where he had always been on the back foot. One of the strangest aspects of this Candidates tournament was that this was the only classic time control game to be won by white, in 30 attempts.
The Diagram, WHITE TO PLAY (Gelfand Vs Grischuk, Game 6, Candidates Final 2011) is the point where the final game went critical. Black has built pressure with an unusual rook lift from a8-a5-h5. White responds with his customary cool. 20.Qf2 Bxh4?! Probably an error though it looks very strong. 21.gxh4 Nd5 22.Nxd5 Rhxd5 !? If white accepts the exchange, his kingside is full of holes and certainly black would have practical compensation though it's difficult to make objective judgements. But 23.Bb2! threatens e4 23.— Rb5 24.Qe2! Rh5 25.e4 Bxb3 26.Rdc1 Na5. The pawn deficit is now over-compensated by the central roller and the bishops. The rest is a massacre with black falling into terminal time pressure after 27.d5 b6 28.Be5 c5 29.dxc6 f6 30.Ba1 Rc5 31.Rxc5 bxc5 32.Qb5 Qc7 33.Rxb3 Nxc6 34.e5 Nd4 35.Qc4+ (1-0).
Devangshu Datta is an internationally-rated chess and correspondence chess player
