9th Game – Drawn, World Championship 2012

Pix 1. Boris Gelfand and Viswanathan Anand. http://moscow2012.fide.com/en/.

24 May 2012, Kuala Lumpur – The ninth game of the World Chess Championship 2012 ended in a draw. The Week In Chess reported that the World Chess Championship Game 9 was drawn in 49 moves of a Nimzo-Indian Rubinstein Variation leaving the match tied at 4.5-4.5.

Anand admitted that "Obviously I messed something up in the opening" and that "white just got the two bishops for my two knights and the only thing I did was to try and provoke this move 19. c5". Gelfand could have tried to exploit the two bishops with 19.Bg3 but instead he won Anand's Queen for Rook, Knight and Pawn as Anand wanted him to and a tricky ending resulted, one where Anand had to find the right fortresses to keep Gelfand's queen out.