Jack Lad wrote:My main point is that when you are playing with the white pieces then you should be playing to win and not just to draw. Fischer, Short and Kasparov understood this and so should all other GMs. Instead they just lazily play passively and then agree a quick draw - it is pathetic and a disservice to the sport of chess. Fide should find another pair of players immediately as neither of these two guys cut the mustard.
So they should take ME. I'll be Mr. Mustard, and the other person can have good sport. I won't be lazy or passive, and neither will he.
Jack Lad wrote:My main point is that when you are playing with the white pieces then you should be playing to win and not just to draw. Fischer, Short and Kasparov understood this and so should all other GMs. Instead they just lazily play passively and then agree a quick draw - it is pathetic and a disservice to the sport of chess. Fide should find another pair of players immediately as neither of these two guys cut the mustard.
Your point is not correct.
Both players played to win with the white pieces but the opponent found good moves and did not allow them to win
Based on the comments of GM Ram Sofer:
In the first game gelfand had to find
12...Qxa2(anand could get the advantage after 12...0-0)
13...Qa5(better than 13...Qc4 that allows white a strong initiative)
14...Ra7(14...Qd8 is too passive)
17...Qc7(better than 17...0-0)
In the second game Gelfand could get an advantage after 14...exd4 but Anand chose the better move 14...Nf6
Uri Blass wrote:In the second game Gelfand could get an advantage after 14...exd4 but Anand chose the better move 14...Nf6
I can see no advantage for white after 14...exd4. With 6 .b3 BG clearly wants to put his bishop on b2 but after Bb4 he has to put it on d2 instead which is now passive.
Sure both players can find great defensive moves as you would expect from the top two but they need to up their game if they want to win.
Now cracks a noble heart.—Good night, sweet Princess, And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest!
Uri Blass wrote:In the second game Gelfand could get an advantage after 14...exd4 but Anand chose the better move 14...Nf6
I can see no advantage for white after 14...exd4. With 6 .b3 BG clearly wants to put his bishop on b2 but after Bb4 he has to put it on d2 instead which is now passive.
Sure both players can find great defensive moves as you would expect from the top two but they need to up their game if they want to win.
It is possible that the a prepared line was something like
14...exd4 15.Rc4 Nc5 16.Bg5 f6 17.Bxh7+ Kxh7 18.Rxd4 fxg5
19.Rxd6 Qe7 20.Re1 based on GM Ram sofer.
It is not forced for black and I am not sure if white wins in this line but my point is that there may be some traps that gelfand prepared and anand did not fall into them.
16.d6 is theory and the statistics I have in chesstempo in human games is 100% for white(4 out of 4 for white).
Gelfand played the first moves relatively fast(only 9 minutes for 15 moves) so I guess everything is opening preperation and I hope houdini is wrong and white has no advantage with 16.d6
