The four-time world chess champion GM Viswanathan Anand of India is on the brink of another great achievement.

The ‘Tiger from Madras’ will take on his contemporary GM Boris Gelfand of Israel in a 12-match world chess championship series that begins at the State Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow on Friday.

It will be the first time in recent years that Anand will start as the overwhelming favourite. While his higher rating and consistent performance in the past two decades put him ahead of Gelfand, his match experience is expected to be the clinching factor.

On the other hand, the Belarus-born Gelfand, a product of the traditional Soviet school of chess, has got a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to become a world champion. While the defending champion Anand will be hoping that the match doesn’t become a banana-skin for him, for the challenger Gelfand, it could be his last shot at the world title.

Former world champions might devalue the current event stating that the two grandmasters won’t be fighting for the strongest chess player of the world title, but Anand and Gelfand have prepared seriously for the match and are determined to take it to the wire.

“This series is a little less attractive because of the absence of big players, but it is not Anand’s fault,” said India’s second IM Raja Ravi Shekhar. GM Koneru Humpy said there is no bigger contest in chess than the world championship.

“Gelfand’s motivation would be at its best now. He can gain everything by defeating Anand. So Anand has to be careful,” said GM K. Sasikiran.

He added that the both the players would be fighting to grab the initiative, as Anand and Gelfand are both active players and prefer sharp lines.

GM Sasikiran further noted that the whole chess world would be eagerly waiting for an opening novelty from Anand.

“In the world championship match against Kramnik, Anand surprised everyone with a queen pawn opening move.

This time both the players are strong in Slav defence and so we need to wait and see the strategies adopted by them,” he added.

While the current set of GMs and especially Indians see Anand as a clear favourite in the contest, the duel could be a culmination of the competition between the two since their junior days.

The Indian GM was just a new entrant to the highest level of chess when the Russian GMs were expecting a bitter battle between Gelfand and Ukrainian GM Vassily Ivanchuk for the world title in the late 80s.

The last time Gelfand defeated Anand was at the Interzonal in 1993, where he finished first, while Anand tied for the third place and qualified to enter the candidate cycle.

During that cycle, Gelfand and Anand were poised to meet in the semi-final match, but they both bungled up their quarterfinal matches against Nigel Short and Anatoly Karpov respectively to lose an opportunity to fight for the world championship.

In the later years, Anand has always been ahead of Gelfand.

At the Groningen world championship knockout matches, the Indian GM defeated Israeli GM 1.5-0.5 in the quarterfinals and later defeated GM Michael Adams to reach the title round, but lost out to fresh Anatoly Karpov, who took on a tired challenger.

After successfully winning the 2011 candidates cycle, Gelfand is now all set to challenge champion Anand for his first world title.

For Anand, who will be gunning for his fifth title, this could very well be a semi-final match before locking horns with World No.1 GM Magnus Carlsen.

Worlds in a nutshell

Anand has been there and done that; he is after all a four-time world champion. For Gelfand, on the other hand, winning the world championship will be a novel experience as the Israeli is playing his first title match

Venue: Moscow's Tretyakov State Gallery

Rules

The first player to reach 6.5 points will be declared winner. If the scores are equal at the end of 12 rounds, four rapid games of 25 minutes would be played. If still tied, there will be blitz games and the sudden death game (black needs a draw to win in a special blitz game) will decide the winner.

Million dollar battle

Total
$2.55 million
Rs 13.5 crore
Winner
$1,530,000
(60 per cent)
Rs 8.1 crore
RUNNER-UP
$1,020,000
(40 per cent)
Rs 5.4 crore

Biography

Viswanathan Anand Boris Gelfand

Date of Birth 11.12.1969 24.06.1968
Age 42 43
Nationality India Israel (ex-Belarus)
Place of Birth Chennai, TN Minsk, Belarus, the India Soviet Union
Marital Status Married (one kid) Married (two kids)
Current Rating 2791 2727
Current world ranking 4 20
Peak Rating 2817 (May 2011) 2761 (Jan 2010)