Congrats to Boris!
A beautiful result after lots of hard work and perseverance. His overall match strategy (as Sutovsky adviced before the match) seemed to work so far. Keep very safe and secure positions, don't give an inch, and when possibility arises, go for the all-out kill!
Of course, now he has to keep his nerve for the next five games and not play just for draw. BUt honestly speaking, his nerves have seemed far more stable than Anand's throughout the match.

Now Anand have too try playing chess, great for the match. Congrats too Boris!

Anand played like a patzer.

Anand the "tiger of Madras " will compensate.... Stay tuned !

Finally something that resembles a fighting game. If Gelfand wins, Kasparov will be right, we'll have the weakest world champion ever. Thanks FIDE for this bad candidates system and for favouring Grischuk's "poker-chess".

Today Anand made "only" reasonable moves but didn't come up with a good plan/creative idea how to equalize completely. Gelfand showed this is not good enough on the top level. Leko was just the right commentator for this kind of struggle. He pointed out what was going on for someone like me who is always surprised how GMs create just the right amount of counter-play when they are on the defense. This time Anand had a classical QGD bishop problem and was denied every opportunity to do something about it. Well done, Boris Gelfand.

Boris played well, but I though the move Qc2 was a very natural move with a double threat (winning a pawn or getting into the 7th rank chocking Anand's pieces. Not really a deep plan, and it surprises me that this came as a surprise.

anand's heavy hair is slowing his brain. needs to for a close shave and come out fighting! - 'are you talking to me!?!' :-)
BTW gelfand made to most his position after anand's Ne4 and g5- 'g5 makes gelfand alive' 8-)

Typically Gelfandian white victory , similar (with it´s integrity and ´evaluational disagreement´ with our beloved machines @ some key points) to his victory vs Grischuk in the WCC finals.

Kramnik was talking about games like these 2 when describing Gandalf´s style in an post-Kazan interview.

It's been a long time since Anand played like a top ten player and he certainly isn't doing it here, it wouldn't be surprising if he would retire after this match, as Kasparov said he seems to have lost interest.

Tournaments and matches are two different things. The ratings are based almost completely on tournament results. As for examble Kramnik has stated, certain styles and personalities are clearly more suited for match play. Ivanchuk has won many very impressive tournaments ahead of all the big guns, but it would be rather unlikely to have him as a favorite in a match against Gelfand. Also Gelfand has shown many times already that he has strong nerves, he plays his best when it counts.

I think that if Gelfand will win match then Carlsen will be have easy match against Boris. Of course if he win candidate competition.

So much rubbish have been written how weak Gelfand is, so many draws have been played in this match. Relax. Gelfand looks more hungry than Anand, so no surprise Gelfand won.

How humiliating. This was like a Capablanca game with a single, very pure strategic theme. Portisch - Petrosian (Santa Monica 1966) comes to mind as another game in which a reigning world champion suffered from such a bad/trapped minor piece. Finally Vishy will play for blood and make this thing worth watching. BTW, Fide's WCH system will correct itself when no sponsors line up to fund a Gelfand vs. (let's say) Caruana match. Press conference here FYI: http://moscow2012.fide.com/en/vid-archive?vid=1135&hl=922

This game makes you wonder why Gelfand did not play c5 in his last white game. It seems black never equalized. I am counting on Vishy to win tomorrow though.

As I said Gelfand will win this WCCM by +1, but I will not object to a bigger win by Gelfand.

Must be quite annoying to have to give a press conference when you just want to leave and blow off some steam nd get over the loss. Anand did not look happy at all. Surly body language. One- word responses. He also had to put up with such silly questions as "how will you change your strategy now" though ( a curt "I don't think I should reveal that" was the response).
Btw Short much preferred Bxf6, as he said did Kasparov, whom he had been speaking to. (He said this on playchess). Must be a style thing I guess. Will be most interesting game tomorrow!

Bahhhh chessbase really IS biased:

"Interestingly it was Anand who tried to keep the position alive with some not so routine moves, initially, while Gelfand appeared more than content to keep his position solid and steer towards a draw."

Other VERY strong commentators were saying things closer to this:
'I started to drift a little bit in the opening and the rest revolved around my bishop on c8' - Anand

For all the people wondering where they can see the PRESS CONFERENCE, here it is:

http://moscow2012.fide.com/en/vid-archive?vid=1135&hl=922

Anand blinked first! Now we will see a match. Gelfand will wait for him to take risks and hope to jump in when he does. Interesting....

Gelfand was just much better and won easily, no complaints about that one. Anand has been unrecognizable for a long time now but I still thought his general level would be much too high for Gelfand but this far it certainly hasn't.

It's not surprising now that Anand takes longer times for his moves. It happened in his match against Topalov. But what is surprising is Gelfand is finding the most precise moves in short time putting the pressure back on Anand. He clearly feels very confident. Now it's upto Anand to challenge Gelfand to more complications.

I think Gelfand is just getting better with age. He is better than Gelfand of 5 years ago, much better than Gelfand of 10 years ago. He gains from the experience and study, yet he does not suffer noticeably from age related deterioration.

Anyone who could beat Grischuk like he did, when Grischuk was playing perfect chess, has some unusual power. He did it by making a position where Grischuk lost his bearings and his perfection. Real inspiration was at work. Then of course the exploitation was at an extremely high level.

That said, I expect we'll see some changes in Anand. Maybe 1. e4 tomorrow. He will lose some caution and gain some passion.

How many times has Gelfand visited the toilet! ; )

This Match is very sad. For a World Champion to lose in such a bad way stands as a testament to Fide and Chess. Its very sad. Neither of these players deserve to be called the best. Pathetic.
I feel sorry for both of them. I Can not imagine Carlsen, Aronian, Kramnik' Radjabov or any other top player playng like this.Fide has produced its wonderful fruit.