Great game for Boris and Vishy! As Naiditsch stated in http://chessbomb.com/o/2012-wcc/03-Anand_Viswanathan-Gelfand_Boris/ both were well prepared, Anand following the game of his second Nielsen, and the other going for novelties.

A nice fighting draw indeed!

mmm..... the ch., is getting hot! an exciting game!

Did Anand bungle under time pressure and failed to convert a win? At least that is what Shipov's commentary says!

Carlsen or Aronian would have squeezed a win out of this; or at least made Gelfand sweat for a long time; almost all engines gave fighting alternatives for White than 35. Rh1. Anand is no longer as sharp as he used to be.

In the press conference, they analyzed a nice line that at the end with a rook sac and queen with check. This was 34.d7 Rcc2 35.Rc4 Rb2+ 36.Kc1 Rxa2 37.Rc8 Rf2 (Threatening mate on f1 or a1) 38. Re6+! Kf7 39.Rf6!! wins. So Vishy had not seen this resource and hence dint play 34.d7. A pity. But a nice fighting game :)

Kudos to Gandalf for another (too?!) ambitious black game (well , it worked nice in Kazan), and to Vishy for almost punishing him!

Why do Chessbase articles keep stretching their headlines towards Anand? If one just reads the titles of the three games, it would appear as if Anand has Gelfand on the ropes. Gelfand has produced some fine play in these games and it seems he gets no credit at all.

This, I though exactly the same... "Anand tantalizingly close to first win" ....????

The official site commentary was marred by ridiculously long commercials at critical moments. Who the f--- cares about an art gallery on move 19 when there is tension on the board? The organizers better cut that crap out or they may end up being a joke.

The week in chess http://www.chess.co.uk/twic/chessnews/events/world-chess-championship-20... mentions a holdable line for black after 34.d7 Rcc2 35.Rc4 Rxc4 (instead of the much analyzed ...Rb2+ that loses for black) 36.bxc4 h5 37.Kc1 Rd4 38.Kc2 Kf6 39.Rh7 Ke6 40.Kc3 Rxd7 41.Rxh5 Rg7.
Firstly, instead of 41.Rxh5 the pawn endgame after 41.Rxd7 Kxd7 42.Kd4 is interesting.
Secondly, if Vishy had seen this was the only alternative for black ofcourse he would have gone for the line. The problem was the other line which had mate hanging which he could not fully calculate under time pressure.

That may be, but being short in time, his Rh1 was a very human way to play it safe.
It was a good double-edged fight, after all. I was surprised how easy Anand could tame the black attack, and get an advantage. The bishop g7 was meant be a scary monster, and the black rooks on the c file would have impressed mere mortals. So it's kind of reassuring that, when he could have taken off for the magic conversion and left us below staring up, he covered his back rank like we all do.

Great video ChessVibes. The full press conf is not there in the official website due to some commercial. So it is only now after seeing the video here I understand that Anand had actually seen that d7 was a better move just a minute after he had played the rook retreat.

The level of the pundits here is lower than last w ch matches. I cant bother to look it up, but how high is your rating, Harish Sinivasan, that you feel the need to let us in on it?

My rating is 2021. 17 wins and 18 losses and 3 draws so far in FIDE ratings. I am from USA and an avid fan of Vishy. He will win the WC.