Anand draws game 1 of final

World No. 2 Vishwanathan Anand drew with Spain's Alexei Shirov in the first game of the World chess championship final, being played in Tehran, Iran.

Shirov, who was playing with white pieces, started with French defence. Anand had a slight edge after the 11th move, but Shirov played well to come out of trouble. Both players agreed to a draw after 34 moves and three-and-a half hours.

On Thursday the NIIT-sponsored Anand will have white pieces and can be expected to make an attack as he had done through the qualifying rounds in Delhi.

The six-game final is being played between December 20-26 and the tie-breaker, if required, will be played on December 27.

In a departure from the kind of openings the two have played so far, the players were involved in a French defence, which is an 1. e4 e6 opening. The French defence is a solid defence for black while white does have some space in the early stages of the game.

White gives a pawn early for space but later it should be got back as black attempts counter play.

In the middle game, Shirov was slightly better off, but Anand had enough drawing chances. Still, the Indian needed to be careful considering, Shirov is good in end games.

Both sides had both rooks, but one of them was exchanged on the 27th move. Yet Anand’s king side looked cramped with the rook on h8 looking passive.

Anand got space opened up on the h-file and managed to get his rook into play. That signified the nullifying of any little advantage Shirov may have had. Anand also gave up the extra pawn and both had equal material.

Once Anand’s rook became mobile, a draw was most logical unless Shirov took undue risks, as he sometimes does in trying to play very attacking.

This time around he was not in any such mood and allowed the game to drift to a draw.

Anand placed his rook on h1 and got the h-file and the first rank in control and then Shirov almost accepted the draw. With material and position equal, and no advantage for either side, the players agreed to a draw after Shirov’s 34th move.

The match has begun very interestingly, with a fairly active first game and that should keep the spectators and followers around the world on the edge of their seats for the next few days.

Shirov and Anand have played 10 games this year, and only two, in Linares, at the start of the year, were under standard time-controls. There, Shirov won one and the other game was drawn. Shirov also won their rapidplay game during the Amber tournament.

Anand then won both his rapidplay games against Shirov in Frankfurt.

Finally they played two rapidplay games in Sydney as part of the FIDE Exhibition during the Olympic Games, both games were drawn. So Shirov stands +1=1 in Standard and +1 -2 =2 in rapid this year.

In standard chess, Anand hasn't beaten Shirov since the Linares tournament of 1998 but does have four lifetime wins to his name including the game that he won to knock Shirov out of the FIDE Championships in 1997.

Shirov has only previously beaten Anand in the Sicilian Thematic tournament of 1994 and the win in Linares this year.

Wednesday's result:

Men's final - Game 1
Anand, Viswanathan (IND) vs Shirov, Alexei (ESP) - 1/2-1/2

Game 1:

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.c3 Nc6 5.Nf3 Qb6 6.a3 a5 7.Bd3 Bd7 8.0-0 cxd4 9.cxd4 Nxd4 10.Nxd4 Qxd4 11.Nc3 Qb6 12.Qg4 g6 13.Be3 Bc5 14.Na4 Bxa4 15.Qxa4+ Kf8 16.Bxc5+ Qxc5 17.Rac1 Qb6 18.Qd7 Rd8 19.Qc7 Qxc7 20.Rxc7 Rb8 21.Rfc1 Ne7 22.f4 Nc6 23.Rc5 Kg7 24.Rb5 g5 25.g3 h5 26.Rbxb7 Rxb7 27.Rxb7 h4 28.Kg2 hxg3 29.hxg3 gxf4 30.gxf4 Rh4 31.Kg3 Rh1 32.Kg2 Rh4 33.Kg3 Rh1 34.Kg2

½-½

See Shirov interview:
'Anand knows that he can win. I will try my best to win the title too'