World Chess Championship 2012

World Chess Championship 2012

Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow, Russia
11–30 May 2012
	Defending champion	Challenger
	Viswanathan Anand	Boris Gelfand
	6 (2½) Scores 6 (1½) Game 1 ½ 24 move draw ½ Game 2 ½ 25 move draw ½ Game 3 ½ 37 move draw ½ Game 4 ½ 34 move draw ½ Game 5 ½ 27 move draw ½ Game 6 ½ 29 move draw ½ Game 7 0 38 moves → 1 Game 8 1 ← 17 moves 0 Game 9 ½ 49 move draw ½ Game 10 ½ 25 move draw ½ Game 11 ½ 24 move draw ½ Game 12 ½ 22 move draw ½ Tie break 13 ½ 32 move draw ½ Tie break 14 1 ← 77 moves 0 Tie break 15 ½ 59 move draw ½ Tie break 16 ½ 56 move draw ½
	Born 11 December 1969 42 years old	Born 24 June 1968 43 years old
	Winner of the World Chess Championship 2010	Winner of the Candidates Tournament 2011
	Rating: 2791 (World No. 4)	Rating: 2727 (World No. 20)
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The World Chess Championship 2012 was a chess match between the defending World Champion Viswanathan Anand of India and Boris Gelfand of Israel, winner of the 2011 Candidates Tournament.^[1] After sixteen games, including four rapid games, Anand retained his title.^[2] The match, held under the auspices of the World Chess Federation FIDE, took place between 10 and 31 May 2012 in the Engineering Building of the State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow, Russia.^[3] The prize fund was US$2.55 million.^[4]

Anand was the defending champion, having gained the title in 2007 and defended it in 2008 (against Vladimir Kramnik) and in 2010 (against Veselin Topalov). Boris Gelfand became the challenger after winning the eight-player Candidates Tournament in May 2011. Anand's subsequent victory, therefore, was his third consecutive title defence.^[5]

The match conditions called for twelve games to be played with classical time control. If a player scored at least 6½ points, he would be declared the winner and the match ended. By the end of the twelve games, however, the match was tied at 6 points each, so four rapid games were played in order to produce a result. Anand won the rapid-game playoff with a win in the second game and draws in the other three games.