Gelfand draws first blood

After six consecutive draws in the World Championship match between world champion Viswanathan Anand and challenger Boris Gelfand, Gelfand finally broke through to win game 7. In the final position, Anand has no reasonable defense against 39.Ng6+ Kg8 40.Rg7#. After 38...Rh1+ 39.Kxh1 e1(Q)+ 40.Kh2, Black would have to sac his queen with 40...Qxe5 41.dxe5, leaving White a rook up. WGM Natalia Pogonina, commentating at chessgames.com, observed, "Anand lost this game after provocative/weak play. Nothing special by Boris. Ok, 4-3 in Gelfand's favor, and now we are looking forward to fighting chess in the remaining 5 rounds."

As Pogonina indicates, there are only five games left in "regulation play." If the match is tied at that time, the tie will be broken by a series of rapid games, then blitz games if necessary, and finally if necessary an "Armageddon" game.