If Boris Gelfand had any momentum after winning Game 7 of the World Chess Championship, it's all gone now. In a King's Indian Defense, Gelfand made a tactical error that resulted in getting his queen trapped, causing him to resign on the 17th move. Gelfand missed a knight sacrifice that he could have played rather than resigning, but it was very difficult to find, and the resulting position was either dead lost or close to it anyway.

What a strange twist to what is quickly becoming a fascinating World Championship! With the match again tied 4-4 and just four games to play, the onus will now be on Gelfand to show that he can recover from today's terrible loss. I'll be sure to make another post with analysis later today.

It's fair to say that few people say this one coming. Boris Gelfand won the 7th game of the 2012 World Chess Championship, taking a 4-3 lead over current champion Viswanathan Anand. Gelfand, who hadn't appeared to be close to a win in his previous three games with the white pieces, once again employed a strategy of taking virtually no risk while looking to exert minimal pressure on Anand. This time, Anand cracked, making some unusual moves during one stretch which seemed to tilt the game in Gelfand's favor.

Now the question becomes: can Anand respond? We've seen Anand fall behind in matches before, only to come back and eventually win in great style. But like many other commentators, I think it's only fair to point out that we haven't seen Anand at his best in some time now,  and it's fair to ask questions about the level he's playing at in this match. My guess is he's got at least one win in him though, and perhaps the pressure or being in a situation where wins are now critical will bring the best out of him. Game 8 will be played Monday, with Anand taking White.

For perhaps the first time in the 2012 World Championship, Boris Gelfand appeared to gain a true edge with White in Game 6 of his match against Viswanathan Anand. However, actually winning a game is another story, and Gelfand was never all that close to having a winning advantage -- at least according to computers and human experts. The game was a Semi-Slav yet again, and Anand never found himself in serious trouble.

Perhaps the most interesting moments of the day came from a former world champion, as Garry Kasparov shared some of his thoughts on the match. During his time in the commentary booth (both in Russian and English), Kasparov had plenty to say about the match. He was quoted as saying "This match is significantly inferior on content as compared to all the matches in the past 10 years," and that the match "has no relevance to determining the world's strongest player." Many fans would agree with the first statement, and objectively, it's difficult to argue with the second, but the bluntness of the comments was certainly interesting. Kasparov also questioned Anand's motivation, saying that might be the reason why his play in recent years has been less impressive.

There's a day off coming up for the competitors; Game 7 will take place on Sunday. As is traditional at the halfway point in the match, the order of colors will be switched, meaning that Gelfand will play White once again in the next game. Anand's remaining whites will come in the 8th, 10th, and 12th games, giving him three more prime opportunities to break through and retain his title if he can continue holding easily with Black.

Anand switched to 1. e4 in Game 5, but it was to no avail, as Boris Gelfand was able to defend carefully in a Sveshnikov Sicilian to secure equality and hold the World Champion to a draw. At one point, computers gave Anand the slight edge, but most human commentators seemed certain that he never had enough to win, as even a full pawn might not have been enough to give him a truly significant advantage.

If you're beginning to get bored with the long string of draws, you're not alone. There have been plenty of complaints about the boring nature of the games, with only one game (the third) having real winning chances for one of the players. But if you're patient, there may be fireworks yet. I don't want to claim to be an expert on match strategy, but it would seem likely to me that Anand didn't switch to 1. e4 out of frustration; after all, he was able to gain something out of the opening in Game 3. It may well be that he's just probing for weaknesses and will try to get a decisive win  with one of his final three white games -- especially if he feels comfortable in his ability to draw as Black. Only time will tell: Game 6 is coming on Friday.