Moscow: A psychological battle to surprise each other with unexpected opening choices saw Viswanathan Anand and Boris Gelfand end the fifth game also in a draw in the ongoing World Chess Championship at Moscow.

As the score remains level at 2.5 – 2.5, the match enters into a phase of relative challenge for Anand, as he faces Gelfand with black pieces in the next two consecutive games.

Playing with white, Anand changed the course of the match by opting for 1.e4 for the first time. In a clear demonstration of pre-match strategy, Gelfand proved equal to the task, replying with the Sveshnikov Variation of the Sicilian Defence. He had earlier employed the variation a few times in his career.

Sveshnikov Variation has a reputation of being extremely sharp in nature, where principles of positional play are not strictly followed. Both the sides aim for tactical possibilities, striving for activity of the pieces above everything else. Due to its sharp nature, it is never employed during important matches.

It was also an occasion of surprising coincidence for the spectators of the day, as Grandmaster Evgeny Sveshnikov of Latvia, the inventor of the variation, chose to visit the venue for the first time in the match.

An emotional Sveshnikov, who almost dedicated the breadth of his career to the analysis of the variation, declared, “This is a special honour”.

By playing such an opening, Gelfand has once again confirmed that his strategy is to play dynamic positions with Black pieces.

He is also consistently surprising Anand with his opening choices with black pieces. Only time will tell whether there will be any gain from the risks he is taking.

Anand played for a small strategic advantage based on light square dominance. However, Gelfand came up with theoretical improvement on the 16th move, deviating from Grandmaster Moiseenko’s treatment of the black pieces in the same position a few months ago.

Essentially, the Gelfand strategy was to part with his important light squared bishop but at the same time getting rid of Anand’s dominant Knight posted on the d5 square. Further play proved that black position was solid enough to hold a slightly worse position.

Gelfand’s defensive idea of 23…b3 followed by 24…Ra2 finally liquidated the position without any advantage for white, and draw was agreed after 27 moves, when further exchange of pieces was inevitable. Anand said he had seen this defensive idea, but couldn’t come up with any better strategy than actually happened in the game. At the media conference Gelfand said: “This has been the easiest of all the games”.

Analysing the position with Grandmasters Alexander Grischuk and Maxim Dlugy, Gelfand demonstrated that the position was very solid after move 21, though white seemed to have a small optical advantage.