Moscow: Vishwanathan Anand’s play has been consistently more positive than his rival, Borris Gelfand, in the ongoing World Chess Championship.

As the match has reached the half-way mark, an objective analysis of the events so far reveals Anand to be having a slight edge in terms of achieving positions more viable to play for a win. But six draws on the board also clearly reveals that the players’ approach has been cautious.

Interestingly, Gelfand’s style of conducting the game has been extra-cautious with White pieces, and dynamic with Black pieces. Anand, on the other hand, has varied consistently with White pieces.

Anand has shown the best of preparation among both the players with the pawn sacrifice just out of the opening in the sixth game. But Gelfand has come out to be well prepared as well in the surprising opening choices with Black pieces.

The first and third games of the match were the only occasions when any action happened on the board so far. In both the games, it was Anand who held the White pieces. Playing with aggression in the third game, Anand opted for complicated play and was rewarded with an advantage of an extra pawn in an endgame. He could not convert his advantage in time pressure. Garry Kasparov and Peter Svidler singled out this moment as the best opportunity which was missed by Anand.