Is the first game of World Chess Championship 2013 the shortest game in WCC history?

Question

The first game of the 2013 World Chess Championship, Carlsen vs. Anand, ended in a draw after just 16 moves.

Is this shortest game in the history of the World Chess Championship?

score 16 · Accepted Answer · edited Nov 05 '14 at 11:39

There have been some shorter ones, for instance

Kasparov-Kramnik (2000), game 7, draw in 11 moves.

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1252046

Kasparov-Anand (1995), game 18, draw in 12 moves.

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1241980

Karpov-Kasparov (1984), game 29, draw in 13 moves.

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1293014

The shortest games in WCC history I believe are the two 10 move draws at the end of the 1963 Botvinnik-Petrosian match, but it's clear Botvinnik had more or less given up the match before those games.

The shortest decisive game in a WCC match is reportedly Anand-Gelfand (2012), game 8, in which black resigned before his 17th move:

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1666558

And I thought Kasparov was a fighting player... Just kidding, but it is curious that he appears in all three. — Pablo S. Ocal, Nov 05 '14 at 12:22

NM Wesley Falcao · Answer 2 · 2014-11-05T20:39:54.827

5

Technically speaking, the shortest game in a World Championship is Game 2 of the Fischer vs Spassky Match 1972, where Fischer did not show up to play and lost by forfeit. Fischer was supposed to play White in this game, so no moves were made on the board.

Another similar situation occured in Game 5 of Topalov vs Kramnik World Championship match in 2006, where Kramnik who was supposed to play White didn't show up for the game.

edited Nov 05 '14 at 20:39

answered Nov 05 '14 at 15:14

NM Wesley Falcao

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Not bad as a technicality. But true. – Pablo S. Ocal Nov 05 '14 at 20:27

Is the first game of World Chess Championship 2013 the shortest game in WCC history?

2 Answers2