It does not bode well for the sport — and that too in the biggest competition — when journalists start asking the participants about their interests in other sports, art and culture midway through the event.
On Friday, world champion Viswanathan Anand and his Israeli challenger Boris Gelfand faced questions about what other sports they enjoy and play, which team they would support in Saturday's Champions League final and what artefacts they liked when they visited the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow where they are playing for the World Championship title.
The questions were raised minutes after the two Grandmasters had settled for another uneventful draw in the sixth game.
With both players refusing to judge their play in a match that has failed to produce a single decisive game, the questions veered round to their other interests.
Cautious approach
Both Anand and Gelfand have played solidly and with utmost caution thus far and the trend continued on Friday. Though the Israeli GM introduced a new move in the Slav Defence game on the 6th turn and forced Anand to sacrifice a central pawn, he could not hold on to the slight advantage.
Gelfand was saddled with a badly placed bishop and had to forgo the pawn to bring it into play. Anand exchanged major pieces and the resultant position could have produced only one result --- a draw. A draw it was and the two players remained locked at three points each after six games.
{{/usCountry}}Gelfand was saddled with a badly placed bishop and had to forgo the pawn to bring it into play. Anand exchanged major pieces and the resultant position could have produced only one result --- a draw. A draw it was and the two players remained locked at three points each after six games.
{{/usCountry}}Saturday is a rest day and they will meet again on Sunday with Gelfand once again playing with white pieces.
While action on the board failed to cause much excitement, the venue was abuzz thanks to the presence of former world champion Garry Kasparov.
Kasparov, who commented on the game for some time on the official website, was not much impressed with Gelfand's slight advantage.
Kasparov had criticised the match as one that did not involve the best players in the world at present and may not have felt the need to change his views much on the basis of what he saw on Friday.