A moment of defensive confusion by Liverpool saw defender Branislav Ivanovic storm in for a towering header and cost them the lead in 39th minute agianst the run of play.
The Reds came out the most aggessive and within the opening two minutes Fern Torres won the first corner with a weaving drive, which was cut short.
Kuyt picked up Gerrard's setpiece wide open at the top of the box and his testing shot was deflected by John Terry.
Rafa Benitez' men enjoyed the lion's share of the possession with some clean, concise play - much to the delight of the crowd.
The air of electric expectation evaporated into a raging red mist of celebration when Liverpool took the lead within six minutes.
A composed Dirk Kuyt played the ball out wide to Alvaro Arbeloa, who spotted and unmarked Torres waiting in the box and delivered a perfectly weighted cross.
A moment of baited breath and calm from the crowd before El Nino placed a low driving shot under the flailing arms of Petr Cech.
Pepe Reina entered the Anfield history books after becoming the first Liverpool keeper to make 50 European appearences.
His experience seemed to pay off as he calmly made a body block from Didier Drogba who was clean through on goal, or maybe he was dazzled by his florescent green boots as he looked down before taking a clumsy shot.
Skrytl blocked Frank Lampard's shot as the home side continued to dominate the play.
Aurelio missed the ball in a tight challenge and ended up felling Kalou, who needed treatment before Lampard could take a free kick, but it was easily rejected.
Chelsea didn't look confident in attack and when Drogba found Florent Malouda in the 23rd minute, his snatched shot was way off target.
Just when it looked like Chelsea were starting to win some possession, Torres took the bal from Lampard, before turning inside and placing a lob which was agonisingly close to curling in.
Salomon Kalou was shown a yellow card for kicking the ball away on 30 minutes before Arbeloa, again surging from the back produced a marvellous effort to test Cech.
But the Londoners managed to equalise totally against the run of play and silence the deafening cheers of the Kop for the first time.
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