Game 11: Anand-Kramnik: Live blogging with regular updates
2:30: Post-Press Conference Update:
This was a long press conference, and a very neat one - I hope those of you who didn't get to watch it on Foidos take the time to see it later on ChessVibes or elsewhere.
Anand's opening comment was fairly short, and he rattled off the lines faster than I could write them down. The gist of what he said, though, was this: he was surprised by the Najdorf, and played 6.Bg5 which he doesn't usually do. Kramnik's 9...Qc5 may have surprised him a little; he was (more) familiar with 9...Nc6, as played in a Radjabov-Grischuk game earlier this year in Sochi. Kramnik's 12...exf5 was a critical moment, and if Black can finish his development and get his bishops firing White can be in trouble. So he liked his 13.Qe3, and later felt that 16.Qf4 was correct as well. He noted that 17...Be6 instead of 17...f5 was the only other try, but gave a line at the end of which he said he was escaping. After 20.Kb1 he knew he was out of danger, as Black could not do much with his broken kingside pawns.
Kramnik too churned out variations in his statement, but added a more general comment or two. He half-jokingly said he had a hard day yesterday, trying to find a forced win with Black against both 1.d4 and 1.e4. He was happy when he got a Najdorf, because then he could at least get a game. The only disadvantage was that he had no clue about the theory (of the particular line they played). He found 9...Qc5 over the board, and didn't know if it was a novelty. [It's not.] It looked interesting to him and keeps the game sharp. He also acknowledge that 12...exf5 was a critical move, but without it he felt he'd simply be structurally worse. So he decided to "mess things up" with that capture. 13.Qe3 was a good reaction. He felt that his 13...Bg7 was a good move and that 13...Be6 was not. (Anand had mentioned 13...Be6 as OK at first, but Kramnik rattled off some line at the end of which White is the exchange up for inadequate compensation.) Later, Kramnik thought that 15...O-O was objectively better than 15...Rg8, but that his move was the only way to fight. Anand's 16.Qf4 was a good reply. Kramnik mentioned 19.Bd3, and noted that 19...Be6 20.Nxf5 Qb4 leads to a position where "everything's hanging" and that turns out well for Black, but after Anand's 19.Nxc8 Rxc8 20.Kb1 Black has no tricks and ...Nb4 doesn't work. The final position may be holdable for Black but it's better for White.
Q & A:
Q for Anand: Relieved or happy?
Anand: Happy, but more relieved than happy.
Q for A: What now, will you continue to be active?
A: Have no thoughts of retiring, will certainly keep playing. For now, my team and I will celebrate and relax.
Q for K: Disappointed or relieved?
K: Relieved? No. You're relieved when you win, disappointed when you lose. But life goes on. I made mistakes in preparation. I am eager to improve. I will make serious changes to my preparation for tournaments and even to my play. It was a harsh lesson, but I will work. For the moment, I will relax. I hope someday to fight for the world championship again. I'm happy to have played the match and to play with Anand. It was a very interesting chess experience. It's not over [in that] I will continue to make use of the lessons here.
Q for K: How will you continue - what's your place in the next cycle?
K: You're misunderstanding. If I have another chance, I'll take it; if not, not. For now, there's less pressure, so I can rest, relax, improve.
Q from Campomanes for A: 21 years ago, you won the World Junior, and you have had a bumper crop of titles in the intervening period. What do you see for your next 21 years?
A: Hard to see ahead - I couldn't have seen this from Baguio. But I'm still excited about chess, and such a result gives you wings.
Q for K: After 1.e4 you seemed unsure for 20-25 seconds. Were you, or was it a bit of a show?
K: (Smiling/laughing.) I was trying to get a bit of concentration, since I had just gotten to the board. I expected 1.d4, but had ideas for 1.e4 as well. I wasn't unsure, just getting concentrated.
Q from GM Rogers for K: Do you feel you were always playing a moving target with Anand switching openings?
K: Not really. We were both preparing. Anand's team's prep was maybe more clever and we couldn't keep up the first half of the match. But in the second half, I got more of what I wanted. Changing openings is just modern chess, everyone knows a lot, and I switched too. Maybe repeating the same line in game 5 was a mistake but we're human, we make mistakes.
Q for A: Is it different winning a match vs. a tournament [Mexico City]?
A: Tournaments, broader; matches, deeper. Kramnik has an almost lethal match style, so I'm very happy to have gotten a lot of work done. Didn't expect to win by two points, so I'm very proud of this result.
Q for both: 12 game match OK, or 16 better?
K: Depends very much on your position in the match. (Everyone laughs.) I'd prefer a bit more, maybe 14 games. But the format of a match is great, of very high value, and draws public interest. I hope it continues even if I'm not in it. 14 games is just right.
A: I've played a 20 game with Kasparov, a 12 game match here, and 6 game matches in the k.o.'s which is like a Candidates match. [Ironically, some of Anand's Candidates matches were longer than 6 games.] 12 games is fine; the difference between 12 and 14 is not enormous.
Q for K: How did you cope with your difficulties early in the match and come back to fight? And how did you come to the press conferences in a good mood even when you lost [Kramnik said "looked like a good mood"]?
K: I was in a fighting mood from the beginning, but everything went wrong the first 6 games. After that, I could fight. As for press conferences, we're professionals. We don't feel good, but it's not journalists' fault. And it's only a game - yes, an important game for the world title, money - but only a game. It's not a reason to be depressed. And people lose games, especially against such an opponent as Vishy. I have a motto: you're responsible for the quality of your work, not the results. Vishy is a great player and was better in this match. It's no reason to shout at journalists.
[And with that, the press conference came to an end, and so now does this post. Stay tuned later tonight for the game on a replayable board with fuller annotations, and for my ChessBase show at 9 p.m. ET in which I'll recap the match from game 6.]
1:20
I assume there's going to be a press conference, but they sure are taking their sweet time about it. Maybe they're engaging in another round of drug testing, brilliantly ensuring that the players aren't who they are today on account of anabolic steroids. (Maybe the geniuses who thought this up are the ones who should be tested, but it might be too late to rescue them.) Meanwhile, for posterity's sake, here's the final position of the match:
1:00
MATCH OVER!
Yup, that's it! After 21.Nc1, the game concluded 21...Ne7 22.Qd2 Qxd2 23.Rxd2 Bh6 24.Rf2 and now I'm not sure what happened. I was away from the computer and 24...Bf4 was allegedly played, but as that simply throws away a bishop for nothing it's rather unlikely. (I believe the move was 24...Be3.) In any case, whatever happened on Black's 24th move, they agreed to a draw. It's over, and Anand has won the match by a 6.5-4.5 score.
Back after the press conference.
12:40
Latest moves: 19.Nxc8 Rxc8 20.Kb1.
I think I know why Kramnik refrained from ...Be6 on moves 16 and 17 now, but it looks like it was just a cheapo. Had Anand played the natural move 20.Bd3, then 20...Nb4 trapped the rook, though the position would remain unclear afterwards. After Anand's strong 20.Kb1, taking care of the back rank by allowing Nc1, Black doesn't seem to have very much. For example: 20...Qe1+ 21.Nc1 Qb4 22.Nd3 Qxf4 23.Nxf4 Nb4 24.Rxf5 Rxc2 25.Ne6+ Ke7 26.Nxg7 Rd2 27.Bxa6 bxa6 28.Re1+ White is slightly better and enjoys a position that's practically impossible to lose.
Kramnik has just played 20...Qe1+ and Anand replied 21.Nc1, and if the game continues down that line I think the game will end in a draw - unless Anand feels like playing for a win. I think the match is as good as over.
Times: Anand 40 minutes, Kramnik 41 minutes and counting.
12:30
Anand chose 16.Qf4, sidestepping the discovered check possibility, eyeing the d6, e4 and f6 pawns and keeping the Bg7 plugged up. Now exf5 is a serious positional threat, so Kramnik's choices were 16...Be6 followed by 17...fxe4 or else the immediate 16...fxe4, and he chose the latter. 16...Be6 seemed to gain a useful tempo for development, but for whatever reason he declined to use it. Anand played 17.Nxe4, and Kramnik again forsook 17...Be6, preferring 17...f5, unleashing the dark squared bishop's diagonal. The obvious 18.Nxd6+ Kf8 ensued, and now Anand has some choices and 19.Nxc8 and 19.Bd3 come to mind.
Times: Anand 46 minutes and counting, Kramnik 48 minutes.
12:05
After a long think, Kramnik chose the ambitious 13...Bg7. The point is that someday, after ...fxe4 and ...f5, that bishop can become a monster on the long diagonal, especially in conjunction with the queen on e5. Achieving that isn't going to be so easy, however, especially after White's reply, 14.Rd5. Kramnik could have prevented this with 13...Be6, when 14.Qb6 Bh6+ 15.Kb1 O-O 16.exf5 Bxf6 17.Bd3 gives White nice compensation for the pawn.
After 14.Rd5, Kramnik played the normal 14...Qe7, and Anand has replied with 15.Qg3, forking the units on g7 and d6. Black has a choice between three moves here, 15...Bh6+, 15...O-O and 15...Rg8, and there's something to be said for each of them. 15...Bh6+ is a materialistic approach, allowing Black to save his extra pawn and maybe grab another one on e4. 15...O-O takes care of king safety issues (relatively speaking), and 15...Rg8 tries to activate another piece, with tempo. White can meet that move with 15.Kb1 or play something like 15.Qh4 or 15.Qf4, trying to restrict Black's bishop; after each reply (to 15...Rg8) the position is in some sort of balance. And Kramnik has just played it: 15...Rg8.
It's a very complicated position, strategically and tactically, and it's not surprising that the players are burning serious time on the clock.
Times: Anand: 58 minutes and counting, Kramnik: 59 minutes.
11:30
Only one half move has been played, but it's an interesting one: 13.Qe3. This clears the d-file and the f1-a6 diagonal while giving the queen two beautiful diagonals (b6 is an especially wonderful square for the queen). Kramnik has been deep in thought since this was played, having used 24 minutes on it thus far. It's not over, but Anand fans should be pretty happy here.
Times: Anand 1:17, Kramnik 1:12 and counting.
11:00
Oh boy...
The next few moves were "normal". After Kramnik's 9...Qc5, Anand played 10.Qd3, preparing to castle long. Kramnik continued developing with 10...Nc6, Anand avoided the possible swap of knights and queens by playing 11.Nb3, Black played the thematic centralizing move 11...Qe5 and then White continued normally with 12.O-O-O. In the few previous games Black had played 12...Bd7, and there may be other normal moves as well (e.g. 12...b5).
But here Kramnik played 12...exf5. Sure, it wins a pawn, but it's strategically disgusting. His d- and f-pawns are isolated, the e-file is open and d5 beckons a white knight. Maybe this is an "I must play to win" kind of risk, but it looks pretty gruesome to me. Kramnik does have extensive experience with the Classical Sicilian, meeting the Rauzer (which is what this really is, strategically - ignore the Najdorf move order), so it's not as if he doesn't know any of this, and he must feel that this is an acceptable risk.
Times: Anand 1:24 and counting, Kramnik 1:36.
10:25
Yes, 1.e4 has been played! Kramnik chose 1...c5, and now after 2.Nf3 d6 Anand avoided the comparatively drawish 3.Bb5+ and went for an Open Sicilian with 3.d4. 3...cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 ensued, and now Kramnik played an unusual move for him: 5...a6, the Najdorf Variation. Kramnik used to play the Sveshnikov regularly, and in the mid to late 1990s he was a consistent Classical player (5...Nc6).
With the Najdorf, I can't help but think of the end of the 1969 World Championship match between Boris Spassky and Tigran Petrosian. Through game 16 (of 24) the match had been all square, 8-8, and Petrosian had drawn one game after another with the Petroff, and with ease. For no obvious reason (a death wish of sorts?) he switched to open Sicilians in games 17 and 19, got butchered and lost the match. It didn't play to his strong points and played into Spassky's, and I think the same is true for Kramnik and Anand. But if you have to play for a win, then what can you do?
Returning to the game, Anand played 6.Bg5, formerly the main line and a move that leads to a huge number of forced draws, but after 6...e6 7.f4 Qc7 Kramnik had found his way to a line without many or even any forced draw variations. Here Anand avoided typical Najdorf-like approaches and chose 8.Bxf6 gxf6 9.f5, giving the game the character of a Classical Rauzer. Kramnik played 9...Qc5, and that's where we are at the moment.
Kramnik has achieved a playable position where no forced draws are lurking, where he has trumps that could lead to a win someday, where Anand doesn't have some mega-prep lurking and in the sort of position he had some experience with. It's miles away from a win, but he has achieved everything he could reasonably hope for from a black opening. Not a bad start!
Times: Anand 1:45 and counting, Kramnik 1:51.
9:55:
Once again, this could be the last game of the match, and since Anand has the white pieces, it's extremely likely if not quite a mortal lock. A few commentators have noted that Kramnik has never beaten Anand with Black, and that's not an encouraging factor for the challenger. However, while I agree that Kramnik's chances remain pretty low, I think that particular argument is overrated for several reasons.
First, Kramnik has defeated Anand with Black, just not in a classical game. He has done so in rapid games. Second, he generally hasn't tried to win with Black in slower games. That doesn't mean he would have had he wanted to, but that fewer attempts will naturally result in fewer successes. Third, Anand had only defeated Kramnik once with Black in classical chess before the match (and that from a dodgy position), but that didn't stop him from winning twice here with the black pieces. And finally, Anand has more pressure on him here than in any of the previous games, and that can have an effect as well.
Nevertheless, I think Anand will keep control and look for ways to dry up the game as soon as possible. Maybe it's a cynical approach, but it's better to do that and be the champ! To that end, I think 1.e4 has a good chance of appearing, as there are more chances to control the opening and steer it in a drawish direction than with 1.d4. The game starts in a couple of minutes, so buckle up: it's time for a ride.
This was a long press conference, and a very neat one - I hope those of you who didn't get to watch it on Foidos take the time to see it later on ChessVibes or elsewhere.
Anand's opening comment was fairly short, and he rattled off the lines faster than I could write them down. The gist of what he said, though, was this: he was surprised by the Najdorf, and played 6.Bg5 which he doesn't usually do. Kramnik's 9...Qc5 may have surprised him a little; he was (more) familiar with 9...Nc6, as played in a Radjabov-Grischuk game earlier this year in Sochi. Kramnik's 12...exf5 was a critical moment, and if Black can finish his development and get his bishops firing White can be in trouble. So he liked his 13.Qe3, and later felt that 16.Qf4 was correct as well. He noted that 17...Be6 instead of 17...f5 was the only other try, but gave a line at the end of which he said he was escaping. After 20.Kb1 he knew he was out of danger, as Black could not do much with his broken kingside pawns.
Kramnik too churned out variations in his statement, but added a more general comment or two. He half-jokingly said he had a hard day yesterday, trying to find a forced win with Black against both 1.d4 and 1.e4. He was happy when he got a Najdorf, because then he could at least get a game. The only disadvantage was that he had no clue about the theory (of the particular line they played). He found 9...Qc5 over the board, and didn't know if it was a novelty. [It's not.] It looked interesting to him and keeps the game sharp. He also acknowledge that 12...exf5 was a critical move, but without it he felt he'd simply be structurally worse. So he decided to "mess things up" with that capture. 13.Qe3 was a good reaction. He felt that his 13...Bg7 was a good move and that 13...Be6 was not. (Anand had mentioned 13...Be6 as OK at first, but Kramnik rattled off some line at the end of which White is the exchange up for inadequate compensation.) Later, Kramnik thought that 15...O-O was objectively better than 15...Rg8, but that his move was the only way to fight. Anand's 16.Qf4 was a good reply. Kramnik mentioned 19.Bd3, and noted that 19...Be6 20.Nxf5 Qb4 leads to a position where "everything's hanging" and that turns out well for Black, but after Anand's 19.Nxc8 Rxc8 20.Kb1 Black has no tricks and ...Nb4 doesn't work. The final position may be holdable for Black but it's better for White.
Q & A:
Q for Anand: Relieved or happy?
Anand: Happy, but more relieved than happy.
Q for A: What now, will you continue to be active?
A: Have no thoughts of retiring, will certainly keep playing. For now, my team and I will celebrate and relax.
Q for K: Disappointed or relieved?
K: Relieved? No. You're relieved when you win, disappointed when you lose. But life goes on. I made mistakes in preparation. I am eager to improve. I will make serious changes to my preparation for tournaments and even to my play. It was a harsh lesson, but I will work. For the moment, I will relax. I hope someday to fight for the world championship again. I'm happy to have played the match and to play with Anand. It was a very interesting chess experience. It's not over [in that] I will continue to make use of the lessons here.
Q for K: How will you continue - what's your place in the next cycle?
K: You're misunderstanding. If I have another chance, I'll take it; if not, not. For now, there's less pressure, so I can rest, relax, improve.
Q from Campomanes for A: 21 years ago, you won the World Junior, and you have had a bumper crop of titles in the intervening period. What do you see for your next 21 years?
A: Hard to see ahead - I couldn't have seen this from Baguio. But I'm still excited about chess, and such a result gives you wings.
Q for K: After 1.e4 you seemed unsure for 20-25 seconds. Were you, or was it a bit of a show?
K: (Smiling/laughing.) I was trying to get a bit of concentration, since I had just gotten to the board. I expected 1.d4, but had ideas for 1.e4 as well. I wasn't unsure, just getting concentrated.
Q from GM Rogers for K: Do you feel you were always playing a moving target with Anand switching openings?
K: Not really. We were both preparing. Anand's team's prep was maybe more clever and we couldn't keep up the first half of the match. But in the second half, I got more of what I wanted. Changing openings is just modern chess, everyone knows a lot, and I switched too. Maybe repeating the same line in game 5 was a mistake but we're human, we make mistakes.
Q for A: Is it different winning a match vs. a tournament [Mexico City]?
A: Tournaments, broader; matches, deeper. Kramnik has an almost lethal match style, so I'm very happy to have gotten a lot of work done. Didn't expect to win by two points, so I'm very proud of this result.
Q for both: 12 game match OK, or 16 better?
K: Depends very much on your position in the match. (Everyone laughs.) I'd prefer a bit more, maybe 14 games. But the format of a match is great, of very high value, and draws public interest. I hope it continues even if I'm not in it. 14 games is just right.
A: I've played a 20 game with Kasparov, a 12 game match here, and 6 game matches in the k.o.'s which is like a Candidates match. [Ironically, some of Anand's Candidates matches were longer than 6 games.] 12 games is fine; the difference between 12 and 14 is not enormous.
Q for K: How did you cope with your difficulties early in the match and come back to fight? And how did you come to the press conferences in a good mood even when you lost [Kramnik said "looked like a good mood"]?
K: I was in a fighting mood from the beginning, but everything went wrong the first 6 games. After that, I could fight. As for press conferences, we're professionals. We don't feel good, but it's not journalists' fault. And it's only a game - yes, an important game for the world title, money - but only a game. It's not a reason to be depressed. And people lose games, especially against such an opponent as Vishy. I have a motto: you're responsible for the quality of your work, not the results. Vishy is a great player and was better in this match. It's no reason to shout at journalists.
[And with that, the press conference came to an end, and so now does this post. Stay tuned later tonight for the game on a replayable board with fuller annotations, and for my ChessBase show at 9 p.m. ET in which I'll recap the match from game 6.]
1:20
I assume there's going to be a press conference, but they sure are taking their sweet time about it. Maybe they're engaging in another round of drug testing, brilliantly ensuring that the players aren't who they are today on account of anabolic steroids. (Maybe the geniuses who thought this up are the ones who should be tested, but it might be too late to rescue them.) Meanwhile, for posterity's sake, here's the final position of the match:
1:00
MATCH OVER!
Yup, that's it! After 21.Nc1, the game concluded 21...Ne7 22.Qd2 Qxd2 23.Rxd2 Bh6 24.Rf2 and now I'm not sure what happened. I was away from the computer and 24...Bf4 was allegedly played, but as that simply throws away a bishop for nothing it's rather unlikely. (I believe the move was 24...Be3.) In any case, whatever happened on Black's 24th move, they agreed to a draw. It's over, and Anand has won the match by a 6.5-4.5 score.
Back after the press conference.
12:40
Latest moves: 19.Nxc8 Rxc8 20.Kb1.
I think I know why Kramnik refrained from ...Be6 on moves 16 and 17 now, but it looks like it was just a cheapo. Had Anand played the natural move 20.Bd3, then 20...Nb4 trapped the rook, though the position would remain unclear afterwards. After Anand's strong 20.Kb1, taking care of the back rank by allowing Nc1, Black doesn't seem to have very much. For example: 20...Qe1+ 21.Nc1 Qb4 22.Nd3 Qxf4 23.Nxf4 Nb4 24.Rxf5 Rxc2 25.Ne6+ Ke7 26.Nxg7 Rd2 27.Bxa6 bxa6 28.Re1+ White is slightly better and enjoys a position that's practically impossible to lose.
Kramnik has just played 20...Qe1+ and Anand replied 21.Nc1, and if the game continues down that line I think the game will end in a draw - unless Anand feels like playing for a win. I think the match is as good as over.
Times: Anand 40 minutes, Kramnik 41 minutes and counting.
12:30
Anand chose 16.Qf4, sidestepping the discovered check possibility, eyeing the d6, e4 and f6 pawns and keeping the Bg7 plugged up. Now exf5 is a serious positional threat, so Kramnik's choices were 16...Be6 followed by 17...fxe4 or else the immediate 16...fxe4, and he chose the latter. 16...Be6 seemed to gain a useful tempo for development, but for whatever reason he declined to use it. Anand played 17.Nxe4, and Kramnik again forsook 17...Be6, preferring 17...f5, unleashing the dark squared bishop's diagonal. The obvious 18.Nxd6+ Kf8 ensued, and now Anand has some choices and 19.Nxc8 and 19.Bd3 come to mind.
Times: Anand 46 minutes and counting, Kramnik 48 minutes.
12:05
After a long think, Kramnik chose the ambitious 13...Bg7. The point is that someday, after ...fxe4 and ...f5, that bishop can become a monster on the long diagonal, especially in conjunction with the queen on e5. Achieving that isn't going to be so easy, however, especially after White's reply, 14.Rd5. Kramnik could have prevented this with 13...Be6, when 14.Qb6 Bh6+ 15.Kb1 O-O 16.exf5 Bxf6 17.Bd3 gives White nice compensation for the pawn.
After 14.Rd5, Kramnik played the normal 14...Qe7, and Anand has replied with 15.Qg3, forking the units on g7 and d6. Black has a choice between three moves here, 15...Bh6+, 15...O-O and 15...Rg8, and there's something to be said for each of them. 15...Bh6+ is a materialistic approach, allowing Black to save his extra pawn and maybe grab another one on e4. 15...O-O takes care of king safety issues (relatively speaking), and 15...Rg8 tries to activate another piece, with tempo. White can meet that move with 15.Kb1 or play something like 15.Qh4 or 15.Qf4, trying to restrict Black's bishop; after each reply (to 15...Rg8) the position is in some sort of balance. And Kramnik has just played it: 15...Rg8.
It's a very complicated position, strategically and tactically, and it's not surprising that the players are burning serious time on the clock.
Times: Anand: 58 minutes and counting, Kramnik: 59 minutes.
11:30
Only one half move has been played, but it's an interesting one: 13.Qe3. This clears the d-file and the f1-a6 diagonal while giving the queen two beautiful diagonals (b6 is an especially wonderful square for the queen). Kramnik has been deep in thought since this was played, having used 24 minutes on it thus far. It's not over, but Anand fans should be pretty happy here.
Times: Anand 1:17, Kramnik 1:12 and counting.
11:00
Oh boy...
The next few moves were "normal". After Kramnik's 9...Qc5, Anand played 10.Qd3, preparing to castle long. Kramnik continued developing with 10...Nc6, Anand avoided the possible swap of knights and queens by playing 11.Nb3, Black played the thematic centralizing move 11...Qe5 and then White continued normally with 12.O-O-O. In the few previous games Black had played 12...Bd7, and there may be other normal moves as well (e.g. 12...b5).
But here Kramnik played 12...exf5. Sure, it wins a pawn, but it's strategically disgusting. His d- and f-pawns are isolated, the e-file is open and d5 beckons a white knight. Maybe this is an "I must play to win" kind of risk, but it looks pretty gruesome to me. Kramnik does have extensive experience with the Classical Sicilian, meeting the Rauzer (which is what this really is, strategically - ignore the Najdorf move order), so it's not as if he doesn't know any of this, and he must feel that this is an acceptable risk.
Times: Anand 1:24 and counting, Kramnik 1:36.
10:25
Yes, 1.e4 has been played! Kramnik chose 1...c5, and now after 2.Nf3 d6 Anand avoided the comparatively drawish 3.Bb5+ and went for an Open Sicilian with 3.d4. 3...cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 ensued, and now Kramnik played an unusual move for him: 5...a6, the Najdorf Variation. Kramnik used to play the Sveshnikov regularly, and in the mid to late 1990s he was a consistent Classical player (5...Nc6).
With the Najdorf, I can't help but think of the end of the 1969 World Championship match between Boris Spassky and Tigran Petrosian. Through game 16 (of 24) the match had been all square, 8-8, and Petrosian had drawn one game after another with the Petroff, and with ease. For no obvious reason (a death wish of sorts?) he switched to open Sicilians in games 17 and 19, got butchered and lost the match. It didn't play to his strong points and played into Spassky's, and I think the same is true for Kramnik and Anand. But if you have to play for a win, then what can you do?
Returning to the game, Anand played 6.Bg5, formerly the main line and a move that leads to a huge number of forced draws, but after 6...e6 7.f4 Qc7 Kramnik had found his way to a line without many or even any forced draw variations. Here Anand avoided typical Najdorf-like approaches and chose 8.Bxf6 gxf6 9.f5, giving the game the character of a Classical Rauzer. Kramnik played 9...Qc5, and that's where we are at the moment.
Kramnik has achieved a playable position where no forced draws are lurking, where he has trumps that could lead to a win someday, where Anand doesn't have some mega-prep lurking and in the sort of position he had some experience with. It's miles away from a win, but he has achieved everything he could reasonably hope for from a black opening. Not a bad start!
Times: Anand 1:45 and counting, Kramnik 1:51.
9:55:
Once again, this could be the last game of the match, and since Anand has the white pieces, it's extremely likely if not quite a mortal lock. A few commentators have noted that Kramnik has never beaten Anand with Black, and that's not an encouraging factor for the challenger. However, while I agree that Kramnik's chances remain pretty low, I think that particular argument is overrated for several reasons.
First, Kramnik has defeated Anand with Black, just not in a classical game. He has done so in rapid games. Second, he generally hasn't tried to win with Black in slower games. That doesn't mean he would have had he wanted to, but that fewer attempts will naturally result in fewer successes. Third, Anand had only defeated Kramnik once with Black in classical chess before the match (and that from a dodgy position), but that didn't stop him from winning twice here with the black pieces. And finally, Anand has more pressure on him here than in any of the previous games, and that can have an effect as well.
Nevertheless, I think Anand will keep control and look for ways to dry up the game as soon as possible. Maybe it's a cynical approach, but it's better to do that and be the champ! To that end, I think 1.e4 has a good chance of appearing, as there are more chances to control the opening and steer it in a drawish direction than with 1.d4. The game starts in a couple of minutes, so buckle up: it's time for a ride.
Posted by Dennis Monokroussos on
Wednesday October 29, 2008 at 10:59am
:-)
Assuming Kramnik wins this game, is there anyone who thinks he wont win the next? If this match was any longer, i think most would say Kramnik comes back to win
On your suggestion of meeting Qb6 with ...Bh6+ and O-O, yes, Black may have that resource. But White need not play Qb6, it's just one of the possibilities now open to him by virtue of playing Qe3.
I would think the priority is completing development; moves like Bc4-d5 and Rhe1 look pretty, although at some point White will want to restrain the f pawns. Black's king safety issues look like they should assist in this.
Maybe 13...fxe4 14 Qxe4 f5 15 Qa4 works, threatening Bb5 and Rhe1.
16 Qxd6 fxe4 17 Qxe7 Kxe7 18 Nxe4 Bf5 19 Ng3 Bg6 at least makes the Rg8 look a bit silly, although there's also 18... or 19...Be6.
Is Kramnik still rushing off stage after every move?
Now we know it is neither the tournament nor the match play.
I am beginning to wonder what would be it ?
Very gracious of you.
pyada:
Don't run away yet! There should be a press conference still to come, plus my fuller comments to this game, a Cap D'Agde update and the rest. :)
Also, who offered the draw and was it immediately accepted?
According to Macualey, Kramnik offered the draw and when they shook hands Kramnik made a handclasp.
Obviously 7...Qb6 and 7...Be7 were out; too many forcing lines leading to draws, especially in the former, which Anand has even played recently with both colors.
The more I look at it, the more ...Qc5 impresses me as an over-the board improvisation. It's a GM-move, one a patzer just wouldn't consider "on principle", and it may be the best move in the position, not that black has a tremendous set of options.
Kramnik had three chances to get ...Be6 with tempo, and skipped them all (Moves 16, 18, 19). It isn't really clear that the bishop belongs on e6, however.
Thanks for all your excellent analysis during the event!