Anand – Kramnik (Petroff)

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nf3 Nxe4 5.d4 d5 6.Bd3 Nc6 7.0-0 Be7 8.c4 Nb4 9.Be2 0-0 10.Nc3 Bf5 11.a3 Nxc3 12.bxc3 Nc6 13.Re1 Re8 14.cxd5 Qxd5 15.Bf4 Rac8 16.Qa4 (This is known theories and they are cranking out 16 moves in less than 9 minutes. It is obvious that both sides know this opening quite well. One day I hope that Fischer Random would be more popular so we do not have to deal with openings which contain 30-40 book moves. This has been played by the same two before but reversed colors in 2003. It was a draw.)

16…Bd7 17.Qc2 (If Black repeats with Bf5, what would Anand do? If Qa4 then Bd7 again. Anand defeated Kramnik in Mtel 2005 with Qc1.)

17…Qf5 (Kramnik does not want to repeat his experience in Mtel. So he changed to Qf5.)

18.Qxf5 Bxf5 (White is playing for 2 results with very little risk. White has more space and better piece placement.)

19.Bb5 Bd7 (20.d5 Ne5 21.Bxd7 Nxd7 22.Bxc7 Rxc7 23.d6 Rxc3 24.Rxe7 Rxe7 25.dxe7 Nf6 and White maintains a small edge.)

20.d5 Ne5 21.Bxd7 (This seems to head toward the line I gave above.)

21…Nxd7 22.Bxc7 Rxc7 23.d6 Rxc3 (White maintains a very small edge as I mentioned above. However, I do not think that White has enough for a decisive result.)

24.dxe7 (I would have preferred taking with the Rook. Black is fine in either case. The problem for White is the e7 pawn can be a blessing as well as a curse with move like f6 then Kf7. The a3 pawn is not so hot either. This is why understanding endgame is important.)

24…f6 (Anand spent a lot of time for move 25 which is very unusual for him. Kramnik is now about an hour ahead on the clock. The problem for White is to make sure he won’t be down a pawn in a much worse endgame. This is why this position is very critical. Kramnik’s speed in this game makes me believe that he was well prepared for this line.)

25.Rad1 (A sound choice. And I would play 25…Rc7 here as Black.)

25…Rc7 26.Nd4 Ne5 27.f4 (The obvious continuation here would be Nc6 28.Nxc6 bxc6 29.Rd6 c5 =+)

27…Nc6 (Black is slightly better due to White’s e7 and a4 pawns but I think Anand should be able to hold this with a little bit of sweat.)

28.Nxc6 bxc6 29.Rd6 c5 (Just as expected. Tiger Woods is known to be almost invincible when he’s leading going down the stretch. This reminds me of Kramnik. If you are in a match with him and you’re behind, it is virtually impossible to catch him. He makes chess look so simple. I have always admired his understanding of chess. The problem is his style does not make chess exciting such as Tal, Shirov, etc.)

30.Ree6 c4 31.Rc6 Rexe7 (32.Rxc4 Rxc4 33.Rxe7 Ra4 Black is a pawn up but White should have no problem holding for a draw.)

32.Rxc4 Rxc4 33.Rxe7 Ra4 34.Rb7 h6 35.f5 (White should be able to hold but it requires work and patience.)

35…Rxa3 36.Kf2 h5 =+ 37.g3 a5 38.Ra7 a4 39.h4 (This is basically a known drawn pattern. White can basically move the King to f2 and g2 and not much Black can do.)

39…Ra2+ 40.Kf3 a3 41.Ke3 Ra1 42.Kf2 (The computer is going crazy by giving Black between 2.5 – 3.0 point advantage. This is one of those positions where computer cannot properly evaluate the endgame. It is nearly impossible for Black to win because Black cannot make progress.)

42…Kf8 43.Kg2 a2 44.Kh2 Ke8 45.Kg2 Kd8 46.Kh2 Kc8 47.Kg2 Kb8 48.Ra3 (Black still cannot make progress at all.)

48…Kb7 49.Ra4 Kb6 50.Ra8 Kc5 51.Ra7 Kd5 52.Ra4 Ke5 53.Ra5+ Ke4 54.Kh2 Kf3 55.Ra3+ Kf2 56.Ra4 Kf1 (Kramnik is doing his best to try to get Anand to blunder. However, with proper play, this is still a draw.)

57.Kh1 Ke1 58.Kg2 Kd1 59.Ra7 (Sorry folks but this is a draw, regardless what some computer may say. However, it would be crazy for Kramnik not to try to push all the way and make Anand earn it. This is not an automatic draw but it is a draw if you know this endgame as I called it 25-30 moves ago.)

59…Rc1 (Now a dead draw!)

60.Rxa2 Rc2+ 61.Rxc2 Kxc3 62.Kf3 Kd3 63.g4 hxg4+ 64.Kxg4 Ke4 65.Kh5 Kxf5 ½–½ Stalemate! Bravo! This is a very instructional endgame for the chess fans.

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Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
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