Anand-Kramnik: Game 2 from the 2008 World Chess Championship

The second game from the 2008 World Chess Championship ended in a draw. In an attempt to show off some of his preparation for playing white against the Slav(1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6), Anand decided to use 1.d4 instead of his favorite 1.e4. Kramnik avoided the technical Slav lines in game 1 and chose to use the Nimzo-Indian Defence(1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4) in game 2. Perhaps Kramnik is concerned about Anand’s knowledge in the Slav. This game becomes very complicated very quickly after Anand plays the surprising 4.f3 which is a favorite of Russian grandmaster Yuri Yakovich. Below is my analysis on the game:

4. f3 Anand is clearly playing for a win when he chooses this more complicated move. e4 tends to be a ver important square in such positions and the pawn on f3 exerts its influence there.

4…c5 Kramnik chooses a safer move than 4…c5.

5. a3 Welcome to the Saemisch Variation. This variation is highly theoretical and generally  continues the way our current game does.

8…f5 Kramnik chooses not to play the popular 8…Qa5.

9…Nd7 Kramnik avoids the more common 9…0-0 10.e4 or 9…f4 10.e4 fxe3 11.Bd3. In placing  the knight on d7 he prepares to move it to c5.

12. c6 Anand gets rid of a dead pawn by weakening his opponent’s pawn structure first.

14… Ba6 Kramnik wants to trade bishops so Anand no longer has the bishop pair.

15. c4  Anand could have played 15.Bxa6 Qxa6 and then 16.c4 0-0 17.0-0
 Anand could have also tried the exciting 15.Ng5 Bxf1 16.Rxf1 Nc5 17.Rf3.

16…Ng4 I really like this aggressive move. Kramnik proves to his critics that he does not  always choose the most “boring” approach.

17…Qe3+ Kramnik also could have played 17…Qb6 18.h3 Ne3 19.Qd2 Bxc4 20.Bxc4 Nxc4 21.Qg5   Qe3 22.Qxe3 Nxe3 and black has good compensation.

21…Ndf6 Another aggressive move by Kramnik. Now his rook on d8 is much better but at the  price of one pawn. 21…h5 is the solid choice Kramnik could have chosen.

27…e5 Kramnik is rolling now. Kramnik’s pawn sacrifice allowed him to get his pieces to much better squares than Anand finds his pieces in.

30. Rc3 I like Anand’s position after 30.Bxd3 Rxd3 31.Kg4 Rd4 32.Kf5 Rh5 33.Kg6

31. Bc2 Anand misses 31.Rf2 Rh6 32.h4 Ne6 which seems better.

32…Rd4 The two champions agreed to a draw. Its a shame as their seemed to be a lot of   chess left in this position. Keep in mind that Anand was in time trouble. Play

Anand-Kramnik Game 2 (source:chessbase.com)

could have continued:
33. c5 Nf4 34. Re3 Bc4 35. Rb2 Rh6 36. Kh2 Rg6 37. g3 Nd3 38. Bxd3 Rxd3 39.
Rxd3 Bxd3

 

 

[Event “Anand-Kramnik World Championship Match”]
[Site “0:08:00-0:13:00”]
[Date “2008.10.15”]
[EventDate “2008.10.14”]
[Round “2”]
[Result “1/2-1/2”]
[White “Anand”]
[Black “Kramnik”]
[ECO “E25”]
[WhiteElo “?”]
[BlackElo “?”]
[PlyCount “64”]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. f3 d5 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 c5 7. cxd5 Nxd5 8.
dxc5 f5 9. Qc2 Nd7 10. e4 fxe4 11. fxe4 N5f6 12. c6 bxc6 13. Nf3 Qa5 14. Bd2
Ba6 15. c4 Qc5 16. Bd3 Ng4 17. Bb4 Qe3+ 18. Qe2 O-O-O 19. Qxe3 Nxe3 20. Kf2
Ng4+ 21. Kg3 Ndf6 22. Bb1 h5 23. h3 h4+ 24. Nxh4 Ne5 25. Nf3 Nh5+ 26. Kf2 Nxf3
27. Kxf3 e5 28. Rc1 Nf4 29. Ra2 Nd3 30. Rc3 Nf4 31. Bc2 Ne6 32. Kg3 Rd4 1/2-1/2

Anand-Kramnik Game 1 from the 2008 World Chess Championship

2008 World Chess Championship game 1 (source:chessbase.com)

Kramnik faced off against Anand in Game 1 of the World Chess Championship Match on October 14, 2008. The “Battle of Bonn” began with little surprise as Anand chose to play one of his main weapons referred to as the Slav Defense to the Queen’s Gambit Declined. The game concluded after move 32 when a draw was agreed to.

2… c6 Anand chooses to play the Slav.

4. cxd5 Kramnik decides to use boxing strategy. Rather than go for a knock-out in the first round, Kramnik feels his opponent out and takes little risk. This move also gave Kramnik little chance for a win against Anand as the resulting positions tend to be very symmetrical and drawish.

9… 0-0 Anand breaks symmetry but continues along the well known Slav Exchange mainline.

11… Rc8 Anand avoids the trouled pawn weaknesses occurs should he have played bxc3.

12… Ng4 Anand does not play Ne4 13.Qa3 bxc6 because it would lead to problems for Black due to the weakened pawn structure. White was victorious in Ivanov vs. Torres Los Angeles, 1992 when play continued 12…bxc6 13. Rc1 c5 14. 0-0 Ne4 15.Qa3 f6.

14. Qb4 To my knowledge this is an original idea by Kramnik. Previously, 14.Qa3 Rxc6 was played in  the game Reynaldo Vera and Ivan Morovic-Fernandez in 2002. This idea can be risky for white if play continues 14.Qa3 Rxc6 15.Qxa7 Qe7 16.O-O Rfc8.

14… Rxc6 I believe this was the best move of the game. Black takes the file and avoids the previously discussed pawn weakness. 14… bxc6 15.Bd6 would also leave Kramnik with a much better Bishop.

16… Rfxc8 For the sacraficed pawn, Anand gets two very active rooks and control of the open “C” file.

17… a5 Anand stops Kramnik from playing b4 and moves a weak pawn closer to wear it can be traded.

21. e4 Kramnik attempts to create some counter play.

23… Rc2 Anand gets a rook to the “seventh.”

25. Bxe5 Kramnik finally improves his Bishop.

25… Rxa2 Anand gets his sacrificed pawn back. A position such as this between players such as these will produce a draw. Kramnik began the match cautiously while Anand spiced up the game with a pawn sacrifice leading to significant initiative which in the end was enough to secure the draw.

 

 

[Event “Anand-Kramik World Championship”]
[Site “Bonn, Germany”]
[Date “2008.10.14”]
[EventDate “2008.10.14”]
[Round “1”]
[Result “1/2-1/2”]
[White “Kramnik”]
[Black “Anand”]
[ECO “D14”]

1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.cxd5 cxd5 5.Bf4 Nc6 6.e3 Bf5 7.Nf3 e6 8.Qb3 Bb4 9.Bb5 O-O 10.Bxc6 Bxc3+ 11.Qxc3 Rc8 12.Ne5 Ng4 13.Nxg4 Bxg4 14.Qb4 Rxc6 15.Qxb7 Qc8 16.Qxc8 Rfxc8 17.O-O a5 18.f3 Bf5 19.Rfe1 Bg6 20.b3 f6 21.e4 dxe4 22.fxe4 Rd8 23.Rad1 Rc2 24.e5 fxe5 25.Bxe5 Rxa2 26.Ra1 Rxa1 27.Rxa1 Rd5 28.Rc1 Rd7 29.Rc5 Ra7 30.Rc7 Rxc7 31.Bxc7 Bc2 32.Bxa5 Bxb3  1/2-1/2