DRAW?!

Once again no surprises. Round 2 was another draw. With the short number of games to play-12 total the hope was that each game would be more meaningful. Instead it appears it has lead to very drawish games.

Analysis by GM Illescas from the official website http://www.uep-worldchess.com/

Oh, by the way, for those of you not named Marijan- the notation was a bit unusual. S (springer) is actually N (knight) , L (laufer) is B (bishop), T (turm) is R (rook), and D (damen) is Q (queen). I amended it but just in case I missed one or two.

(1) Anand,Viswanathan - Kramnik,Vladimir [E25] WCC Bonn (2), 15.10.2008 [Illescas,Miguel]

There was a lot of expectation about the opening moves. We can presume that Anand will start with his beloved 1.e4, but black's answer can't be easily anticipated. Will it be the solid Russian Defence? Maybe the Anti-Kasparov weapon, the Berlin wall? A respectable Caro-kann? Or a sharp sicilian? Only Kramnik knows... 1.d4 !Kind of surprise! Of course Kramnik should be ready... 1...Nf6 2.c4 e6 Main Kramnik's weapon 3.Nc3 Second surprise: in most of the games Anand was avoiding the Nimzoindia with 3.Nf3 3...Bb4 4.f3 And the third and last surprise from white. The fashion here is now 4.Qc2, "a la Capablanca". From the very top players, only Shirov was playing this agressive approach in the 90's. Anand never had played this move before and Kramnik was never before facing it! 4...d5 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.bxc3 c5 7.cxd5 Nxd5 Black is following the main line 8.dxc5 The last try from white. Grab the pawn and try to keep it, very much in "computer style". Practical and psychological factors may have been taken into account by Anand when making this choice. Kramnik likes the pair of bishops, here he has to fight against them. Kramnik doesn't like to give material so early, here he is pawn down. And most important: Kramnik likes to have the initiative in the opening battle: here he may be less prepared than his opponent. Nice plan but Kramnik had something to say... 8...f5!? The second choice of strong players, a very dynamic move which fights versus the advance e2-e4. Now it is Kramnik who is probably surprising his opponent. [The main line is 8...Qa5 a favorite of Karpov] 9.Qc2 Most logical, insisting on playing e4 [Another popular moves are the quiet 9.Nh3 or the agressive; 9.e4 fxe4 10.Qc2] 9...Qd7!? And here it comes the second surprise from Kramnik. This early knight move is almost a novelty. It shows how deep knowledge and understanding has Kramnik when dealing with openings. [The natural 9...0–0 ; and the bizarre 9...f4 have been tried] 10.e4 fxe4 [Seirawan was proposing 10...N5f6?! but it seems to me that after 11.exf5 0–0 12.Bf4! it becomes strategically very risky for black] 11.fxe4 N5f6 12.c6! The best chance, spoiling black's pawn structure. [12.Be3?! Ng4; 12.Nf3 Nxc5=] 12...bxc6 [Again Seirawan was claiming for active play. After 12...Nc5!? 13.e5 Nfe4 white should probably refrain from taking on b7, and after 14.Be3 0–0 15.Nf3² white is doing fine] 13.Nf3 Qa5! [Much more passive was 13...Qc7 14.Bd3 0–0 15.0–0 Ng4 16.h3 Nge5 17.Nxe5 Rxf1+ 18.Bxf1 Qxe5 19.Be3 Nf6 20.Bd3 and white was better in Portisch,L-Kluger,G/Budapest 1962 (25); The computer suggests 13...Ng4!? 14.Be2 0–0 and after 15.h3 Rxf3!÷ the game becomes a real mess] 14.Bd2 Strictly speaking this is the new move in this game. Anand is preparing c4 to prevent the exchange of the light squared bishops. Very logical. [Worst for white was 14.Be3?! Ng4 15.Bg1 0–0³ Moehring,G-Neukirch,D/Annaberg-Buchholz 1965] 14...Ba6 15.c4 Qc5 White will have problems to castle. The opening battle was won by black who has an easy game. 16.Bd3 Ng4!? [Very reasonable was 16...0–0 17.Bb4 Qe3+ 18.Qe2 Qxe2+ 19.Kxe2 c5= with a good game for black.] 17.Bb4 Qe3+ [Black could take some risk with 17...Qb6!? but Kramnik went for the most solid continuation.] 18.Qe2 0–0–0 This move was critiziced by Anand. [Very safe was 18...c5 19.Bd2 Qxe2+ 20.Bxe2 h6= preventing Ng5 and getting a comfortable position for black.; Anand suggested 18...Qxe2+ but after 19.Kxe2 Nge5 20.Nxe5 Nxe5 21.Bd6!? white may be slightly better even after 21...Nxd3 22.Kxd3²] 19.Qxe3 [Maybe it makes sense for white to try 19.Be7!? Rde8 20.Bd6²] 19...Nxe3 20.Kf2 Ng4+ [Of course is weak 20...Nxc4?! 21.Rac1 Ndb6 22.Bxc4 Nxc4 23.Rc2 where white gets a dangerous initiative] 21.Kg3 Ndf6? This looks a real mistake as both players admitted after the game. Black is losing his coordination. [The natural 21...Nge5= seems to hold the equality without much trouble.] 22.Bb1! Here Kramnik understood that he was over optimistic and thought for a long time. 22...h5! The best defence! [22...Bxc4 23.e5±; 22...Ne3 23.Ne5±] 23.h3 h4+! The russian GM is going to play a string of precise defensive moves. [23...Nh6 24.Ne5±; 23...Ne3 24.Ne5 Nxc4 25.Nf7±] 24.Nxh4 Ne5 25.Nf3 Nh5+! 26.Kf2 Nxf3! 27.Kxf3 e5! After this active play things are not so easy for white. He needs to coordinate his queenside. 28.Rc1 [I like to give the pawn back. After 28.Bc2!? Bxc4 29.Rhd1² It looks very promising for white, thanks to the pair of bishops and his better pawn structure.] 28...Nf4! Again Kramnik is going to find the more stubborn defence. 29.Ra2! Nd3! 30.Rc3 [White could get practical chances with 30.Bxd3!? Rxd3+ 31.Kg4²] 30...Nf4 Of course black should be happy with the draw. 31.Bc2?! Ugly move. White's rook on a2 was probably very unhappy with this decision. [After 31.Rf2 Rd1 32.Bc2² white is slightly better but black gets serious counterplay.] 31...Ne6 [Probably stronger was 31...Rh6! keeping the white king on the center.] 32.Kg3! Good move. White king goes to a safer place and the pawn up remains. 32...Rd4 a natural move which came with a powerful complement: a draw offer. Surprisingly , Anand agreed, probably worried at the clock (he had less than 3 minutes to reach the 40 moves control) or maybe dissapointed with the lack of coordination of his pieces.[32...Rd4 On the press conference Anand said that after 33.c5 he couldn't see a way to make progress. Well, white is pawn up and he can try to play Rf3, Bc3, for example. It seems to me that white was still better and could go on with little risk. A demo variation: 33...Nf4 34.Re3 Rh6 35.Kh2 Rg6 36.g3 Bc4 37.Rb2 Nd3 38.Bxd3 Rxd3 39.Rxd3 Bxd3 40.Bc3 Re6 41.Rb4 and white is undoubtely pressing] ½–½