World Champion Vishy Anand of India won again with black today. Former World Champion Vladimir Kramnik of Russia is now down 3.5-1.5 with only 7 more games to go.
GM Susan Polgar's analysis of this game can be found at http://susanpolgar.blogspot.com/2008/10/kramnik-anand-game-5-live.html
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 e6 5.e3 Nbd7 6.Bd3 dxc4 7.Bxc4 b5 8.Bd3 a6 9.e4 c5 10.e5 cxd4 11.Nxb5 axb5 12.exf6 gxf6 13.O-O Qb6 14.Qe2 Bb7 15.Bxb5 Rg8 16.Bf4 Bd6 17.Bg3 f5 18.Rfc1 f4 19.Bh4 Be7 20.a4 Bxh4 21.Nxh4 Ke7 22.Ra3 Rac8 23.Rxc8 Rxc8 24.Ra1 Qc5 25.Qg4 Qe5 26.Nf3 Qf6 27.Re1 Rc5 28.b4 Rc3 29.Nxd4 Qxd4 30.Rd1 Nf6 31.Rxd4 Nxg4 32.Rd7+ Kf6 33.Rxb7 Rc1+ 34.Bf1 Ne3 35.fxe3 fxe3 0-1
Go to http://www.uep-worldchess.com/ to replay the game.
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This was an exciting game. I recollect GM Yaseer Sierwan doing live audio commentary, mention "I hope Kramnik has not missed 34.Ne3! in his calculation", and right then Kramnik played the 29.Nxd4? leading to this forced win for black.
ReplyDeleteIts amazing how deep calculations they can see. Anand played 26...Qf6 with this trap in mind that only realized 8 moves (16 ply) later.
For me, I realized the beauty of the move ...Ne3! only after it and the next two moves were shown.
And here is the great in-depth analysis by FM Dennis Monokroussos, who does weekly online shows for Chessbase, at his The Chess Mind blog.
ReplyDeleteFor myself, I was following in the PlayChess chat (not the audio) this morning, off-and-on while writing an answer key. I had a version of the Toga II engine (one privately made for me by its author) running, and I noticed a big "swing" on its initially-preferred 27.Nxd4. I played a few moves in the "Analysis Pane" to find out why, and Toga showed the ...Ne3!! idea. I was actually the first to mention it in the PlayChess chat. Dennis found it himself sans-machine and put it on his own live updates page (also great reading) before Yasser noticed it. (Susan's analysis at move 27 gives "-+" without showing the point.)
This is going to be an important test case for my model of what governs the probability of choosing particular moves (by non-cheating players). My Toga II engine likes 27.Nxd4(??) through depth 13, then switches at depth 14. Such a "Swing" at this high depth is pretty significant---and my model will predict that such blunders are quite tempting...
...A second psychological factor that's even more interesting was at work, according to Kramnik's post-game press conference as related by Monokroussos. Kramnik originally planned to take on d4 at move 27, but then believed he could force a better version of the same thing by interposing 27.Re1 Rc5 28.b4 Rc3, the difference being that he got b2-b4 in for free. When you are able to "toy" with the position like that, and see the initial moves of your prediction confirmed, it increases the illusion that you're in command!
Nice thought Dr.Regan -- "When you are able to "toy" with the position like that, and see the initial moves of your prediction confirmed, it increases the illusion that you're in command!"
ReplyDeleteWhen Kramnik did not take on d4 on move 27, it might have occurred to Anand that his opponent has seen the trap. In spite of this, he played 28...Rc3 rather than say (...Rc2 or something) to see if he can invite Kramnik to move the knight and take on d4.
In most cases they say you must expect your opponent to see a trap. I guess in this case, ...Rc3 apart from being a regular useful move, was with the small hope that Kramnik still had not seen the ...Ne3! idea.