[Preview: It's win or go home for Big Vlad. He has the white pieces, which have been something of a disadvantage for him during the match thanks to Anand's superlative preparation. A win or a draw for Anand and he keeps his world championship title -- and/or takes Kramnik's, depending on how much of a match-tradition headcase you are. Kramnik has never been maniacally competitive like, say, Karpov, but you know he'd love to have a win in this match. Deep Thought: Will we find out who came up with the 14..Bb7 in the Meran that led to Anand's wins in games 3 and 5? If it wasn't Anand himself, does that guy get a serious chunk of bonus cash? Not saying Anand wouldn't have won without it, but I'd say you've got to give homeslice more than a pat on the back for that one.]
A big first win for Big Vlad to keep the match going. It was a Nimzo this time with a subtle tweak of a new move from Kramnik with Re1. White had a tiny pull but over the span of a few moves Anand had a complete breakdown in his sense of danger and suddenly it was just over. Kramnik's queenside invasion was terminal with the black knight exemplifying the old saying about how one bad piece ruins your entire position. It's now 6-4 and Anand needs just a draw in Wednesday's game 11 with white to clinch the match. More later.
Busy with other work for the next few days so hard to give this game much attention right now. But honestly I don't think having a lot more time would help. I don't understand what happened now and GM Kaidanov was pretty mystified at the time on Chess.FM. Anand either missed or dramatically underestimated the danger to his queenside posed by the white a-pawn. The black knight is tossed to a horrible square and the a and c-pawns are easy targets. Meanwhile, the black queen and bishop are chilling on the kingside. The piece path Bc8-a6-c4-e2-g4-e6 is incredibly slow even in a maneuvering game line this one. Ironically, during the game my database popped up with the fact that the position after 21.Bf4 had been reached before in GM play. The French teen GM Feller played it earlier this year except it was White to move! So even a full tempo up over a GM game Anand resigned eight moves later. Excellent play by Kramnik, no doubt, but clearly Anand took a mental trip to Jamaica in this one. Feeling the pressure?
Anand did seem to realize the need to get his pieces back to the queenside. His solution of ..f6 was very slow, however. At the time the move 22..Bg4 looked weird. Having taken the time to route the bishop over to eliminate the Bg2, shuffling it around in a big circle without achieving that goal seemed very strange. 22..Nc4 was the obvious move, but White gets an excellent endgame after 23.Qa6 Nxe3 24.Rxe2 Nxg2 25.Kxg2 even without his bishops. Perhaps leaving the the bishop on e2 for another move or two was best. White can eject it with h3, threatening g4, but that takes a tempo Black can use to get in ..f6 with the white bishop still on g2.
Meanwhile, all of Kramnik's moves had a clear purpose. He kept the bishops with the retreat 22.Be3, as usual trusting in pieces and squares instead of time (or material). 23.Qa6 is a star move, taking control of c4 and getting out of the way of the a-pawn. Qb5 was also playable, but that would take the pressure off the a7 pawn. Since we now know that Black is in serious trouble after 23..f6, what else? In the press conference, Kramnik suggested 23..Be6 directly instead, then 24.Bf1 Qf3. It's hard to see how that deals with the a4-a5 threat. Keeping the queen on the kingside adds a few options though, and skipping ..f6 entirely leaves that square open for the knight to evacuate with ..Nd7-f6. In short, 23..f6 was a dud for several reasons. Even the winning tactical themes with Qd6-Re7 were based on the bishop on e6 hanging with no protection from an f7 pawn.
It was still impressive how fast Black's house came tumbling down. The white rook and queen create threats everywhere and the black pieces have no safe squares. The ultimate defender, the computer, tries 24..Rc7 25.a5 Nd7 26.Rab1 with shameless silicon groveling to follow with moves like ..Qe8 and ..Rac8 to come. Petrosian, maybe, but Anand or anyone with a shred of hope, no. The last best hope was probably to challenge on the b-file with 26..Rab8, ditching the c-pawn after 27.Rb5 Nc4 28.Rxb8 (28.Reb1 may be even stronger) 28..Rxb8 29.Bxc5. Admittedly that looks pretty hopeless.
27..Nd7 loses the a-pawn after 28.Rb7 Qe8 (or Rd1) 29.Rxa7 and the white a-pawn is a monster. Anand surprised us a little with his prompt resignation, not bothering to let Kramnik show the spectators the various ways to win. The most common is getting two pieces for a rook. 29..Rd8 30.Qb4 Qc6 31.Re7 with Rxe6 next. If 31..Bf7 32.Ra1 picks up the dim knight.
This looks like a classic Kramnik win, if one against a 2500 in a league game. Anand now has a free day to recover from this pounding, clear his head, and come back needing only a draw with white to clinch the match. In a similar situation against Leko in 2004 Kramnik came out with the Benoni. Anand's at something of a disadvantage in this situation because, like Leko, he's not normally a 1.d4 player. No way in heck he would play into that Anti-Moscow Gambit again but Kramnik probably can't afford the Semi-Slav anyway since Anand could just chop on d5, play Bf4, and have around zero losing chances. GM Kaidanov recalled that the one time he faced Kramnik, long ago, it was a Leningrad Dutch...
Wonder what happens to the unused preparation lines.Do they stay the property of the principal or are the seconds entitled to use them?
...Bb7.
I have a small database and surprisingly I found a total of six games where 14...Bb7 was played (some reaching the position with transposition of moves). The 15. Bf4 Bd6 is also here. Out of six, in five, White took the b-Pawn.
Especially pleasing was a game played in the '32nd Bangladesh Championship - 2006', when Syed Manfuzur Rahman playing Black and adopting this move actually was able to beat Abdul Maleq who had the White pieces.
Although, the game was decided by mutual blunders and nothing to do with 14...Bb7, it provides an important chess lesson: things can be found even in the trash! Only if one knows what to search for!!
Md.Alimuzzaman
Dhaka, Bangladesh
Mig, there must be some computer programming bug in 'Daily Dirt'.
After a couple of times patting my cat while reading your site, my cat won't be patted anymore and comes up with a message "meow". Well I never.
I encountered this problem a couple of months ago, too, but as I was having other cat problems at the time, I assumed it was my cat.But now, with my cat entirely fixed, this problem has occurred again.
I'm pleased overall with the sportsmanship of this match. Of course Kramnik will play his chess. For some of you who may think this is dull, drab, boring... I'm happy to see a match where the drama is on the board and not in the toilet.
I get the distinct impression that Kramnik is on the decline here. Even if Kramnik had a level of preparation matching Anand's it's crystal-clear who is the world champion at this stage.
Looking forward to some good chess tomorrow.
I think Kramnik needs to get his White Bishop out to g2. He was playing a lot of Catalan/QID with Bishop on g2 before the match... maybe his big surprise prep for Vishy was that he wasn't going to play it :/
>Wonder what happens to the unused preparation >lines.Do they stay the property of the principal >or are the seconds entitled to use them?
property of the principal just as the products of the work of any hired employee, the seconds are hired and paid for their contributions
'Times of India' wants Anand to sieze the opportunity and inflict irreversibile psychological damage on Kramnik. Sort of Fischer "breaking" of Larsen, Taimanov and Petrosian as
they never recovered form that crushing defeats.
"crushing the ego"..yes..but is this acceptable, pro-social, behavior ?
"When Kasparov defeated Karpov 13-11 by winning the last game in Moscow 1985, he had opted for the Sicilian defence. Since then, these two great Russians crossed swords against each other on more than 50 occasions. But the trauma of that defeat was such that Karpov never dared to play 1.e4 and give his nemesis an opportunity to go Sicilian.
Of course, Anand hasn't sealed the title and anything can happen, technically. But the Indian shouldn't waste this opportunity to inflict further scars on Kramnik's mind. Go for a win, Vishy...This article appeared in the online service of the Times of India"
Hey Mig, what's the resolution of the Leonid Yudasin puzzle?? I repeat, the thing in common with Kasparov and Yudasin is that they are the only two people to have lost to Kramnik in a classical match excluding friendlies. Kramnik's record so far, -3 (Gelfand, Kamsky and Shirov) =2 (Leko and Topalov) and +2 (Kasparov and Yudasin).
What's my prize???
>What's my prize ???
a copy of the next Kasparov book entitled " How I never lost to Kramnik and if I did it was only a petty accident"
SPAM follows:
Sorry for a diversion! And for bringing up one of my pet subjects, i.e., the privileges of a World Champion and Draw Odds in a World Championship Match.
Whoever wins the current WC match, there is no doubt that he will be the Absolute world match Champion. And as a World Match Champion, he would be absolutely deserving one very huge privilege, i.e., he would be spared the rigors of qualifying through a grueling and uncertain Cycle. This is indeed a great privilege, but thoroughly deserved.
But, I still hanker for one very minute privilege for the World Champion. In the future World Championship Matches, and I am really afraid that there may be none, the World Champion should be given the "DRAW ODDS' in the ARMAGEDDON Blitz Game, i.e., Black pieces with 4 minutes for the game as against the Challenger having White pieces and 5 minutes with the Champion retaining his title in case Armageddon ends in a Draw.
The reason I say so, is - imagine if in a future match two Draw Specialists (such as Kramnik and Leko) meet, and all the twelve regular games at Classical time control, all four Rapid games and the two Blitz games end in DRAW, and the Challenger thereafter draws the Black Colour for the Armageddon game, draws that game and thus wrests the title. Wouldn't it be a travesty of justice if a Challenger defeats a World champion in a Title Match, without actually beating him in a single game. As if the Champion forfeited the match.
I agree, that such a possibility is remote, but it is indeed theoretically possible. We can only pray and wish that we may be spared such a monstrosity.
Kramnik is really a great match player!Thanks to his brilliant strategy the match is still not over,because in game 2 he offered a draw in the right moment.Drawnik is really a Champion in draw making!But now he has another chance!The only match he won against Anand was the Advanced Chess in Leon.Human+computer.Everydody knows he is extremely strong when he gets comp.help in matches,he has proved it many times already.So why to wait more?
And one question for MIG:Whos ass are you going to kiss now that Drawnik lost?
>I get the distinct impression that Kramnik is on >the decline here.
He has been on the decline since 2002 when his health began deteriorating, he has only hit the hard bottom here in Bonn.
Maybe he is still taking those pain killing (and mind dumbing) drugs, his illness is a genetic condition which can't be cured only medically managed.
Just prior to the start of gthe Bonn match, Kramnik mentioned in an interview that he feels fine healthwise and is not not currently on any medications.
why Qc7 ?
Pein has Kramnik's explanation at TWIC
".. Kramnik explained his Qc7 as panic. He said "I was running a bit short of time and I was afraid to make a blunder in time trouble, because I can admit that in this position for 1 minute I was considering 35... f4." f4 would have allowed mate in one....:
I just feel bad for Vlad because now he'll be lucky to get a Timex endorsement, whereas Blancpain, Vacheron Constantin, Rolex, etc., will be courting Vishy: http://chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=2734
"Wonder what happens to the unused preparation lines.Do they stay the property of the principal or are the seconds entitled to use them?"
There must be a statute of limitations on this. Both Anand and Kramnik must have come to this match prepared for dozens of contingencies that never occurred (e.g., there has been no 1.e4 to date). Once the match is over, you cannot forever prevent someone from using a move later on it they happen to be in a game situation where it applies.
About 14..Bb7 and other novelties in general, Anand at the closing banquet in Morelia specifically mentioned Nielsen and praised his and the other seconds contribution to the victory. Hopefully he will be as generous with the loot as he is with the praise.
"Wonder what happens to the unused preparation lines.Do they stay the property of the principal or are the seconds entitled to use them?"
I suppose it must also depend on how close the players are. For someone like Topalov and Cheparinov, I'd imagine Cheparinov would be able to use their preparation more freely than someone who is just a "hired gun" for a single match.
And of course, no one is able to stop those "hired guns" using the prep they discover, if they really want to. But they are probably less likely to get hired again (by the same player or another) if they do.
That's more for his sponsors' ears. And to a lesser extent for his fans. Like Sachin Tendulkar. When he returns from an injury claiming to be '100% fit', what he means is that he has rested his back enough to keep going a little longer. Due his bad back he cannot dominate as before, but he can still score better than most others because of his amazing technique. But he won't rake in the same endorsement deals if he admitted openly that his bad back is not going to be cured anytime soon. I have no doubt in my mind that Kramnik is not physically what he used to be before his illness. I'm not saying that being fully fit would have changed the final result of this match, but least the scoreline would been less embarrassing for him. It'll be interesting to see what happens next for Kramnik - given that he's unlikely to be able to get any more freebies from FIDE nor dominate the tournament scene with Anand, Topalov, Carlsen, Aronian, Morozevich, etc. around..
Dennis Monokroussos noted on his blog that Kramnik leaves the stage after almost every move. He estimates that Kramnik could be losing 15-20 minutes of clock time per game, because Anand makes a move and Kramnik isn't there to see it.
I'm pretty sure they have monitors in the changing room. So he'd know as soon as Anand makes a move. Maybe he doesn't want Anand to see his facial expressions after each move? Also, maybe his physical condition requires him to consume a lot of water and hence use the restroom often? (I hope the Topalov fans don't start something again about him cheating; look at the score).
>It'll be interesting to see what happens next for Kramnik -
given that he's unlikely to be able to get any more freebies from FIDE
nor dominate the tournament scene with Anand, Topalov, Carlsen, Aronian, Morozevich, etc. around..>
He has made enough money, he will retire and busy himself with less competitive activities
(anyway he never was "maniacally competitive as Karpov", in Mig's opinion).
For instance he will turn to art (he keeps talking in interviews about painting, sculpture etc.).
Once an artist he can allow himself to relax and contemplate the "position" without being struck by anxieties that he is going to be mated with Qh7.
According to Monokroussos, they DO NOT have monitors in the changing rooms.
"Once an artist he can allow himself to relax and contemplate the "position" without being struck by anxieties that he is going to be mated with Qh7."
Or actually appreciate the artistic beauty of it ;)
Well, in that case, it has to be health reasons. But I doubt if we'd ever hear it from him before he retires (and hence nobody to sponsor him for his chess skills)..
It could just be that Kramnik is a kinesthetic learner.
They seem to have traded inaccuracies on moves 21-22, according to chessok.com.
Kramnik has just chickened out with 22.Be3?! instead of 22.Be5x! Has somebody told him he needs a win today?
Wouldn't 22. Bxe5 Nc4 23. Qa6 Nxe5 24. Qxe2 have won White a pawn?
It seems Anand misplayed first with 21...e5 instead of 21...Bd3.
Sure but there would have been complications!
Brrrr.....
GM Dimitrov: It is not easy to find a way to progress in the line 22.Bxe5 Qxe5 23.Rxe2 Nc4 24.Qa6 Qxc3 25.Ree1 Ne5.
>They seem to have traded inaccuracies on moves 21-22, according to chessok.com.
Anand bluffed with e5, threatened Kramnik with complications and Vlady quickly retreated.
The same move against chessok.com (Rybka3 on 8CPU) would have been another story.
Ahhh, thanks plei for posting that.
too bad the match will probably end soon. really rich games towards the end, with a classic struggle of Anand trying to induce complications and Kramnik doing his darndest to steer a quiet course.
Anand is 30 mins down on the clock (1:15 - 0:46). Wonder if he'll have to "earn it big time" again like last game.
Yes but a quiet course doesn't make you WC. I guess it will be over after today's game which makes Anand the more than deserved winner.
This is very much a kramnik-like position..Anand will suffer for a long time.
I'm not talking about the match situation but the content and quality of the games which arises from a tussle between such opposing temperaments and styles.
Then he should perhaps stand on e1 (e8 when he's black) and pretend to be the king of his army..:P
Rybka not impressed with Anand's latest moves. Eval has gone from +0.20 to +1.18 from moves 22-24.
Rybka at chessok.com thinks this is going to be worse than yesterday for Anand. After 25. Bf1 Rybka thinks it can win for white. But chess programs don't understand endings that well (unless of course it is in the tablebase).
Yes, that'll be Kramnik's next quest: World Champion of oversized chess! lol
I think Rybka's evaluation is not accurate. Yes, Anand's c pawn is doomed, and that's what Rybka is all excited about. But White's isolated c pawn is not that strong either, and so I'm not sure if it is that big an advantage. Anyways, who am I to question Rybka?
Rybka gave a nice trick instead of Anand's 23.. f6 , 23..Be6 24.Bf1 Bh3!
1:00 - 0:34 after 25.Bf1.
I don't understand why after 22 Be3 Anand did not play
22... Nc4 23.Qa6 Nxe3 24.Rxe2 Nxg2 25.Kxg2
exchange off White's Bishop pairs, with equality.
I guess Anand was offered a nice bonus from the organizers to keep the match alive until the last game.
"I guess Anand was offered a nice bonus from the organizers to keep the match alive until the last game."
Hah. Much more likely Kramnik is actively avoiding Anand's prep work and is getting playable positions.
WOW, Anand making really weak moves and seems to be going down! Is there are Kasparov comeback in the making?
Given the current position of Black, and Anand's remaining, time 15 min and counting for 11 moves.
I think Kramnik will score his first win of this match.
Anand pretty much waded into Kramnik's prep work. Not what I had hoped for, but Kramnik is a great player and deserves to have at least one victory in this match.
1-0. Shortest game of the match.
Anand has resigned
As folks were saying, Kramnik is all washed up. He can't beat anybody.
Anand has cracked under the psychological pressure...his first sign of weakness in this match.
Kramnik holds 1-0. As it was said when Carl Lewis sang the national anthem, "Uh oh!"
Great prep from Kramnik. He'll very much have to get outside his comfort zone as Black on Wednesday, it'll be interesting to see what his choice is. I think we might see a Benoni.
Anand played a couple of very poor moves. He was not recognizable as himself at all in game 10.
Maybe just lost under chess pressure? I think by the end of this match (odds are tomorrow) we can retire any theories of special psycholgical vulnerability of Anand.
Interesting, now the "pressure" can act on kramnik. Now that he has a ghost of a chance will also work on him. All this sets up a fantastic game on Wednesday.
Vishy may do well go back to 1.e4, never mind a Sveshnikov.
The Law of Averages had to catch up with Anand...
Delicate position for the Kramnikiites here as well. Do they start roaring immediately? But then a loss or draw in the next game will mean Krishna1 et al will pour scorn over their heads. they may favour the passive-aggressive line of marcshepard.
Anand totaly cracked psychologicaly. what was that ugly Bg4 move?
Yep! I think he's also all confused about what strategy to employ. Yesterday he went for his usual sharp lines and almost lost. Today needing only a draw he tried to play very 'solidly' but ended up being too passive and lost. It will be interesting to see what he does Wednesday as white. Would e4 mean he's panicking? Will he play sharp lines? Or solid?
Mig will be happy that he now only loses one days pay (instead of two) and the journalists that they get a trip to Dortmund. Fans happy that they get more chess. Poor Anand. He would have been really relieved had it ended today. But serves him right for being so confused in the head. He doesn't seemed to have learnt his lessons from Mexico R13 against Grishchuk or from yesterday. Celebrations on hold for two more days.
>Anand played a couple of very poor moves. He was >not recognizable as himself at all in game 10.
well, there were signs in the previous game when he choose to go for the sharpest variation instead of drawing ( Bh4 instead of the notoriously drawish Bxf6 Moscow variation).
anyway, classic signs of fear from Anand when the stakes are high and he is getting close to the biggest result of his career...
you may remember the poor Schlechter losing in an won postion to Lasker when he needed only 1/2 point to win the match and become the new WCCh..
nerves, aka fear
*Dresden
Anand crushed quickly. So much for the "greatest and most universal champion," etc garbage from some of the Indian fans. Here we have a likely world champion who can't even distinguish himself atop the FIDE ratings.
For the record, I hope for an Anand victory. I much prefer his brand of chess, and he deserves it after being one of the best players in the game for so long. Although I predicted a Kramnik victory pre-match, I didn't care for his picking and choosing of his match play opponents. Caissa will be well served by a great player and great human being such as Vishy Anand.
At the same time, the jingoistic chauvanistic garbage coming from some of the fans on this site (i.e. Khrishna1) have been embarassing.
It's great that the players have a rest day to decide what to play Wednesday...... Wouldn't like to be one of their seconds now :-)
Classic signs of fear from Ovidiu when the stakes are high and he's getting close to watching his hate-fetish go down to defeat.
"Anand played a couple of very poor moves. He was >not recognizable as himself at all in game 10."
Kramnik played a couple of very good moves. He was finally recognizable as himself in game 10. In fact, he even won the game.
hansie wrote:
{
World Champion should be given the "DRAW ODDS' in the ARMAGEDDON Blitz Game, i.e., Black pieces with 4 minutes for the game as against the Challenger having White pieces and 5 minutes
...
Wouldn't it be a travesty of justice if a Challenger defeats a World champion in a Title Match, without actually beating him in a single game.
}
Your point that the current WCChamp should have to have Black in the final tie-breaking Armageddon game is a small point with a certain logic to it; except for one unfixable flaw.
Armageddon chess games (or more directly "draw-odds" games) are inherently unfair unless they are based on time bidding. I do not see this as a matter of opinion, it is more a matter of common sense (I believe that is also Greg Shahade's assessment, as expressed on UsChess.org forums).
The fact that several Tournament Organizers feel differently about Armageddon bidding is perplexing to me. On what stone tablet from God does it say 5 minutes -to- 4 minutes is exactly fair?
Having preset color assignments to the players before Armageddon time bidding occurs would make bidding impossible/silly.
Thus ultimately your worthwhile argument does not quite seem to work.
A very good, almost crushing, victory for Kramnik which was not as some comments suggested due to very weak Anand moves. This will salvage a little pride for Kramnik who doubtless will sleep better tonight - it will also perhaps bring some fanatics down to earth and they will realise that, as the live ratings clearly show, Anand is not much ahead of the pack. He is currently the best player in the world and is deservedly going to win this match but the gap is small.
Just imagine if Kramnik would have been able to capitalize yesterday... well, Big K is a comeback kid, that's for sure. Maybe his ego just didn't allow him to start winning earlier.
Here's hoping for a great game Wednesday (& Thursday :-))
> Poor Anand. He would have been really relieved >had it ended today. But serves him right for >being so confused in the head.
It was an old test for him, how he would deal with the psych. pressure..and he failed. He knows it. Maybe that's why it took him so much to become WCh despite his natural talent.
Nice squeeze by Kramnik.
Anand didn't manage to put up a real defense.
Now the match dynamics work for Kramnik, but he needs a small miracle to win with black. Let's look forward for at least one other fighting game.
An excellent, even thematic, game from Kramnik, to save some face and play well in at least one game.
I don't doubt that Vishy will wrap the match up on Wednesday with White, but Kramnik has to feel good that at least he didn't get whitewashed, and managed to finish a winning game "in his style".
Anand probably should have stuck with the Meran, match situation be damned.
>Now the match dynamics work for Kramnik, but he >needs a small miracle to win with black.
Both players are relieved because if this game. What Anand feared most did happen (he made sure that it would) so he is free to play normal again while Kramnik has regained his self-confidence ( which may mean that he will start blundering again).
Beautiful result!! This ought to spice up the match a bit. Until now
it appeared like the least contested WC match ever. I can't believe
Anand is likely to drop the remaining 2 games, but it is not unheard
of in his career. Still, he dropped just one game, which is perfectly
logical to happen at some point.
Oh, some Indian fellas opened huge mouths, ought to learn some
restraint from Anand himself. I've always warned against the jinx
factor. Still, come end of week I want to drink my champagne cooled
for the day the when the VK curse on the WC Title will be
lifted... Ooops, did I say jinx... :-)
D.
Whatever psychological reasons caused Anand to make weak moves in this match will not carry over to the next game. Kaspy has made comments in the past which insinuate that Anand is a wuss and cracks under pressure, but the post-1995 data doesn't support that characterization. At some level, every one is a wuss, e.g., Kaspy was a wuss (and a sore loser to boot) when he lost to the IBM team in 1997. I really don't think this is going to the blitz playoff.
"Both players are relieved because if this game. What Anand feared most did happen (he made sure that it would) so he is free to play normal again while Kramnik has regained his self-confidence ( which may mean that he will start blundering again)"
Inside Man 2, Episode 10: once again Ovidiu is granted access to the minds of Kramnik and Anand. He becomes so busy with tracking their dreams, fears and motivations that he cancels his monthly English lesson and asks a neighbour to take a colicky Cocky to the vet.
> Kaspy has made comments in the past which >insinuate that Anand is a wuss and cracks under >pressure.
And he was very right, as this game well shows. It made me recall the Schlechter_Lasker last game of their match.
>At some level, every one is a wuss, e.g., Kaspy >was a wuss (and a sore loser to boot) when he >lost to the IBM team in 1997.
your 'cold logic' fails you, why he was a wuss ? Kaspy was a sore loser in 1997 but this fact doesn't imply anything about 'wussing'.
It was very nice to see Kramnik in action in his type of position. Inimitable.
The match is still almost certainly lost, but I do think he deserved one resounding victory.
What are the chances that Vishy will go 1.e4?
In one sense he has milked the whole queen-pawn thing for all its worth and can play a 'reverse-surprise'. Even if Vladimir is well prepared Vishy has been doing this his whole life. Also with e4 it is easier to go into sterile lines. For example the 2.c3 line against the Sicilian and so forth.
I don't get it.
On move 17 Anand could have exchanged Queens. 17. Qb4 Qxb4 … then … 18. c3xb4 Rf8-d8 …and whites bishop is pinned on d2. If 19. Bd2-e3 then the rooks come off and the position is equalized and looking very drawish.
How could Anand not want to make an easy simplification of the game with these 2 easy and obvious moves? Leading 6-3, anything that pushes the game towards a draw is to be welcomed.
When I see stuff like this, I begin to wonder if they are just playing for show.
A quiet draw and everybody will go home happy: Anand having the crown and Kramnik having salvaged some pride.
Today's game is what Kramnik should have been doing the whole match, not the crazy Merans. Anand had it coming in the last 3 games. Still I doubt that he will crack enough to lose with white and Kramnik has what it takes to win with black.
"At some level, every one is a wuss, e.g., Kaspy >was a wuss (and a sore loser to boot) when he >lost to the IBM team in 1997."
The non-word you deploy, from "wimp" and "puss", was never consistent with Kasparov's temperament. He was brave as a lion and tough as a mongoose at a cobra convention. He sat down facing sudden elimination 21 straight times against Karpov in Moscow and saved his career 21 straight times. Seville 1987 game 24...you get the picture. And his anger during and after the Deep Blue match was not the sour-grapes tantrum of a pussy and a loser, but a natural response from a victim of a garden-variety railroading. IBM took Kasparov for a sleigh ride and he said so - and it took courage to tell the truth in that situation.
So no comparison with the current match either, since Kasparov could end his retirement tomorrow and defeat both Anand and Kramnik. Both would close, but his heart would make the difference.
>How could Anand not want to make an easy >simplification of the game with these 2 easy and >obvious moves? Leading 6-3, anything that pushes >the game towards a draw is to be welcomed.
The same can be said about the 9th game where Anand went for the sharpest continuations.
But then Kramnik also foolishly choose to enter again in 5th the Meran-Bb7, and duly got beaten once more.
This has been a great match. As if to prove rdh's point about his being a bishop guy, Kramnik has been working the two bishops in the last two games and won one game and was close to winning the other. I expect some non-kramnikian opening in the next game - whether it is the Dutch or the KID or some such. Chances are Anand will not lose, but he needs to show he can win what many think is a won match.
"So no comparison with the current match either, since Kasparov could end his retirement tomorrow and defeat both Anand and Kramnik. Both would close, but his heart would make the difference. "
Are you serious or am I not getting some sort of irony there?
It seems that Anand's play started going astray early on in this game. Basically black was just playing waiting moves while white was improving his position. First black had his queen and bishop on the queenside, then he manouvered them to the kingside and again he moved them back to e6 and e8. I am not familiar with the opening, so I am asking why not the active and simple 14.-Rab8!? (e.g. 15.c4 Qc5 16.Qa4 Qxc4).
>Chances are Anand will not lose, but he needs to >show he can win what many think is a won match.
If he tries to show off that he can win he may lose again Wend.
What he needs to show, and was expected from him in the last 2 games, is that he can simplify and draw at will.
I am not sure that he can however. His way to cope with this task has been to continue playing for complications (i.e. to continue the kind of game he is most comfortable and secure with).