14 October 2008

Kramnik-Anand: Game 1

In the first game of the World Championship match in Bonn, Kramnik appears to have won a pawn on move 15. As near as I can tell from the online ChessBase database, the game was following a game between experts from 2001.

Nussbaecher,A (2120) - Seibold,T (2105) [D14]
Landesliga Sued 0102 Bayern (9), 07.10.2001

1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.cxd5 cxd5 4.Nf3 Nf6 5.Bf4 Nc6 6.Nc3 Bf5 7.e3 e6 8.Qb3 Bb4 9.Bb5 0–0 10.Bxc6 Bxc3+ 11.Qxc3 Rc8 12.Ne5 Ng4 13.Nxg4 Bxg4 14.Qb4 Rxc6




Nussbaecher-Seibold continued 15.0–0 Qb6 16.Qd2 Rfc8 17.Rfc1 Bf5 18.f3 h5 19.Rxc6 Rxc6 20.Re1 Qa6 21.e4 dxe4 22.fxe4 Bg6 23.b3 ½–½

Kramnik played 15.Qxb7.*

Kramnik,V-Anand,V
World Chess Championship, Bonn 2008

1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.cxd5 cxd5 4.Nf3 Nf6 5.Bf4 Nc6 6.Nc3 Bf5 7.e3 e6 8.Qb3 Bb4 9.Bb5 0–0 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
A surprise! 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 ½–½

Kramnik selected a drawish variation that is rare at top levels, and they played it down to an opposite colored bishop endgame. I wonder what Kramnik's preparation taught him concerning this line. Was he playing safe to get through game 1 without a setback?


*Dennis Monokrousses gives an email game that continued as far as Kramnik's move 17. Black continued with 17...Be2. Monokrousses offers more commentary than here.

3 comments:

  1. In this game, Krammik opted for simplification, risk aversion, and reduction to the typoe o drwiash position in which excels. I dont know if its fair to say tat he´s more of a counter'attacker, likes fightingitng from the ropes.

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  2. Kinda expected it to be a draw. I dont know the percentages (somebody ever calculated that?) but i think a draw at the begin of a match is more common then one would believe. The players are still looking the cat out of the tree.

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  3. chesstiger,

    I've put together a detailed answer to your query at World
    Championship Match History
    . Thanks for the question.

    ReplyDelete