Obrona sycylijska B99
Viswanathan Anand - Vladimir Kramnik
WCC 2008 Round 11 Bonn
29.10.2008 Anand has White pieces and needs only to draw. This shouldn't be too hard for him, though Kramnik finally found his form.
1.e4 I thought that this move won't be played at all in the match.
1... c5 (1... e5 would pretty much mean surrendering the title.)
2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bg5 ( Instead of Anand's favorite 6.Be3)
6... e6 7.f4 Qc7 In the main lines of 7...Qb6 or 7...Nbd7 White may force the draw result.
8.Bxf6 gxf6 9.f5 (9.Qd2 Nc6 10.Be2 is the most popular way for White to fight for opening advantage.)
9... Qc5 (9... Nc6 10.fxe6 fxe6 11.Bc4 Nxd4 12.Qxd4 Rg8 13.O-O-O bears no risk for White.)
10.Qd3 Nc6 11.Nb3 Qe5 The Queen got to an excellent square. The drawback is that 'b6' is left unprotected.
12.O-O-O exf5 Capturing the pawn seems anti positional, but otherwise Black has no active plan.
13.Qe3 Bg7 ( Kramnik spent a lot of time over this move and now the clock readings are equal: 1.10 1.10. Nevertheless, it seems to weird to be good. 13... fxe4 seems to be risky, but deserved testing. In lines as 14.Rd5 Qe6 15.Nxe4 (15.Nd4 Nxd4 16.Qxd4 is stronger) 15... f5 16.Nxd6+ Bxd6 17.Qxe6+ fxe6 18.Rxd6 Ke7 Black is OK.)
14.Rd5 Qe7 15.Qg3 Rg8 Kramnik is balancing with only moves the threat to get into strategically lost position.
16.Qf4 fxe4 17.Nxe4 f5 (17... Be6 only looks promising. In fact 18.Rd1 Kf8 19.Ng3 leaves Black without any counterplay.)
18.Nxd6+ Kf8 19.Nxc8 Rxc8 20.Kb1 After this precise move Black chances to launch a counterattack vanished into thin air.
20... Qe1+ Obligatory.
21.Nc1 Ne7 22.Qd2 Qxd2 23.Rxd2 Bh6 24.Rf2 ( Anand woulb be happy to share the point and is not looking for a win after 24.Rd7)
24... Be3 Draw agreed. Kramnik has to fight hard for the draw with no winning chances, so he preferred to surrender the match. As I have predicted, Vishy effortlessly drew, and deservedly defended his title of World Chess Champion.
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