Game four

Anand,V (2783) - Kramnik,V (2772) [D37] WCh Bonn GER (4), 18.10.2008

1.d4
Anand sticks with 1.d4. It must be in his favour that he can play both 1.e4 and d4. Kramnik of course can play e4 but it would be highly unlikely and against his style to do so.
Susan Polgar commented "One of the common strategies in big matches is you want to try to stabilize the bleeding after a bad loss."
1...Nf6
1...d5 See note to move 11 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e3 c5 5.Nf3 Nc6 6.a3 dxc4 7.Bxc4 cxd4 8.exd4 Be7 9.0-0 0-0 10.Be3 Bd7 11.Qd3 Rc8 12.Rac1 Qa5 13.Ba2 Rfd8 14.Rfe1 Be8 15.Bb1 g6 16.Qe2 Bf8 17.Red1 Bg7 18.Ba2 Ne7 19.Qd2 Qa6 20.Bg5 Nf5 21.g4 Nxd4 22.Nxd4 e5 23.Nd5 Rxc1 24.Qxc1 exd4 25.Rxd4 Nxd5 26.Rxd5 Rxd5 27.Bxd5 Qe2 28.h3 h6 29.Bc4 Qf3 30.Qe3 Qd1+ 31.Kh2 Bc6 32.Be7 Be5+ 33.f4 Bxf4+ 34.Qxf4 Qh1+ 35.Kg3 Qg1+ 0-1 Zukertort,J-Steinitz,W/USA 1886/
An interesting game from the first ever official World Championship Match
2.c4 e6 3.Nf3
Anand decides not to allow a Nimzo.
3...d5 4.Nc3 Be7
4...Nbd7 5.Bg5 c6 6.e3 Qa5 7.Nd2 Bb4 8.Qc2 0-0 9.Bh4 c5 10.Nb3 Qa4 11.Bxf6 Nxf6 12.dxc5 Ne4 13.cxd5 Bxc3+ 14.bxc3 Nxc5 15.Rd1 exd5 16.Rxd5 Nxb3 17.axb3 Qc6 18.Rd4 Re8 19.Bd3 Qxg2 20.Bxh7+ Kf8 21.Be4 Qh3 22.Qd2 Be6 23.c4 a5 24.Rg1 Qxh2 25.Rh1 Qc7 26.Qb2 Qc5 27.Bd5 Ra6 28.Re4 Rd6 29.Rh7 Ke7 30.Qxg7 Kd8 31.Bxe6 fxe6 32.Qxb7 Qb4+ 33.Qxb4 axb4 34.c5 Rc6 35.Rxb4 Rxc5 36.Ra7 1-0 Capablanca,J-Alekhine,A/Buenos Aires 1927/
5.Bf4
So we have the Queens Gambit declined an opening which has been seen throughout many World championship matches.

5.Bg5 h6 (This game is one of Fischer's greatest from his 1972 match with Spassky. 5...0-0 6.e3 h6 7.Bh4 b6 8.cxd5 Nxd5 9.Bxe7 Qxe7 10.Nxd5 exd5 11.Rc1 Be6 12.Qa4 c5 13.Qa3 Rc8 14.Bb5 a6 15.dxc5 bxc5 16.0-0 Ra7 17.Be2 Nd7 18.Nd4 Qf8 19.Nxe6 fxe6 20.e4 d4 21.f4 Qe7 22.e5 Rb8 23.Bc4 Kh8 24.Qh3 Nf8 25.b3 a5 26.f5 exf5 27.Rxf5 Nh7 28.Rcf1 Qd8 29.Qg3 Re7 30.h4 Rbb7 31.e6 Rbc7 32.Qe5 Qe8 33.a4 Qd8 34.R1f2 Qe8 35.R2f3 Qd8 36.Bd3 Qe8 37.Qe4 Nf6 38.Rxf6 gxf6 39.Rxf6 Kg8 40.Bc4 Kh8 41.Qf4 1-0 Fischer,R-Spassky,B/Reykjavik 1972/

6.Bxf6 Bxf6 This game is an excellent example of Karpov's merciless style grinding Kasparov down for a great technical win. 7.e3 0-0 8.Qc2 Na6 9.Rd1 c5 10.dxc5 Qa5 11.cxd5 Nxc5 12.Qd2 Rd8 13.Nd4 exd5 14.Be2 Qb6 15.0-0 Ne4 16.Qc2 Nxc3 17.Qxc3 Be6 18.Qc2 Rac8 19.Qb1 Rc7 20.Rd2 Rdc8 21.Nxe6 fxe6 22.Bg4 Rc4 23.h3 Qc6 24.Qd3 Kh8 25.Rfd1 a5 26.b3 Rc3 27.Qe2 Rf8 28.Bh5 b5 29.Bg6 Bd8 30.Bd3 b4 31.Qg4 Qe8 32.e4 Bg5 33.Rc2 Rxc2 34.Bxc2 Qc6 35.Qe2 Qc5 36.Rf1 Qc3 37.exd5 exd5 38.Bb1 Qd2 39.Qe5 Rd8 40.Qf5 Kg8 41.Qe6+ Kh8 42.Qg6 Kg8 43.Qe6+ Kh8 44.Bf5 Qc3 45.Qg6 Kg8 46.Be6+ Kh8 47.Bf5 Kg8 48.g3 Kf8 49.Kg2 Qf6 50.Qh7 Qf7 51.h4 Bd2 52.Rd1 Bc3 53.Rd3 Rd6 54.Rf3 Ke7 55.Qh8 d4 56.Qc8 Rf6 57.Qc5+ Ke8 58.Rf4 Qb7+ 59.Re4+ Kf7 60.Qc4+ Kf8 61.Bh7 Rf7 62.Qe6 Qd7 63.Qe5 1-0 Karpov,A-Kasparov,G/Moscow 1985

5...0-0 6.e3 Nbd7 7.a3

7.c5 This seems more ambitious. Anand is content to play for just a slight edge with minimal risk. 7...c6 8.Bd3 Nh5 9.Be5 f6 10.Bg3 f5 11.Ng5 Ndf6 12.Be5 g6 13.h3 b6 14.g4 Ng7 15.Na4 Ne4 16.Nxe4 fxe4 17.Be2 Ne8 18.Qb3 b5 19.Nc3 a5 20.Bd1 Bh4 21.Rh2 Ba6 22.Ne2 Ra7 23.Nf4 Qc8 24.Rg2 g5 25.Nh5 Raf7 26.Ng3 b4 27.Qa4 Qd8 28.Qxc6 Bc8 29.a3 Rb7 30.b3 Ra7 31.axb4 Ra6 32.Qb5 Nc7 33.Qb8 1-0 Steinitz,W-Chigorin,M/Nuremberg 1896/

7...c5 8.cxd5 Nxd5 9.Nxd5 exd5 10.dxc5 Nxc5 11.Be5

The move 11. Be5 breaks the basic opening priniple of not moving a piece twice in the opening. Clearly now an isolated queen pawn position has arrived and white has decided that covering the important d4 square and the a1-h8 diagonal is more cruical than development. The main reason for this is to stop black covering covering this diagonal with his dark squared bishop and to facilitate piece trades. If you were to reomove all pieces and just leave king and pawns black would be lost (generally speaking) because of the weak isolated d pawn. I believe Steinitz in his game with Zuckertort was the first to champion this idea of isolating the d -pawn and attcking it, please see the game attached to the note for black's first move. 11.Be2?! Bf6 12.Rc1 Ne4 13.Bc7 Qe7 14.Qb3 Be6 15.0-0 Black's pieces are actively placed and ready to push d4 and either liquidate smoothly or start an attack.

11...Bf5

11...Bf6 12.Bxf6 Qxf6 13.Qd4 Qxd4 14.Nxd4 Bd7 15.f3 Rfc8 16.Kd2 Ne6 17.Bd3 Nxd4 18.exd4 f6 19.h4 g6 20.Rac1 Kf7 21.Rc5 b6 22.Rxc8 Rxc8 23.h5 Kg7 24.f4 Bf5 drawn Kasparov,G-Kramnik,V/Moscow 2001

12.Be2 Bf6

12...Be4 Black has slight problems equalising fully with this move. 13.0-0 Ne6 14.Nd4 Qb6 15.Qd2 Rac8 16.Rac1 h6 17.Bg4 Rxc1 18.Rxc1 Nc5 19.Be2 a5 20.f3 Bg6 21.b4 axb4 22.Qxb4 Qxb4 23.axb4 Nd3 24.Bxd3 Bxd3 25.Rc7 Bxb4 26.Rxb7 Bc5 27.Kf2 Re8 28.Nc6 Re6 29.Rc7 Bb6 30.Rc8+ Kh7 31.Bd4 Ba6 32.Ra8 Rxc6 33.Rxa6 Rc2+ 34.Kg3 Bxd4 35.exd4 Rd2 36.Ra4 g5 37.h4 Kg6 38.hxg5 hxg5 39.Kh3 Kf5 40.Kg3 f6 41.Rb4 Rd3 42.Kf2 Rd2+ 43.Kg3 Rd1 44.Ra4 g4 45.fxg4+ Kg5 46.Kf3 Rf1+ 47.Ke2 Rf4 48.g3 Rxg4 49.Kf3 Re4 50.Rb4 f5 51.Ra4 Re3 game drawn Sokolov,I-Topalov,V/Villarrobledo 2007

13.Bxf6 Qxf6 14.Nd4

Anand is in no hurry to exchange off black's isolated pawn on d5.

14.Qxd5 Qxb2 15.0-0 Nb3 16.Rae1 Be6 17.Qxb7 Qxa3=

14...Ne6 15.Nxf5 Qxf5 16.0-0 Rfd8 17.Bg4 Qe5 18.Qb3 Nc5 19.Qb5 b6 20.Rfd1

Black's main plan is to liquidate the d5 pawn, something which Kramnik does with a very dogmatic approach.

20...Rd6

20...d4 This would be premature because now b4 would cause black serious problems and actually wins a piece for white.

21.Rd4 a6 22.Qb4 h5 23.Bh3 Rad8 24.g3 g5

Kramnik does not like Ne6 when Bxe6 might give white something, he intends to push white's bishop off the h3-c8 diagonal so he is able to play Ne6 and finally get the move d4 in.

24...Ne6 25.Bxe6 fxe6 26.Rc1 Black's defensive task is annoying and white has better piece placement as the rook's doubled on the d-file are not so effective now.

25.Rad1 g4 26.Bg2 Ne6 27.R4d3 d4 28.exd4 Rxd4

28...Nxd4 Kramnik could play like this to play for the win. 29.Re1 a5 30.Rxe5 axb4 31.Kf1 bxa3 32.bxa3 f5

29.Rxd4 Rxd4 Agreed Drawn

1/2-1/2

A rather easy draw for Kramnik if made only to look that way.

Before the match many people thought Anand would not have good chances because Kramnik was just too solid as black. Anand solved that problem by winning game 3 with the black pieces! Game five will occur after a rest day and I am sure we will see a much more solid choice of opening by Anand compared with game 3, just like we saw here, as white Anand was happy to play calmly keep the draw in hand.

Kramnik was happy to "stabilize the bleeding" but every game with white for him from now on must be one where he goes for the throat, Anand after a loss in the past has often crumbled so Kramnik must be keen to stick the knife in any chance he has.