Game ten

Kramnik,V - Anand,V [E20]WCC2008 Bonn (10), 2008

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Nf3 c5
4...b6 5.Qc2 In 1948 Bob Wade won the NZ Championship and all credit to him he is still going strong playing in 2009 NZ championship incorporated in the Queenstown Chess Classic. Lynch would go on to take the title in 1951 just before the legendary Sarapu would come and completely dominate the kiwi Chess scene by winning the NZ Championship 20 times over 48 years it would surely have been more had he competed in every championship. 5...Bb7 6.e3 Ne4 7.Bd3 f5 8.a3 Bxc3+ 9.bxc3 0-0 10.Bb2 d6 11.Rd1 Qe8 12.d5 exd5 13.cxd5 Bxd5 14.c4 Bc6 Lynch plays very aggressively in this game. 15.Ba1 Na6 16.c5 Naxc5 17.Bc4+ Kh8 18.Nd4 Ba4 19.Qb2 Qe7 20.Rc1 Rae8 21.0-0 Rf6 22.f3 Ng5 23.h4 Qxe3+ 24.Rf2 Nge6 25.Nxe6 Nxe6 26.Bxe6 Qxe6 27.Rxc7 Rf7 28.Rxf7 Qxf7 29.Qd4 Qd7 30.Bc3 h6 31.Rd2 Re1+ 32.Kf2 Rc1 33.Bb4 Drawn Lynch,D-Wade,R/Dunedin 1948

5.g3 cxd4 6.Nxd4 0-0 7.Bg2 d5 8.cxd5
8.Qb3 Bxc3+ 9.bxc3 Nc6 10.cxd5 Na5 11.Qc2 Nxd5 12.Qd3 Bd7 13.c4 Ne7 14.0-0 Rc8 15.Nb3 Nxc4 16.Bxb7 Rc7 17.Ba6 Ne5 18.Qe3 Nc4 19.Qe4 Nd6 20.Qd3 Rc6 21.Ba3 Bc8 22.Bxc8 Ndxc8 23.Rfd1 Qxd3 24.Rxd3 Re8 25.Rad1 f6 26.Nd4 Rb6 27.Bc5 Ra6 28.Nb5 Rc6 29.Bxe7 Nxe7 30.Rd7 Ng6 31.Rxa7 Nf8 32.a4 Rb8 33.e3 h5 34.Kg2 e5 35.Rd3 Kh7 36.Rc3 Rbc8 37.Rxc6 Rxc6 38.Nc7 Ne6 39.Nd5 Kh6 40.a5 e4 1-0 Kasparov,G-Karpov,A/London/Leningrad 1986
8...Nxd5 9.Qb3 Qa5 10.Bd2 Nc6 11.Nxc6 bxc6 12.0-0 Bxc3 13.bxc3
Avoiding 13.Bxc3 to keep bishop pair and keep pieces on because the knight on d5 can be pushed away
13...Ba6 14.Rfd1 Qc5 15.e4 Bc4 16.Qa4 Nb6 17.Qb4 Qh5
Trading Queens would lead to white's advantage because after 17...Qxb4 18cxb4 black will now have repaired white's pawn structure and left himself with a backward c pawn.
18.Re1



Kramnik strikes with the first novelty.
18.Bf4 c5 19.Qb2 Rad8 20.Re1 Rd7 21.h3 h6 22.a4 Ba6 23.Qa2 Rfd8 24.a5 Nc4 25.Bf1 e5 26.g4 Qg6 27.Bxc4 exf4 28.Bd5 f3 29.c4 h5 30.Kh2 Qf6 31.Rg1 hxg4 32.Rab1 Bxc4 33.Qxc4 Qf4+ 34.Rg3 Rxd5 35.Qxd5 Rxd5 36.exd5 c4 37.Rd1 c3 38.d6 c2 39.Rd3 Qc4 40.Re3 Qc6 41.Rd3 Qc5 0-1 Jakovenko,D-Carlsen,M/Moscow 2007;
18.Be3 Be2 19.Rd2 Rab8 20.Bxb6 axb6 21.Qd6 Bf3 22.Qxc6 Bxg2 23.Kxg2 Qe5 24.Qc4 Rfc8 25.Qd4 Qa5 26.Rb1 h6 27.Rb4 Qc5 28.Rd3 Qc7 29.a4 Rd8 30.Qe3 Rxd3 31.Qxd3 Rc8 32.Qb1 Qxc3 33.Rxb6 Rc4 34.Rb8+ Kh7 35.Rb7 f6 36.Re7 Rb4 37.Qa2 Qc4 38.Qxc4 Rxc4 39.a5 Ra4 40.Rxe6 Rxa5 So we have a theoritcal K R+4P v K R+ 3P. Of course there are practical chances to win and Kasparov is not one to give up easily. 41.Rd6 Ra4 42.Kf3 Ra3+ 43.Ke2 h5 44.Rd3 Ra2+ 45.Ke3 Kg6 46.h3 Ra4 47.f4 Rb4 48.Ra3 Rc4 49.g4 hxg4 50.hxg4 Rb4 51.Ra6 Kf7 52.Ra7+ Kg6 53.f5+ Kh6 54.g5+ fxg5 55.e5 g4 56.e6 Kg5 - Kasparov,G-Anand,V/Wijk aan Zee 2000
18...c5
The following is taken from the chessmind blog on the press conference. "Anand: 18.Re1 is a tricky move, because it's unclear where Black should place his pieces".
19.Qa5 Rfc8 20.Be3 Be2 21.Bf4 e5 22.Be3 Bg4?!
22...Nc4 23.Qa6 Nxe3 24.Rxe2 Anand dismissed this as he thought white still had an edge. 24...Nxg2 25.Kxg2 Rd8 26.Rb1 h6 27.Re3 Rd2 White does have a bit of pressure as this sample line shows. Although Kramnik must be aware as a quick 28.Rb7 is met bit Rxf2+ forcing a perpetual. 28.Rf3 (28.Rb7 Rxf2+! 29.Kxf2 Qxh2+ 30.Ke1 Qg1+ 31.Kd2 Rd8+ 32.Rd3 Qf2+ 33.Kd1 Qf1+=) 28...f6 29.Rb7 Qg6 30.Qc4+ Kh8 31.Rc7 When a pawn will fall eventually.
23.Qa6!
Taken from S. Polgar blog. "White has a real threat with a4-a5. Black's Knight has few good squares to get to. In addition, White is basically trying to eliminate counter chances for Black while gaining space advantage. This is another promising game for Kramnik".
23.Bxc5 White does best to avoid taking the pawn as black's compensation causes some trouble. 23...Nc4 24.Qb5 Nd2 25.Bd6 Nc4 26.Bc5 Nd2 27.Qd3 Rd8 28.Qa6 Rd7 29.Re3 Rad8 30.Bxa7 Nf3+ 31.Bxf3 Bxf3 just to illustrate trouble white may have. 32.Bc5 Rd1+ 33.Rxd1 Rxd1+ 34.Qf1 Qh3 35.Re1 Rxe1 36.Qxe1 Qg2#]
23...f6?
23...Be6 24.Bf1 Qf3 white has a slight edge according to Kramnik at the press conference.
24.a4
The first step to winning is simply getting good positions to start with. In the two previous games Kramnik had good positions but was just unable to convert them. For the third game in a row Kramnik is better so perhaps 3 times is the charm.

24... Qf7 25. Bf1 Be6 26. Rab1 c4

It is hard to pinpoint exactly where Anand is going wrong. Kramnik thought f6 was the a mistake. Looking at black's pieces now all excpt the rook on a8 are gunning for the c4 square and all are placed mainly for only defense. Kramnik now systematically breaks them down and will win the battle for c4. How many people would guess Anand will only make two more moves in this game.

26...f5 This doesn't really help black but gives an impression of how white's pressure can be converted into material or positional gain. 27.a5 f4 28.Bd2 (28.axb6 fxe3 29.Rxe3 axb6 30.Qxb6 Rf8 31.Re2 c4 32.Qd6 Qf6 33.Rb6 Rfe8 34.Reb2 Rad8 White position is just too strong now.) 28...Rd8 29.axb6 Rxd2 30.b7 Rb8 31.Qxa7 Rdd8 White is crushing.;

26...Kh8 27.a5 Nc4 28.Rb7 Qg8 29.Bh6! gxh6 30.Bxc4 Bxc4 31.Qxf6+ Qg7 32.Qxg7# A variation from the press conference that Kramnik liked.

27. a5

Anand is down on the clock by over 30 minutes.

27...Na4 28.Rb7 Qe8 29.Qd6

1-0

The game might continue 29.Qd6 Rd8 30.Qb4 Rd7 31.a6 Nb6 32.Ra1 Kh8 33.Bxb6 axb6 34.Qxb6 and whites a pawn will decide the game. Not exactly easy to see but these guys are playing on the highest level. Infact I would say anyone not on the master level would be best advised to play on and make white prove he knows how to win.

Kramnik gets his first win of the match and closes the gap to two points.

Anand leads 6-4

A devastating blow for Anand to lose in such a way but in my opinion he deserved it. After two games of only just hanging on Anand again chose a rather ambitious opening with black when he should have just gone for a much more solid line. All he had to do was draw and he would have won the match without defeat and that would have been a great achievement. Now Kramnik has played himself into the match and I would not be surprised if he wins again and puts Anand into a crisis.