Anand Draws With Ease

By Arvind Aaron

Game one ended in a draw without a punch thrown. After 32 moves the two players reached a dead drawn opposite colour bishop ending at Bonn on Oct 14. A minor advantage for Anand as he has six white games to come in the next eleven games.

Kramnik opened with the queen pawn and Anand opted for the Slav defence. Kramnik surprised everyone by going for the exchange variation which is known to guarantee equality easily. Perhaps he has not anticipated this opening like.

Looking at seconds, Anand has Peter Heine Nielsen (Den), Rustam Kasimdzhanov (Uzb), Radoslaw Wojtaszek (Pol) and our own Surya S Ganguly. Kramnik is working with Peter Leko (Hun), Sergei Rublevsky (Rus) and Laurent Fressinet.

Kramnik's 14.Qb4 was new and Anand has no difficulty in taking his half point from the opening game. The Evonik World Chess Championship runs until the end of the month and later into the tie-break next month of the scores are tied at 6-6 after twelve.

Those wanting to follow the games live on video and pay can try www.foidoschess.tv The official website has a 30-minute lag due to high paying German spectators. However, some private websites have access to the moves quicker than the official site and that is truth!

For game two, Anand is certain to play 1.e4. What strategy Kramnik uses will be interesting to expect. He has played the Petroff, Sveshnikov or even the Berlin. Can Anand take the big Russian boy into a tactical line and take the lead? Scotch Game, King's gambit or closed Sicilian are some of them.

Vladimir Kramnik 2772   Viswanathan Anand 2783  Slav Defence D14
 

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. cxd5 cxd5 5. Bf4 Nc6 6. e3 Bf5 7. Nf3 e6 8. Qb3 Bb4 9. Bb5 O-O 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 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
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