Fourth Game Drawn
By Arvind Aaron
 

The titleholder Viswanathan Anand kept a minimal advantage and allowed black to equalise with central pawn breaks in the fourth game that ended in a draw after 29 moves.

Anand's 1.d4 is no one off surprise line. He is sticking with it. Means making all the Petroff's and Sveshnikov's in the bay all together. The fourth game ended in a draw with Anand leading 2.5-1.5.

Eight games remain to be played in this series which will see the induction of tie-break if the scores are level at 6-6. Under the current trend, Anand will skip that. He is the only player to have lost the World Title on tie-break to Karpov in 1998 at Lausanne. The 1.5 Million Euro contest is sponsored by Evonik Industries A.G and held at Bonn, Germany.

With a third of the match completed, and a free day to come on Sunday, the ball is clearly in Kramnik's court to up the risk level for game five. So, Anand's choice of the Semi-Slav is holding on for his black games.

In the fourth game, Anand opened queen pawn and Kramnik opted for the queen's gambit declined variation. Anand selected the Bf4 line known to offer easy equality for the black side. If the match was in balance, Anand might try Bg5 and try to make an impression. He should be playing to the requirement,

Now, with lead in his hand, he had many options and one is to remain cautious. Game four was one of those cautious draws.

The game:
Viswanathan Anand-Vladimir Kramnik
G/4, Queen's Gambit Bf4 D37
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bf4 O-O 6. e3 Nbd7 7. a3 c5 8. cxd5 Nxd5 9. Nxd5 exd5 10. dxc5 Nxc5 11. Be5 Bf5 12. Be2 Bf6 13. Bxf6 Qxf6 14. Nd4 Ne6 15. Nxf5 Qxf5 16. O-O Rfd8 17. Bg4 Qe5 18. Qb3 Nc5 19. Qb5 b6 20. Rfd1 Rd6 21. Rd4 a6 22. Qb4 h5 23. Bh3 Rad8 24. g3 g5 25. Rad1 g4 26. Bg2 Ne6 27. R4d3 d4 28. exd4 Rxd4 29. Rxd4 Rxd4 1/2-1/2

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