World Chess Championship (Game 9)

[Anil]

Qe7 is the novelty confirmed by Yasser Seirawan. Anand again taking his time. So, Kramnik seems to have been prepared for this opening and has sprung a novelty on Anand.

Anand can try to exchange the pieces and try for a draw (in case of trouble). But, as we know Anand almost always goes for a win. Lets wait and see.

[AdminX]

[Event "World Chess Championship 2008"]
[Site "Bonn"]
[Date "2008.10.26"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Black "Kramnik, Vladimir"]
[Result "*"]
[WhiteElo "2783"]
[BlackElo "2772"]
[PlyCount "25"]
[EventDate "2008.10.26"]
[EventCountry "GER"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 c6 5. Bg5 h6 6. Bh4 dxc4 7. e4 g5 8. Bg3 b5
9. Be2 Bb7 10. Qc2 Nbd7 11. Rd1 Bb4 12. Ne5 Qe7 13. O-O *

[d]r3k2r/pb1nqp2/2p1pn1p/1p2N1p1/1bpPP3/2N3B1/PPQ1BPPP/3R1RK1 b kq - 0 13

[Anil]

Anand castled. So, this game may be a draw now!

After this move Yasser saying that Anand showed that he knows how to castle and knows that castle is a legal move.

[AdminX]

[Event "World Chess Championship 2008"]
[Site "Bonn"]
[Date "2008.10.26"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Black "Kramnik, Vladimir"]
[Result "*"]
[WhiteElo "2783"]
[BlackElo "2772"]
[PlyCount "26"]
[EventDate "2008.10.26"]
[EventCountry "GER"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 c6 5. Bg5 h6 6. Bh4 dxc4 7. e4 g5 8. Bg3 b5
9. Be2 Bb7 10. Qc2 Nbd7 11. Rd1 Bb4 12. Ne5 Qe7 13. O-O Nxe5 *

[d]r3k2r/pb2qp2/2p1pn1p/1p2n1p1/1bpPP3/2N3B1/PPQ1BPPP/3R1RK1 w kq - 0 14

[AdminX]

[Event "World Chess Championship 2008"]
[Site "Bonn"]
[Date "2008.10.26"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Black "Kramnik, Vladimir"]
[Result "*"]
[WhiteElo "2783"]
[BlackElo "2772"]
[PlyCount "28"]
[EventDate "2008.10.26"]
[EventCountry "GER"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 c6 5. Bg5 h6 6. Bh4 dxc4 7. e4 g5 8. Bg3 b5
9. Be2 Bb7 10. Qc2 Nbd7 11. Rd1 Bb4 12. Ne5 Qe7 13. O-O Nxe5 14. Bxe5 O-O *

[d]r4rk1/pb2qp2/2p1pn1p/1p2B1p1/1bpPP3/2N5/PPQ1BPPP/3R1RK1 w - - 0 15

[BubbaTough]

Wow...mixing Bb4 with OO looks ... well .. nondrawish anyway.

-Sam

[Anil]

Kramnik castles short and amazes Yasser! (due to pawn on g5).

But, many of these moves including Kramnik's 0-0 was predicted by Rybka 3. Castle gives Kramnik some small edge (+0.14 to Kramnik).

[AdminX]

[Event "World Chess Championship 2008"]
[Site "Bonn"]
[Date "2008.10.26"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Black "Kramnik, Vladimir"]
[Result "*"]
[WhiteElo "2783"]
[BlackElo "2772"]
[PlyCount "29"]
[EventDate "2008.10.26"]
[EventCountry "GER"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 c6 5. Bg5 h6 6. Bh4 dxc4 7. e4 g5 8. Bg3 b5
9. Be2 Bb7 10. Qc2 Nbd7 11. Rd1 Bb4 12. Ne5 Qe7 13. O-O Nxe5 14. Bxe5 O-O 15.
Bxf6 *

[d]r4rk1/pb2qp2/2p1pB1p/1p4p1/1bpPP3/2N5/PPQ1BPPP/3R1RK1 b - - 0 15

[AdminX]

[Event "World Chess Championship 2008"]
[Site "Bonn"]
[Date "2008.10.26"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Black "Kramnik, Vladimir"]
[Result "*"]
[WhiteElo "2783"]
[BlackElo "2772"]
[PlyCount "31"]
[EventDate "2008.10.26"]
[EventCountry "GER"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 c6 5. Bg5 h6 6. Bh4 dxc4 7. e4 g5 8. Bg3 b5
9. Be2 Bb7 10. Qc2 Nbd7 11. Rd1 Bb4 12. Ne5 Qe7 13. O-O Nxe5 14. Bxe5 O-O 15.
Bxf6 Qxf6 16. f4 *

[d]r4rk1/pb3p2/2p1pq1p/1p4p1/1bpPPP2/2N5/PPQ1B1PP/3R1RK1 b - f3 0 16

[swami]

Wow...mixing Bb4 with OO looks ... well .. nondrawish anyway.

-Sam

This is kind of position where anybody could guess that the probability that the game ends in draw is very rare. It's either win or lose situation unless a lot of minor pieces are exchanged up.

Key Indicators:

Pawn Structure - too aggressive on both the sides, they are not equal-one sided, fixed or aligned.

Black:

Good pawn structure on the queen side.
Black's King pawn cover too open, risky. short cut to get the Rooks into play.
Bishop on b7 - bad bishop. Must find ways to keep it active in later stage.

White:

Good center.
King safety - good.
Bishop on e2 bad, Rf1 not doing anything - he must bring them into play.