WCC Anand v Kramnik - Game 2

Commentary (most recent at the top)

The third game will be on Friday, as tomorrow is a rest day.  See you then!

It looks like this game will need a lot of post-game analysis to sort out!  It will be interesting to hear what comments both players make about it.

DRAW AGREED!  A surprising turn of events!  It seems like Vishy was short on time and agreed a draw.

31...Ne6 Kramnik routes his knight toward d4, but Rybka prefers activating the h8 rook by Rh6.

31. Bc2  Anand prevents the rook intrusion at d1.

30. Rc3 Nf4  Anand refuses to exchange.  Kramnik retreats the knight and now threatens to move his rook into the heart of Vishy's position at d1.  Kramnik has managed to gain some compensation for the lost pawn.

29...Nd3  Kramnik is looking to force an exchange of bishop for knight, leaving opposite coloured bishops so he can try to draw.

29. Ra2  Anand gets his rook into play.

CORRECTION TO BOARD POSITION - Move 25 was Kxf3, not gxf3 as shown.  Apologies!

23...Nh5 24. Kf2 Nxf3 25. Kxf3 e5 Kramnik accepts the loss of a pawn and tries to set up a blockade.

23...h4 24. Nxh4 Ne5 25. Nf3  Vishy has won a pawn.  It's not really possible for Kramnik to capture on c4 now, because his c6 pawn and his king at c8 would become very vulnerable.

23. h3  Vishy attacks the knight at g4.  Either Kramnik will have to move it back to the horrible sqaure h6, or sacrifice a pawn with h4 to regain control over the e5 square.

22...h5  Kramnik adds a defender to the knight on g4 so that if his other knight is attacked and has to move away, the g4 knight will still be protected.

Kramnik could be in trouble here due to losing control of the e5 square.

Both players have around 45 mins left to the first time control at move 40.

22. Bb1 Anand moves the bishop to safety and now threatens to attack the knight on f6 by pushing the e4 pawn to e5

21...Ndf6 Protects the knight at g4 and discovers an attack on the white bishop at d3.

20...Ng4 21. Kg3 The king chases the knight back!

19. Qxe3 Nxe3 20. Kf2 The queens come off, Vishy protects his pawn at g2 and connects the rooks.

18...0-0-0  Kramnik brings his rook to the d-file where it could eventually threaten the bishop on d3.

17...Qe3+ 18. Qe2  Kramnik forces an exchange of Queens.

16...Ng4 17. Bb4  Kramnik eyes the f2 and e3 squares and Vishy repsonds by threatening the black Queen.

16. Bd3  Protects the pawn on e4 and develops the bishop.  White still can't castle because of the Queen on d5 covering the g1 square.

15...Qc5 A lovely spot for the black Queen, exerting pressure on the pawn at c4 and making it very difficult for Vishy to castle kingside.

15.c4  Vishy avoids exchanging bishops.

Clock times left are roughly equal ~1hr 20 mins.

13...Ba6  Kramnik develops his bishop and contests control along the a6-f1 diagonal.  He threatens to exchange bishops, depriving white of the bishop pair and preventing him castling.  Will Vishy play 14.c4 to avoid 'losing' the bishop pair, or will he exchange on a6?

14. Bd2  Vishy unpins the pawn at c3 and adds protection to it.

13...Qa5 Kramnik develops his Queen to an active square where it keeps an eye on e5 to discourage the white pawn push to e5.

13.Nf3  White's King's Knight develops to it's favourite square - which is now available after the pawn on f3 took back on e4.  White has easy development for his pieces.  The opening seems to have worked out quite reasonably for Anand so far.

12...bxc6  So now the pawn structures are symmetrical.  Vishy has advantage of the bishop pair, but is slightly behind in development.

12. c6  The pawn was lost anyway, so Vishy ensures that Kramnik will mess up his own pawn structure in order to take it.  Nice play!

10...fxe4 11.fxe4 N5f6  Kramnik exchanges pawns and retreats his knight to safety.

10.e4  Anand attacks the centralised Knight on d5 and the pawn on f5.  He also clears the way for his bishop on f1 to come into the game.

9...Nd7  Kramnik targets the weak pawn on c5.  There's no real danger of Anand being able to save it, so he will probably continue with his development.

9. Qc2 Black is temporarily down a pawn, but it should be too difficult for White to hold on to.

In the Nimzo-Indian, Black gives up the bishop pair to weaken White's pawn structure.

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. f3  So we have a Nimzo-Indian Defence.  No Petroff or Berlin today!

Hello again and welcome to Chess.com's coverage of the second game of the 2008 World Chess Championship between Vishy Anand and Vladimir Kramnik.  Today is game 2 of the 12-game match and Anand has the White pieces this time.  The first game was a very tentative affair;  like two boxers throwing gentle jabs and keeping their guards well up, our protagonists barely broke sweat.  Now they have settled into the match and got used to the hall, the board, the pieces and the chairs (which they both asked to have changed before the first game), perhaps we can expect more excitement today.

Anand is usually an 1.e4 player, but he is comfortable with 1.d4 as well.  What will it be today?  If he playes 1.e4, what does Kramnik have prepared?  He often plays the Petroff or the Berlin Defence, but Anand will obviously have prepared for these, so perhaps he may surprise us with something completely different.