Kramnik Holds For A Draw In Game 2
The second game of the Zurich Chess Challenge ended in a draw today, leaving Levon Aronian ahead by 1½-½ after the opening pair of games in this 6-game match.
Aronian sprung a surprise by playing 1.e4 for the first time in many years, and Kramnik responded with the solid Berlin defence rather than his usual (also solid!) favourite, the Petroff.
The unusual choice of 9...Be6 from the Russian didn't seem to concern Aronian, who responded quickly with 10.Rd1+.
The tense tussle that followed was typical of the Berlin defence, with black walking a dangerous precipice but never quite falling into white's clutches. Kramnik defended accurately to eventually extinguish all Aronian's winning chances and the game was agreed drawn after 37 moves.
Tomorrow is a rest day, so game 3 is on Tuesday when Kramnik will play with white.
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| Name | Nat | Elo | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | Pts |
| Levon Aronian | ARM | 2820 | 1 | ½ | . | . | . | . | 1½ |
| Vladimir Kramnik | RUS | 2801 | 0 | ½ | . | . | . | . | ½ |
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The time control in operation is 40 moves in 120 minutes, followed by 20 moves in 60 minutes, and then 15 minutes plus a 30 second increment to finish. All games start at 15:00 local time (13:00 UTC) except the final game which is 2 hours earlier. The main sponsor is IGC (International Gemological Laboratories).
Chess.com is covering all the games LIVE!
For full details look here.
The official website also has live commentary in a mixture of English and German from two Swiss players, GM Yannick Pelletier and IM Werner Hug.
