WCC Kramnik v Anand - Game 3

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Congratulations to Vishy Anand on winning the third game of the 2008 World Chess Championship with the black pieces!  He takes a 2-1 lead into the fourth game tomorrow.

41...Bb1  KRAMNIK RESIGNS!

31...Bg4  The Queen is coming under fire too!

31. Kc2  What we have here is a good old-fashioned king hunt!

30...Qd4+ Anand closes in.  The attack on on b2 must be defended with Kc2.

28...Bh3 29.Ra3  Anand threatened Rg1+ winning the rook on a1.

27...Bg2+ 28. Ke1  Kramnik's king must run to the centre.

27. a4  Kramnik protects his bishop with his pawn to free up his queen for other duties.

26...Rg8  Yet again, the g-file is the route of Anand's attack. He now threatens Bg2+

If Kramnik can withstand the attack he may make his extra pawns count.  That's a big if...

26.Kf1  Run for your life!

24...Rd8 25 Qe2 Kh6  Vishy attacks the queen, which retreats to a square whilst still protecting the bishop on b5.  Now Vishy is threatening on the g-file again and Kramnik's King looks very vulnerable.

23. Rxg7 Kxg7 24. gxf4  Kramnik is now 2 pawns up, so Vishy needs to grab the initative again before Kramnik consolidates his position.

22...Rg7  Anand returns the piece to blunt Kramnik's threats.  The bishop on f4 will now fall after rooks come off.

Clocks: Kramnik 42 mins, Anand 1hr.

21...Kf8 22. Qd3  Kramnik adds protection to g3, increases the pressure down the d-file and eyes a possible Qh7 intrusion.

20...fxe6 21. Rxd7  Kramnik sets up discovered attacks, so Vishy must move his King to avoid this.

20. Nxe6  as expected!

19...h5 played.  Vishy protects his rook on g4.  We could now see a knight sac on e6 from Kramnik, uncovering an attack on the d7 knight.

At this critical juncture (move 19) Vishy has gone into a very long think...

Kramnik has sacrificed material to wrest the initative from Vishy...

Vishy's pinned knight on d7 is a weakness.  Kramnik might look to uncover an attack on d7 from his rook on d1 by moving the d4 knight.

Vishy finally stops to think!  He must be out of his home prep now...

18...Bxf4 19.Nxd4  Kramnik takes the pawn with the Knight instead of the Rook.  He now threatens the g4 Rook with his Queen and has possible thoughts of sacrificing on e6!

18. Bf4  Kramnik blocks the rook's defence of the pawn at d4 and opens the way for his a1 rook to come into play.  18...Bxf4 can be met by 19.Rxd4

18.Nd2 would remove the knight from the dangerous diagonal and discover an attack from the Queen on the Rook on g4.

If Kramnik can thread his way safely through Vishy's home preparation then he may have an advantage later on...but that is easier said than done.

17...Rg4  An instant response!  Vishy protects his d-pawn with his rook along the 4th rank.  A nice active move!

17. g3  Kramnik blunts the attack of the rook on the g-file at the expense of weakening his a8-g1 diagonal.

Kramnik is spending a lot of time on the clock here...Vishy will be hoping to take advantage of this later on!

16. Rd1 Rg8  Kramnik attacks the d-pawn for a second time and Vishy activates his rook on the g-file, pinning the g2 pawn to the white King.

Kramnik is having a good think about his 16th move.  The position is very tactical, with both black bishops bearing down on the white king (and soon a rook at g8 as well).  One slip could be very costly...

Anand would like to play Rg8 to provoke g2-g3 from Kramnik, weakening the a8-h1 diagonal where his bishop is lying in wait on b7.

16.Nxd4 is possible because Qxd4 runs into Rd1 which wreaks havoc on the open d-file.  But Anand could reply with the Bxh2 instead and then capture the Knight on d4.

Anand's pawn structure is a mess, but he may be able to use the open g-file to good effect with Rg8 soon.  These guys are not messing about today!

This is the sharp Meran System.  Vishy looks to be lining up a Kingside attack.  He is playing quickly, but Kramnik has slowed down, no doubt suspecting some home preparation from Vishy.

14...Bb7 is an unusual move, but not new. 14...b4 or Ba6 are more commonly played.

So we have another Slav, but no Exchange variation this time - hooray!

Welcome again to Chess.com's coverage of the World Chess Championships in Germany between Vishy Anand of India and Vladimir Kramnik of Russia.  The second game was a lot more exciting than the first, with Anand winning a pawn but getting low on time and being unable to capitalise in a complicated position.  Kramnik offered a draw when Anand had around 5 minutes left on his clock to play another 8 moves.  It was a smart decision and Anand decided not to risk trying to find a win with so little time left.

So what can we expect today?  It seems likely that Kramnik will continue with his normal 1.d4 and Anand may well try the Slav defence again, since he equalised with it without too much effort in game 1, when Kramnik played the quiet Exchange variation.  Perhaps today Kramnik will test out Anand's preparation in more dynamic lines of the Slav.  Whatever happens, let's hope for an exciting game and perhaps a result one way or the other!