World Championship: 9th game drawn
Update: video added.
He came very close to winning today, but in the end Vladimir Kramnik had to accept that his ending agains Viswanathan Anand was a draw. After the 9th game the Indian is now leading the World Championship match 6-3, and just needs a draw to retain his title.While many expected a not too interesting game today (Anand was supposed to play ultra solid and cruise to match victory by drawing twice, and Kramnik would have no energy left to put up serious resistance) it was completely the other way around: Kramnik invited Anand to a sharp fight in the Semi-Slav, and the Indian went for it by retreating his bishop to h4 after Black's h6, allowing the complicated lines of the Anti-Moscow Gambit.At first it looked like Anand took his opponent by surprise yet again, by going for a rare side-variation, but this time Kramnik had done his homework and soon obtained a small advantage. His position got better and better, and at some point the world champion decided to sacrifice a pawn, but still there was one moment where Kramnik could have reached an almost winning position. But in timetrouble the Russian almost missed a mate in one and was so shocked by it that he decided to exchange queens and in the resulting ending it was not too difficult for Anand to avoid the last few traps Kramnik put up.And so chances are high that tomorrow will be the last match day in Bonn, although Kramnik stated that he will ?¢‚Ǩ?ìfight till the last draw.?¢‚Ǩ?
As the end of the match is getting closer, the theatre seats are sold out now
The chess board says which day the game is played
The players shake hands for their ninth encounter
The number of photograpers is going up again?¢‚Ǩ¬¶
?¢‚Ǩ¬¶because a photo of a potentially decisive game is always good to have
Kramnik: What about a nice Semi-Slav today?
Anand: Yeah, why not
And so there was soon an Anti-Moscow on the board
Close, but no cigar
Match score:
| Name | Nat. | Rtg |
G01
14/10 |
G02
15/10 |
G03
17/10 |
G04
18/10 |
G05
20/10 |
G06
21/10 |
G07
23/10 |
G08
24/10 |
G09
26/10 |
G10
27/10 |
G11
29/10 |
G12
31/10 |
|
| Anand | IND | 2783 |
?Ǭ? |
?Ǭ? |
1 |
?Ǭ? |
1 |
1 |
?Ǭ? |
?Ǭ? |
?Ǭ? |
6 |
|||
| Kramnik | RUS | 2772 |
?Ǭ? |
?Ǭ? |
0 |
?Ǭ? |
0 |
0 |
?Ǭ? |
?Ǭ? |
?Ǭ? |
3 |
Here's our playlist of videos: Links: (Note that the comments below this article started during our live coverage of the game)
Peter Doggers joined a chess club a month before turning 15 and still plays for it. He used to be an active tournament player and holds two IM norms. Peter has a Master of Arts degree in Dutch Language & Literature. He briefly worked at New in Chess, then as a Dutch teacher and then in a project for improving safety and security in Amsterdam schools. Between 2007 and 2013 Peter was running ChessVibes, a major source for chess news and videos acquired by Chess.com in October 2013. As our Director News & Events, Peter writes many of our news reports. In the summer of 2022, The Guardian’s Leonard Barden described him as “widely regarded as the world’s best chess journalist.”
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