Kramnik and Anand played a lengthy Petroff yesterday that Kramnik said was all preparation until the 26th move. Opinions please: Did Kramnik enter this game with the idea of playing safe, or did he have the expectation of gaining a point? Kramnik did say that at 26 he was “surprisingly” playing for the win. Here’s the position at 24…f6 (he mistakenly said 26…f6).
Kramnik used very little time compared to Anand. That would indicate he knew what he was doing.
The draw was typical of Kramnik’s games with Anand when he has black.
True. Through 2006 they had played 11 Petrofs with Kramnik as black. There were 8 draws and three wins by Anand. FYI here are the Anand wins:
[Event “Siemens Giants”]
[Site “Frankfurt”]
[Date “1999.07.01”]
[Round “7”]
[White “Anand, Viswanathan”]
[Black “Kramnik, Vladimir”]
[Result “1-0”]
[ECO “C42”]
[WhiteElo “2781”]
[BlackElo “2751”]
[PlyCount “53”]
[EventDate “1999.06.29”]
[EventType “tourn (rapid)”]
[EventRounds “12”]
[EventCountry “GER”]
[EventCategory “21”]
[Source “ChessBase”]
[SourceDate “1999.10.01”]
- e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nf3 Nxe4 5. d4 d5 6. Bd3 Nc6 7. O-O Be7 8. c4
Nb4 9. cxd5 Nxd3 10. Qxd3 Qxd5 11. Re1 Bf5 12. g4 Bg6 13. Nc3 Nxc3 14. Qxc3 Kf8 - Bf4 c6 16. Rxe7 Kxe7 17. Qb4+ Kd8 18. Qxb7 Rc8 19. Bg5+ f6 20. Qxg7 fxg5
- Qxh8+ Kc7 22. Qe5+ Qxe5 23. dxe5 h6 24. Re1 Re8 25. h4 gxh4 26. Nxh4 Bf7
- Nf5 1-0
[Event “Amber-blind 14th”]
[Site “Monte Carlo”]
[Date “2005.03.22”]
[Round “4”]
[White “Anand, Viswanathan”]
[Black “Kramnik, Vladimir”]
[Result “1-0”]
[ECO “C42”]
[WhiteElo “2786”]
[BlackElo “2754”]
[PlyCount “103”]
[EventDate “2005.03.19”]
[EventType “tourn (rapid)”]
[EventRounds “11”]
[EventCountry “MNC”]
[EventCategory “20”]
[Source “ChessBase”]
[SourceDate “2005.05.10”]
- e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nf3 Nxe4 5. Nc3 Nxc3 6. dxc3 Be7 7. Be3 Nc6
- Qd2 O-O 9. O-O-O Ne5 10. Kb1 a6 11. Be2 Be6 12. Nd4 Nc4 13. Qd3 Nxe3 14.
Nxe6 fxe6 15. Qxe3 e5 16. Bd3 c6 17. h4 Rf6 18. g3 d5 19. Qxe5 Rxf2 20. Rhf1
Rf6 21. Qh5 g6 22. Qe2 Qd6 23. h5 Raf8 24. hxg6 hxg6 25. Rh1 Kf7 26. c4 Ke8 27.
cxd5 c5 28. g4 Kd8 29. g5 Rf4 30. Rh6 Bxg5 31. Rxg6 Bf6 32. Rh6 Qe5 33. c3 Qxe2 - Bxe2 Rf2 35. Bg4 b5 36. d6 Rg8 37. Bh3 b4 38. Rh7 bxc3 39. bxc3 Rg3 40. Re1
Be5 41. Rd7+ Kc8 42. Rf7+ Rxh3 43. Rxf2 Bxd6 44. Kc2 Kd7 45. Ree2 Kc6 46. Rf6
Kc7 47. Ree6 Rh2+ 48. Kd3 Rh3+ 49. Kc4 Rh4+ 50. Kb3 c4+ 51. Ka4 Rh2 52. Rxd6
1-0
[Event “Sofia Mtel Masters”]
[Site “Sofia”]
[Date “2005.05.19”]
[Round “7”]
[White “Anand, Viswanathan”]
[Black “Kramnik, Vladimir”]
[Result “1-0”]
[ECO “C42”]
[WhiteElo “2785”]
[BlackElo “2753”]
[PlyCount “39”]
[EventDate “2005.05.12”]
[EventType “tourn”]
[EventRounds “10”]
[EventCountry “BUL”]
[EventCategory “20”]
[Source “ChessBase”]
[SourceDate “2005.05.28”]
- e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nf3 Nxe4 5. d4 d5 6. Bd3 Nc6 7. O-O Be7 8. c4
Nb4 9. Be2 O-O 10. Nc3 Bf5 11. a3 Nxc3 12. bxc3 Nc6 13. Re1 Re8 14. cxd5 Qxd5 - Bf4 Rac8 16. Qc1 Na5 17. c4 Qe4 18. Bd1 Qd3 19. Re3 Qxc4 20. Re5 1-0
Here’s a possible Shredder continuation:
[20… Qc1 21. Bc1 Nc6 22. Rf5 Nd4 23. Nd4 Bf6 24. Bd2 Bd4 25. Rb1 Red8 26. Be2 g6 +2.04|d13 Shredder 9.11 27. Rf3 Bb6 28. Bh6 c6 29. g3 Rd7 30. Rfb3 Re8 31. Bc4 Rd4 32. Rb4 Bc5 33. Be3 Bb4 +2.36|d14 Shredder 9.11 34. Bd4 Re1 35. Re1 Be1 36. Ba7 Ba5 37. Bd4 Kf8 38. a4 Ke7 39. Kg2 b5 40. ab cb 41. Bb5 Kd6 42. Bc4 +3.85|d18 Shredder 9.11]
We can conclude Kramnik has worked on this dull and uninspired defense. What will he play today against Alexander Grischuk?
Excellent question. Can I give you an answer is about an hour? 
Grob Attack to psych him out? 
A closed Catalan , Kramnik is going for a win.
Indeed he is. This should be a fight.
It was a good game. I thought Kramnik was going to win it. I didn’t really understand 50.e3 rather than 50.Bg8. After the game ended I ran it through Fritz X and Shredder. Both programs would have played g8.
e3 stops 50…Nd4 but ? Black can still protect e6 for awhile. Anyway, Shredder came up with the following line with White winning.
50. Bg8 h6 ; 51. Kg4 Nc5 52. Bf7 g5 53. Kh5 Kc3 54. Kh6 Kd2 55. e3 Ke2 56. Kg6 Ne4 57. Be6 +0.80|d15; 51. Bf7 +0.80|d17) 51… g5 52. Kg4 Nc5 53. Kh5 Kc3 54. Kh6 Kd2 55. e3 Ne4 56. f3 Nd6 57. Be6 Ke3 +0.82|d19 Shredder 9.11 58. Kg6 Kf3 59. h4 Ke4 +4.67|d18 Shredder 9.11 60. h5 Ke5 61. Bd7 Nc4 62. h6 Nb6 63. Be8 Nc8 64. h7 Ke6 65. Bf7 Ke5 +7.64|d18 Shredder 9.11 66. h8Q Ne7 67. Kh5 Nc6 68. Qf8 f5 69. Kg5 Ke4 70. Qe8 Kf3 71. Qc6 Kg3 72. Qc3 Kf2 +16.28|d15 Shredder 9.11]