An early psychological victory for Anand

Viswanathan Anand was not entirely upset with the fact that he could not force a victory in an advantageous position in the second game late on Wednesday night at the Art and Cultural Exhibition Hall at Bonn.

“I could not find and emphatic enough winning continuation though the position appeared tilted in my favour,” he explained . It was a trifle disappointing perhaps. But Anand has scored a psychological victory. The Queen pawn opening is bound to give Kramnik a few sleepless nights.

Anand has preferred the King pawn opening throughout his chess career. It an opening, which suits players with sharp styles, and Kramnik’s emphasis on preparations would have been on this opening.

Anand has a vast opening repertoire and it was expected that the Queen pawn opening might surface perhaps sometime during the series, but clearly no one expected it this early.

Apart from shock value it had, there could have been two other reasons for Anand to opt for this opening.

Kramnik’s lethal weapons against the King pawn opening has been the Berlin Defence, which he effectively used against another strong King pawn opening player, Garry Kasparov, when he dethroned the latter in the Classical World Championship in 2000.

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The Russian also favours the Petroff Defence, which many consider ensures draws at the highest level of the game.

Anand perhaps wanted to avoid this.

By employing the Queen pawn opening this early, the Indian champ managed to keep Kramnik guessing and the latter’s team will now have to work overtime.

”I was always afraid that Ryubka (winner of world chess computer championship) would laugh at me for playing some ridiculous moves,” Kramnik quipped later at the post-game press conference of the second game.

This was in reference to the totally unexpected, dynamic and maybe trifle wild position that arose in Game 2.

”Things were rapidly getting out of control in this double-edged position and I found myself thinking about two choices at every juncture, whether to go for equality or push for more,” Kramnik added.

During the entire duration of the game, all the chess engines favoured Anand.

”We are humans and not machines and I did look for victory lines but could not find one emphatic enough with the clock ticking by,” explained Anand.

“Perhaps with precise play I would have gotten advantage but I don’t know whether I actually misplayed,” he added.

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A victory would have put Anand in a favourable position, both point wise and psychologically, with the rest day coming up.

At the point the players agreed to split the point, it was apparent that the position was double edged and interestingly both were afraid to continue.

It was not a position where a draw appeared a logical conclusion but rather one which offered scope to continue- for both!

However, one thing is very clear. Anand is ready to experiment and look for lines, which will force victory.

The remaining games definitely promise a no-holds barred battle.

The Game:

Anand Vs Kramnik

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.f3 d5 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.bxc3 c5 7.cxd5 Nxd5 8.dxc5 f5 9.Qc2 Nd7 10.e4 fxe4 11.fxe4 N5f6 12.c6 bxc6 13.Nf3 Qa5 14.Bd2 Ba6 15.c4 Qc5 16.Bd3 Ng4 17.Bb4 Qe3+ 18.Qe2 0—0—0 19.Qxe3 Nxe3 20.Kf2 Ng4+ 21.Kg3 Ndf6 22.Bb1 h5 23.h3 h4+ 24.Nxh4 Ne5 25.Nf3 Nh5+ 26.Kf2 Nxf3 27.Kxf3 e5 28.Rc1 Nf4 29.Ra2 Nd3 30.Rc3 Nf4 31.Bc2 Ne6 32.Kg3 Rd4 draw agreed