Kramnik retains the edge

By Our Chess Correspondent

CHENNAI, OCT. 16. Challenger and World No.2 Vladimir Kramnik of Russia held defending champion and fellow countryman Garry Kasparov to a comfortable draw in the fifth match game to stay in control of the Braingames World chess championship match in progress at London on Sunday.

Kramnik, 25, leads the 16-match series 3-2 after five games and eleven games remain to be played. For the first time two games were played on successive days and Kasparov's choice of the English opening as white is quite well justified here. He knows that his calculating ability will be under a cloud after that long six hour engaging battle on Saturday. Also, it was time for Kramnik to show his second opening option as black and not allowing that to happen was his game strategy for the day.

From the third move itself Kramnik revealed that he was prepared for a sharp battle. After white opted for a side variation from move eight it led to white having a minuscle advantage and black was able to equalise with less effort but precise play.

Once his queen side was developed, Kramnik got the queens exchanged, a strategy he has been adopting consistently in the match. White's mobility on queen side with greater access for his knights got him a presentable advantage but nothing tangible in chess terms to play for. The players agreed to a share the point after 24 moves. The game was over in a little over three hours much to the relief of the two tired players as was predicted by commentator GM Daniel King and his colleagues through the session. ``It is a good result for Kramnik,'' said GM Tony Miles who had expected a little more fire from the players in this game.

Earlier in the fourth game on Saturday Kramnik missing the brightest chance let Kasprarov off the hook in a well fought 74- move draw. Kasparov was lucky enough to escape from losing his second black game in a row. Having lost his previous black, Kasparov was in a position to fix his opening problems in the Grunfeld or opt for an alternate opening. He chose the later, normally a classical choice. Kramnik as white played the same quiet line as white as he did in some other previous games.

This game had several phases. First, when queens were exchanged, it was dismissed as a `draw', then when Kramnik's rook was penetrating, Kasparov was written off and finally the late fight back by the champion to draw a spectacular game.

Kramnik is relying on middlegame skills in level openings to fight and win in true sporting attitude. The position in the fourth game would have ended in a quick draw if it was a tournament game between the two players in 1999. By trying Kramnik understands that he is tiring his opponent while creating chances for himself. His 20th move, the pawn advance on the king side makes people see a big fighter inside him in the Fischer style. He was slowly outplaying Kasparov when the latter made a serious mistake on the 38th turn when he played his knight to the wrong square in time trouble. Kramnik won a piece for a pawn but with fewer pawns on the board the race was always facing technical difficulties. Kramnik had several chances but Kasparov skill in defence was fully tested and the champion showed his class in producing what his team badly needed: a miracle.

Two major inaccuracies one from either side made the game the most interesting one played so far. Black's 38th move and white's 59th move were serious mistakes for this level. In the first, Kasparov missed a possible draw (38...Nf4) and in the second Kramnik missed a win (59.Rg8). The resultant rook and knight versus rook ending was drawn as Kramnik could not get the special position which require the defending side to be on the eighth rank. Kasparov with the lone rook never allowed that textbook win to happen once he got the chance to swing his rook into activity. A victory on Saturday would have possibly nailed Kasparov into a pathetic state in the match and in search of more openings for cover with the black pieces. Kramnik appears to control the match either way.

The moves: Fourth game: GM V.Kramnik-GM G.Kasparov, match game four, queen's gambit accepted, D27: 1.d4 d5 2.c4 dxc4 3.Nf3 e6 4.e3 c5 5.Bxc4 a6 6.O-O Nf6 7.dxc5 Qxd1 8.Rxd1 Bxc5 9.Nbd2 Nbd7 10.Be2 b6 11.Nb3 Be7 12.Nfd4 Bb7 13.f3 O-O 14.e4 Rfc8 15.Be3 Kf8 16.Nd2 Ne5 17.N4b3 Rc6 18.Rac1 Rac8 19.Rxc6 Rxc6 20.g4 h6 21.h4 Bc8 22.g5 hxg5 23.hxg5 Nfd7 24.f4 Ng6 25.Nf3 Rc2 26.Bxa6 Bxa6 27.Rxd7 Rxb2 28.Ra7 Bb5 29.f5 exf5 30.exf5 Re2 31.Nfd4 Re1+ 32.Kf2 Rf1+ 33.Kg2 Nh4+ 34.Kh3 Rh1+ 35.Kg4 Be8 36.Bf2 Ng2 37.Ra8 Rf1 38.Kf3 Nh4+ 39.Ke2 Rh1 40.Nb5 Bxg5 41.Nc7 Ke7 42.Nxe8 Nxf5 43.Bxb6 Kd7 44.a4 Rh3 45.Nc5+ Kc6 46.a5 Re3+ 47.Kd1 Re7 48.Rc8+ Kb5 49.Ne4 Rxe4 50.Rc5+ Ka6 51.Nc7+ Kb7 52.Rxf5 Be3 53.Bxe3 Rxe3 54.Rxf7 Re5 55.a6+ Kb6 56.Rxg7 Ra5 57.Kd2 Ra1 58.Kc2 Rh1 59.Kb2? (59.Rg8! Rh7 60.Rb8+ Ka5 61.Rb5+ Ka4 62.Rb7 wins for white) 59...Rh8 60.Kb3 Rc8 61.a7 Kxa7 62.Kb4 Kb6 63.Nd5+ Ka6 64.Rg6+ Kb7 65.Kb5 Rc1 66.Rg2 Kc8 67.Rg7 Kd8 68.Nf6 Rc7 69.Rg5 Rf7 70.Nd5 Kd7 71.Rg6 Rf1 72.Kc5 Rc1+ 73.Kd4 Rd1+ 74.Ke5 Draw agreed.

The moves: Fifth game: GM G.Kasparov-GM V.Kramnik, match game five, English opening, A34: 1.c4 c5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.g3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.Bg2 Nc6 6.Nc3 g6 7.O-O Bg7 8.Qa4 Nb6 9.Qb5 Nd7 10.d3 O-O 11.Be3 Nd4 12.Bxd4 cxd4 13.Ne4 Qb6 14.a4 a6 15.Qxb6 Nxb6 16.a5 Nd5 17.Nc5 Rd8 18.Nd2 Rb8 19.Nc4 e6 20.Rfc1 Bh6 21.Rcb1 Bf8 22.Nb3 Bg7 23.Bxd5 Rxd5 24.Nbd2 e5 Draw agreed.

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