Sport

Anand floors Kramnik, takes lead

BONN: Just when it seemed Vladimir Kramnik had managed to elude Viswanathan Anand’s grasp, the champion produced the knockout punch to floor the challenger in the third round of the World chess championship match here on Friday.

The time management of both players played a major role in the outcome of this complex match. At one stage, Anand had more than an hour of thinking time on his clock than Kramnik. But when the situation demanded, Anand took his time to thwart Kramnik’s bid to escape and later had less time than the Russian but just enough to finish the job.

Kramnik, in a hurry to complete 40 moves in the allotted two hours, missed a safe continuation and walked into serious trouble. Anand, closing in on a possible victory, kept his cool and found an easier way to win in 41 moves.

Sensing a certain defeat, Kramnik sacrificed his queen and tried to complicate matters for one last time by threatening to ‘queen’ one of his queenside pawns. But Anand was equal to the challenge and put the finishing touches in a clinical manner.

Anand, who plays with white pieces on Saturday, now leads 2-1 in the 12-game match.

“It was a very complicated game,” said Anand.

“At some point, towards the end, I was open to the idea of even drawing by perpetual checks. But after Kramnik erred, I knew I could win in more than one way,” he said.

Kramnik pointed to the dubious pawn-move on the kingside that led him to the “completely lost” position.

Earlier, playing with black pieces, Anand reeled off the opening moves of their Semi Slav game in quick time while Kramnik slowed down as the game entered the middle game. The first 17 moves, until Anand advanced his rook on the kingside, followed the line played by two little-known players in 2000.

Kramnik and Anand reproduced the game between Argentina’s Davy Maurice D’Israel, playing white, against Brazil’s Eduardo Gerbelli Neto in the Paulisto championship.

Kramnik took more time to find the right continuation. As a result, after 17 moves, he had only 42 minutes to complete 23 moves while Anand had 97 minutes. But Kramnik came up with interesting tactics when he offered a bishop and grabbed Anand’s central pawn. At this stage, it was Anand’s turn to take his time.

Anand took just over half an hour to come up with a reply. Anand returned the bishop and found himself two pawns less on the board. Materially, Kramnik was ahead but the position did not offer him any exciting possibilities. It was Kramnik’s turn to defend since Anand had a lot of play as compensation for the two pawns.

Anand launched an attack from the kingside with the help of rook and bishop. Some remarkably precise play finally saw Anand break Kramnik’s resistance.

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