The Hindu : Sport / Chess : Kramnik stays positive

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Kramnik stays positive

Rakesh Rao

BONN: This is just the kind of situation the chess followers from around the world, sans Russia, have been waiting for.

Trailing by a point after four games, Vladimir Kramnik finds himself out of his comfort zone on the second rest day of the on-going World chess championship match against Viswanathan Anand.

Undefeated in three World title matches since 2000, Kramnik has never conceded the lead so early. The Russian bounced back against Peter Leko (in 2004) and Veselin Topalov (2006) to keep the crown he won from Garry Kasparov (2000).

A rarity

At the highest level, a player losing with white pieces is a rarity. Kramnik’s last defeat with white pieces in a classical time format came against Norway’s Magnus Carlsen in the Corus championship at Wijk aan Zee in January this year.

The third-round defeat, and the manner in which Anand inflicted it, is sure to hurt Kramnik more. After all, it was after 11 years that he was losing to Anand with white and only for the third time in the span of 12 years.

After losing the third game and drawing the fourth, Kramnik looked pensive but stayed positive.

“I’ve just lost one game. It happens. I’ve made certain conclusions but I don’t think something dramatic has happened. I don’t have to take extraordinary measures. I just have to play and get one good game,” said the optimistic challenger.

Kramnik agrees that the chess world is increasingly witnessing black scoring over white. “With the help of computers, preparing against white has become a bit easier in modern chess. But I will try and take it in a different direction on Monday,” said Kramnik as he indicated his intention to strike back with white in the fifth game. On his part, Anand will be looking to strike again when Kramnik is down but not clearly out.

Good preparation

Indeed, Anand has prepared for this match with a different intensity. In his own words, “In a match, you have to deal with a single player but you have to deal with him again and again. So you are supposed to go deep rather than broad. In the chess sense, in a match, you cover very few areas but you squeeze the water out of a rock.

“In a match, you get this feeling of being watched. You are thinking of no one but him and he is thinking of no one but you. That is the element that comes across in a match. If you don’t beat the guy, you are not going to win. In a match, you can’t win by half a point.”

Going by the thoughts, both are keen for another decisive result that in turn will have a huge impact on the direction of the match.

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