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Anand has made things happen

Rakesh Rao

— Photo: AFP

Pensive… Vladimir Kramnik.

BONN: In chess, unlike tennis, one unforced error at any stage of an encounter can prove decisive. Vladimir Kramnik has committed one too many so far in the World chess championship match and finds himself in an unenviable position.

With six games over and as many to go, the writing is clearly on the wall. Leading 4.5-1.5, Viswanathan Anand is just four draws away from reaching the magic figure of 6.5 points and keeping the crown.

So far, Anand has done no wrong after a sedate start. He has appeared far more intense than Kramnik, taken his time to execute the plans and more importantly, never missed a trick to bring his rival down.

Pro-active approach

Significantly, over the board, Anand has made things happen and not waited for them to happen.

Anand came up with a novelty in the third game in the Queen’s Gambit Meran and eventually won. In the fifth game, when a better-prepared Kramnik tried to test Anand in the same variation as seen in the third the Indian came up with an improvement over the previously played line. Anand quickly closed the game following Kramnik’s unforced error trying to digest an innocuous looking but ‘poisonous’ pawn.

In the sixth game, where Kramnik played black and repeated the Nimzo Indian seen in the second game, Anand uncorked another first-time move in a much-played variation to leave the Russian guessing for long. Barring the second game, where Anand agreed to sign peace when short of time, Kramnik has used up more time in every game. In the three decisive games so far, Kramnik’s below par time-management is partly responsible for the result.

Kramnik looks resigned

Kramnik, arguably the best match-player in the world for a decade, looks resigned in more ways than one. Not only has he accepted Anand’s supremacy with both colours at least once so far, but also his optimism off the board is on the wane. After the first loss, Kramnik made a firm declaration, “I will fight.” Two more defeats later, the Russian was barely audible when he uttered, “I will keep trying.”

In the closing moments of the sixth game, one could see the Russian trying and failing to hide his disappointment of losing two back-to-back classical games. As Kramnik accepted defeat by extending his hand to Anand, he could not help shaking his head in despair. For that one fleeting moment, Kramnik’s helplessness was clearly evident.

What does Kramnik do now? There is no point in going back to the team of ‘seconds’ — Peter Leko, Sergey Rublevsky and Laurent Fressinet — and letting out steam. Also, it would be futile to try and refute in just a day the ideas prepared for months by Anand and his team comprising Peter Heine Nielsen, Rustam Kasimdzhanov, Radolsav Wojtaszek and Surya Shekhar Ganguly.

Very little left

In one way, the pressure is off Kramnik and there is very little left to lose. So can he regain his composure and get back to the process instead of thinking too much about the result? A three-point lead is big but clearly not unbridgeable.

But again, there is a problem for the Russian. In the remaining six games, he plays an equal number of times with white and black pieces.

Having lost twice with white in the past week, Kramnik is unlikely to take chances and risk another defeat. With black pieces, in the classical time format, Kramnik has never beaten Anand. In fact, the last time Kramnik won a full-length game with black was against Veselin Topalov in September 2006 World title match in Elista.

So, his history with black does not point to a bright future for Kramnik, at least in the remainder of this match.

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