Kramnik seems to have lost all respect for the champ. I mean, this guy has the most solid rep in the world, and here he is, tossing a pawn for active piece play! Highly uncharacteristic.
10.axb5 Nxb3 11.cxb3 axb5 12.Rxa8 Bxa8 13.Nxe5 d5
Black tries to blast the centre open in order to activate his second bishop.
14.Bg5
An interesting alternative is 14.Ng4 dxe4 15.Nxf6+ Qxf6 16.dxe4 Rd8 17.Qc2.
14...dxe4!?
14...Be7 is the normal line here.
15.dxe4 Qxd1 16.Rxd1 b4 17.Bxf6
White would appear to have less than nothing after 17.Nd5 Bxf2+ 18.Kxf2 Nxe4+ 19.Kg1 Nxg5.
This position only took about 15 minutes to reach, so both players were obviously following their preparation. Here, however, Kramnik started to slow down, perhaps realising that Black is in for a bit of torture if White plays correctly. After all, White has a slight material plus and no serious weaknesses.
Funny thing, this home analysis: More often than not, it looks better in the hotel room than it does in the tournament hall!
21...h5 22.h4
Fixing Black's weakest pawn on a square where the bishops cannot defend it.
22...Ke7 23.Kf2 Bb7
24.c4?
The plan of creating a passed pawn on the queenside, is not particularly dangerous. After all, Black has two bishops and a centralised king ready to deal with an eventual passer. Going for the weakness on h5, was much more in keeping with White's 22nd move. 24.Ra1 Be5 25.Ra5 Bxc3 (otherwise c4, Ke3 and f4) 26.Rxh5 must have been a big improvement.
24...Be5 25.Rd2 Bc8 26.Rd5 Be6 27.Ra5 c5!
Closing the fifth rank. The pawn is taboo on account of Bd4+.
28.Ke3 Bd4+ 29.Kd3
29...f5!
Getting rid of the doubled pawn and also denying White's rook the h8-square.
30.b4 fxe4+ 31.Kxe4 Bf2
31...Bxc4 32.bxc5 Bf2 33.c6 was clearly in White's favour. For example 33...Bxh4? 34.c7 Kd7 (34...Be6 35.Ra8) 35.c8Q+ Kxc8 36.Rc5+ and White wins.
32.bxc5 Bxh4 33.c6 Kd6
This seems to be the simplest way of holding.
34.Rxh5 Bf2 35.g4 Kxc6 36.Rh2 Bc5 37.Rc2 f6
White still has a rook and two pawns for two bishops, but how to improve? Kasparov makes a final run for it, but Kramnik has everything worked out.
Einar Gausel
