1. e4 In a way it's funny that this move, played by Anand all his life, comes as a surprise now. Two games ago there seemed no reason to change the rhythm, but after his loss apparently the Anand team changed their minds. After the game Peter Heine Nielsen said in the end it was Anand himself who decided to go back to his main weapon today. The reasoning might have been something along te lines of "let's at least be sure I'll get a position I feel comfortable in. You know, I'm the best 1.e4 player in the world, Khalifman even devoted a whole series of books on it, I should be able to score half a point with it, right?" ;-) 1... c5 Of course. The Sicilian is the best scoring opening against 1.e4 and it offers excellent chances of getting winning chances. Van Delft wrote: "Kramnik needs to win at all costs and therefore is virtually forced to play the Sicilian." 2. Nf3 d6 Van Delft was expecting 2... e6 3. d4 Apparently 3. Bb5+ isn't considered a forced draw. 3... cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 The Najdorf, the king of all Sicilians. The Sveshnikov is also doing very well theoretically, but there it's much easier for White to draw the game. Although the Anand team had anticipated the Najdorf, Vishy was still a bit surprised by it. 6. Bg5 Following the latest of the latest. This move is considered quite dangerous again since Radjabov came up with a dangerous new concept against the Poisened Pawn Variation a few years ago. Van Delft: 'A notorious attacking move from the 1950s, which contains many forced draws.' 6... e6 7. f4 Qc7 This move was never played before in a World Championship match. Some examples: 7... Qb6 8. Qd2 Qxb2 9. Nb3 Qa3 10. Bd3 (10. Bxf6 gxf6 11. Be2 h5 12. O-O Nc6 13. Kh1 Bd7 14. Nb1 (14. Nd1 Rc8 15. Ne3 Qb4 16. c3 Qxe4 17. Bd3 Qa4 18. Nc4 Short-Kasparov, PCA Wch (London) 1993) 14... Qb4 15. Qe3 d5 16. exd5 Ne7 17. c4 Nf5 18. Qd3 h4 19. Bg4 Spassky-Fischer, Reykjavik (11) 1972) 10... Be7 11. O-O h6 12. Bh4 Nxe4 13. Nxe4 Bxh4 14. f5 Spassky-Fischer, Reykjavik (7) 1972 7... Be7 8. Qf3 Qc7 9. O-O-O Nbd7 10. Bd3 b5 11. Rhe1 Bb7 12. Qg3 O-O-O 13. Bxf6 Nxf6 14. Qxg7 Rdf8 15. Qg3 b4 16. Na4 Rhg8 17. Qf2 Nd7 18. Kb1 Spassky-Fischer, Reykjavik (15) 1972 8. Bxf6 Van Delft: 'The positional method. White doubles up the f-pawns, tends to have the safer king (after 0-0-0) and will follow a white square strategy.' The tactical alternative is 8. Qf3 8... gxf6

9. f5!? These days the main move here seems to be 9. Qh5 but it leads to an ending directly, which was won by current Russian Champion and former Kramnik second half a year ago: 9... Qc5 10. Qxc5 dxc5 11. Nb3 (11. Nf3 b6 12. a4 Nc6 13. O-O-O Bb7 14. g3 Bg7 15. Bg2 Ke7 16. Rhe1 Rogers-Lautier, Netherlands 2001) 11... Bd6 12. g3 Ke7 13. Bg2 Ra7 14. O-O-O Rd8 15. a4 b6 16. Nd2 Rad7 17. Nc4 Bc7 18. Rxd7+ Bxd7 19. Re1 Be8 and in the lack's bishop pair prevailed in Kamsky-Svidler, Baku Grand Prix 2008 White's latest try is 9. Qd3!? b5 10. O-O-O b4 11. Nce2 Nd7 12. Ng3 h5 13. h4 d5 14. Qf3 Bb7 15. Bd3 Nc5 16. e5 fxe5 17. fxe5 Qxe5 18. Rhe1 Bh6+ 19. Kb1 Qf4 20. Nxh5 Qxf3 21. Nxf3 Andriasian -Vachier Lagrave, European Club Cup (Kallithea) - the game ended in a draw after 42 moves. And then there's of course 9. Qd2 (the main line according to Van Delft) 9... b5 10. Be2 Bb7 11. Bh5 Ke7 12. O-O-O b4 13. Nd5+ exd5 14. exd5 Kd8 15. Qxb4 Bxd5 16. Nf5 Be6 17. Nxd6 Nd7 18. Qe4 Bxd6 19. Qxa8+ Ke7 20. Qxh8 Bxf4+ 21. Kb1 Qa5 22. Rxd7+ Kxd7 23. b3 Qxh5 24. Qxf6 Be5 25. Qf1 Bg7 26. Qxa6 Qe5 27. Rd1+ Kc7 28. Qa7+ Kc8 1/2-1/2, Najer-Kasimdzhanov, Solingen 2008 9... Qc5 "Quite interesting" - Anand. 9... Nc6 10. fxe6 fxe6 11. Bc4 Nxd4 12. Qxd4 Rg8 13. O-O-O Bd7 14. Bb3 O-O-O 15. g3 Be7 16. Na4 Rg5 17. Rd3 Re5 18. Rc3 Bc6 19. Qa7 Kd7 20. Bd5!? eventually led to a draw in Radjabov-Grischuk, Sochi Grand Prix 2008 10. Qd3 Nc6 11. Nb3 Qe5 11... Qb6 12. O-O-O Bh6+ 13. Kb1 Bf4 Savchenko-Henrichs, Pardubice 2005 12. O-O-O

12. fxe6 fxe6 13. O-O-O b5 14. Kb1 Bb7 15. Qe3 Be7 16. Be2 O-O 17. Qh3 Kh8 18. Bg4 b4 19. Ne2 Nd8 20. Ng3 a5 21. Nd4 white is slightly better Kavalek-Chandler, Bundesliga (Germany) 1982 12... exf5?! Van Delft: 'Now this is a shocking move, normally this gives White fantastic compensation.' According to Anand it was the critical moment: "If Black can get his bishops to f5 and h6, White will get into trouble." 12... Bd7 13. Be2 (13. g3 O-O-O 14. Kb1 Kb8 15. Qe3 Rc8 16. Qb6 Ka8 17. Be2 h5 Cullip-Le Quang, Oakham 1992) 13... h5 14. Kb1 O-O-O 15. Bf3 Kb8 16. a3 Be7 17. Qd2 Bc8 18. Qf2 Rd7 19. Qh4 Bd8 20. Bxh5 b5 21. g4 Bb7 22. Qf2 Teske-Mueller, Schwaebisch Gmuend 2005 13. Qe3! Played after a long think. Co-editor Arne Moll called it "an optimistic move". Van Delft: 'Quite an amazing move in return. Anand must have done quite a bit of calculation.' Rybka's 13. Kb1! seems to give White very comfortable longterm compensation - Van Delft. 13... Bg7 13... fxe4 14. Rd5 Qe6 15. Nd4! Nxd4 16. Qxd4 also looks promising for White. Both players had also looked at the line 13... Be6 14. Qb6 fxe4 15. Qxb7 Rc8 16. Bxa6 Bh6+ 17. Kb1 O-O and here Anand stopped, but Kramnik mentioned a few more moves at the press conference: 18. Qb6 f5 19. Bxc8 Rxc8 20. Nd4 "and White is simply an exchange up". 14. Rd5 14. Nd2 was also interesting, e.g. 14... Be6 (14... b5 15. Nf3 Qc5 16. Qxc5 dxc5 17. exf5 Bxf5 18. Rd5) 15. Nc4 Bxc4 16. Bxc4 white is slightly better 14... Qe7 15. Qg3 It's becom ing clear that Black's opening has not been a succes. The most he can hope for is a an ending that's easy to draw - exactly the thing he can't use in this situation, with this score in the match. 15... Rg8 Kramnik said he should have played 15... O-O "I'm not saying that it's a good move but it's the only move to try to fight somehow. But White is objectively better". After 15... Bh6+ 16. Kb1 Be6 (16... fxe4 17. Rxd6) 17. exf5! Bxd5 18. Nxd5 Black has nothing better than going for such an ending with 18... Qe5 16. Qf4 "Very exact" - Anand. "Very precize" - Kramnik. 16... fxe4 16... Be6 17. Rd1 fxe4 18. Nxe4 O-O-O (18... d5 19. Nd6+ Kf8 20. Bd3 white is slightly better ) 19. Nxd6+ Rxd6 20. Rxd6 ( Black's idea was 20. Qxd6?? Bh6+ 21. Kb1 Rd8 black has a decisive advantage ) 20... Qc7 (20... Bh6? 21. Rxc6+) 21. g3 Bh6 22. Qxh6 Qxd6 23. Bg2 17. Nxe4 f5 17... Be6 18. Rd1 transposes to the line given above 18. Nxd6+ Kf8 19. Nxc8 Playing it safe. This does help Black to develop his rook, but Anand has calculated well that it's no problem at all to allow Black's queen to e1. 19. c3 Be5 20. Qh6+ Rg7 21. Nxc8 (21. Bd3? Be6 22. Nxf5 Qg5+ 23. Qxg5 Rxg5 black has a decisive advantage ) 21... Rxc8 22. Rd1 also looks OK for White but it's less clear. Kramnik said he was hoping for 19. Bd3 Be6 20. Nxf5 because he had seen the strange move 20... Qb4 "and everthing's hanging, e.g." 21. Qd6+ (21. Rd4 refutes Kramnik's idea) 21... Qxd6 22. Rxd6 Be5 "trapping the rook". 19... Rxc8 20. Kb1 "A very cool reaction - I don't have tricks anymore" - Kramnik. 20... Qe1+ 20... Nb4 21. Rxf5 Rxc2 22. Rxf7+ Qxf7 23. Qxb4+ 21. Nc1 At first sight this might look a bit scary, but not if you've seen it all. 21... Ne7

21... Bxb2? 22. Kxb2 Rg4 23. Nd3! white has a decisive advantage 21... Qb4!? 22. Nd3! Qxf4 23. Nxf4 white is slightly better 22. Qd2! There you have it - the key move that kills all of Black's counterplay before it even started. 22... Qxd2 23. Rxd2 Bh6 24. Rf2 Be3 and since he has no winning chances at all, Kramnik offered a draw, thereby throwing in the towel and resigning the World Championship match. 1/2-1/2 [P Doggers]