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Probably by now you know that Kramnik won game 10 beautifully. This morning I posted the comments below ( in italics) on the CFC Board. I'm glad I did! Lots of gloom and doom for Kramnik at breakfast today. The mood in the playing hall today prior to the game was more like a funeral. The announcements at the start of the game detailed how this could be the final one of the match. We were briefed on the closing procedures, etc. Surprise, surprise!
Today was another Nimzo indian, and it was Kramnik who sent Vishy into the tank with 18. Re1. Kramnik called it a "strange position.. full of nuances...difficult to understand even for top level players. White seems to be losing a lot of tempi but in fact the Black pieces lose co-rodination and it is not clear how to use these tempi." He considered 22...Bg4 slightly inaccurate and 23. Qa6 a strong refutation. 23...f6 was considered Vishy's decisive mistake.
Vishy agreed that Re1 was a tricky move. He felt that after 24. a4 he was worse. He could not or would not elaborate on where he went wrong. Outwardly Vishy looked the same at the post game press conference but he had few words.
Tomorrow is another rest day and Kramnik must now keep winning to continue the match past Wednesday. Here is my morning post:
The last 2 games have been narrow escapes for Anand. I have had some great discussions with Yasser about them. Despite these close calls, Yasser still believes that game 10 today will be the final game of the match.
"Kramnik just isn't seeing anything." This is bad news for the organizers, who have sold out the hall for games 11 and 12.
In game 8 Vladimir had a winning liquidation sequence but mishandled it. Apparently instead of 23. Rd1 he should have first played Kg2 to cover his Rook on f2. Then the liquidation leads to a winning Knight ending because the Black Knight is stuck on d8 and the h pawn becomes the White King's lunch. Yasser played several lines with Rybka and won each time. Strategically this plan was not so hard to see - but Yasser can make it sound so easy!
Yesterday in game 9 Kramnik was all over Anand. He spoke in the press conference afterward, saying that he was tired of playing into Anand's preparation "being one and a half hours behind on the clock in a worse position. Today I discovered that if I get a promising position I can play well."
Anand's drawing chances came after the Q's were traded on c7. Luckily for Anand, Vlad is still smarting after missing that mate in one in his match with Fritz. He traded Queens after noticing at the last moment that his main move under consideration, 35...f5, allowed mate on h7. He was also a bit nervous about the clock, although 35. Qc7 still left him with nearly 6 minutes to reach move 40. Yasser claims that 35...Rg8 is winning.
Anand admitted that he did not play so well, and at several moments in the game he thought he was lost. Both guys went through a lot of water - I brought 6 bottles to Anand which is double his normal intake.
We had a sell out crowd for the game, which was a real pain. They were noisy. Parents brought their kids, who simply could not sit still. Plenty of coughing, footsteps, whispers, etc. After 40 moves were reached there followed a boisterous exodous of about one third of the audience. Cell phones went off on move 20 and after move 40. On the second occasion the perpetrator was escorted out.
So - what does this mean for game 10 today? I think Kramnik has some small momentum from his past 2 games and his chances to crack Vishy are atleast 40%. Almost no one here agrees with me.
Today was another Nimzo indian, and it was Kramnik who sent Vishy into the tank with 18. Re1. Kramnik called it a "strange position.. full of nuances...difficult to understand even for top level players. White seems to be losing a lot of tempi but in fact the Black pieces lose co-rodination and it is not clear how to use these tempi." He considered 22...Bg4 slightly inaccurate and 23. Qa6 a strong refutation. 23...f6 was considered Vishy's decisive mistake.
Vishy agreed that Re1 was a tricky move. He felt that after 24. a4 he was worse. He could not or would not elaborate on where he went wrong. Outwardly Vishy looked the same at the post game press conference but he had few words.
Tomorrow is another rest day and Kramnik must now keep winning to continue the match past Wednesday. Here is my morning post:
The last 2 games have been narrow escapes for Anand. I have had some great discussions with Yasser about them. Despite these close calls, Yasser still believes that game 10 today will be the final game of the match.
"Kramnik just isn't seeing anything." This is bad news for the organizers, who have sold out the hall for games 11 and 12.
In game 8 Vladimir had a winning liquidation sequence but mishandled it. Apparently instead of 23. Rd1 he should have first played Kg2 to cover his Rook on f2. Then the liquidation leads to a winning Knight ending because the Black Knight is stuck on d8 and the h pawn becomes the White King's lunch. Yasser played several lines with Rybka and won each time. Strategically this plan was not so hard to see - but Yasser can make it sound so easy!
Yesterday in game 9 Kramnik was all over Anand. He spoke in the press conference afterward, saying that he was tired of playing into Anand's preparation "being one and a half hours behind on the clock in a worse position. Today I discovered that if I get a promising position I can play well."
Anand's drawing chances came after the Q's were traded on c7. Luckily for Anand, Vlad is still smarting after missing that mate in one in his match with Fritz. He traded Queens after noticing at the last moment that his main move under consideration, 35...f5, allowed mate on h7. He was also a bit nervous about the clock, although 35. Qc7 still left him with nearly 6 minutes to reach move 40. Yasser claims that 35...Rg8 is winning.
Anand admitted that he did not play so well, and at several moments in the game he thought he was lost. Both guys went through a lot of water - I brought 6 bottles to Anand which is double his normal intake.
We had a sell out crowd for the game, which was a real pain. They were noisy. Parents brought their kids, who simply could not sit still. Plenty of coughing, footsteps, whispers, etc. After 40 moves were reached there followed a boisterous exodous of about one third of the audience. Cell phones went off on move 20 and after move 40. On the second occasion the perpetrator was escorted out.
So - what does this mean for game 10 today? I think Kramnik has some small momentum from his past 2 games and his chances to crack Vishy are atleast 40%. Almost no one here agrees with me.
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