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I was sure I had posted this yesterday after the game but here we go again:
Game 11 in Bonn:
You can imagine that the speculation was rampant this morning at breakfast. "Did you see Anand? He doesn't look very well" "If Kramnik wins today we are headed for tie breaks for sure" "Kramnik has some chances to win today - at least 25%" And on it went.
For the first time in the match we saw 1. e4. I was looking after Kramnik today and he arrived about 1 minute before game time - he hates being there too early. He was arriving at the board as the clock was started and e4 was played before Vladimir had sat down. He composed himself for a moment and replied with a Sicilian. He was happy to get a Najdorf, not due to his preparation but because it's a fighting position which was what he needed. He found Qc5 over the board. 12... ef5 ws the first critical position in the game and he thought Vishy found the best move in 13 Qe3. I made a note in my book that Vishy looked satisfied after this move. As it turns out he was. Vishy later commented that the game got very tricky quite early with Qc5 and ef5. But he felt quite safe after trading his N for the B on c8 followed by Kb1.
An awards ceremony came soon after the game, followed by their post game press conference. Both players were quite complimentary of one another. Kramnik noted Vishy's excellent preparation and likewise Anand was more relieved than happy to be finished against such a "lethal match player" as Kramnik. Vishy's immediate plans are to get together with his team tonite, "Put on some Cold Play and just space out". Kramnik looks forward to some rest but vows he will be back. "Actually I am enjoying chess at the moment... It was great to play with Vishy... to exchange ideas at such a high level was a very interesting chess experience."
The organizers were grateful to the Arbiters for "being invisible". We all took this as a compliment.
Game 11 in Bonn:
You can imagine that the speculation was rampant this morning at breakfast. "Did you see Anand? He doesn't look very well" "If Kramnik wins today we are headed for tie breaks for sure" "Kramnik has some chances to win today - at least 25%" And on it went.
For the first time in the match we saw 1. e4. I was looking after Kramnik today and he arrived about 1 minute before game time - he hates being there too early. He was arriving at the board as the clock was started and e4 was played before Vladimir had sat down. He composed himself for a moment and replied with a Sicilian. He was happy to get a Najdorf, not due to his preparation but because it's a fighting position which was what he needed. He found Qc5 over the board. 12... ef5 ws the first critical position in the game and he thought Vishy found the best move in 13 Qe3. I made a note in my book that Vishy looked satisfied after this move. As it turns out he was. Vishy later commented that the game got very tricky quite early with Qc5 and ef5. But he felt quite safe after trading his N for the B on c8 followed by Kb1.
An awards ceremony came soon after the game, followed by their post game press conference. Both players were quite complimentary of one another. Kramnik noted Vishy's excellent preparation and likewise Anand was more relieved than happy to be finished against such a "lethal match player" as Kramnik. Vishy's immediate plans are to get together with his team tonite, "Put on some Cold Play and just space out". Kramnik looks forward to some rest but vows he will be back. "Actually I am enjoying chess at the moment... It was great to play with Vishy... to exchange ideas at such a high level was a very interesting chess experience."
The organizers were grateful to the Arbiters for "being invisible". We all took this as a compliment.
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