Anand, Kramnik settle for quiet draw

With the first half of the tournament not going quite the way he would have liked, FIDE World champion Vishwanathan Anand preferred to play out a quiet draw against BrainGames World champion Vladimir Kramnik in the fifth round of the Sparkassen Dortmund Chess Meeting 2001 at the beautiful Operahaus on Monday evening.

The clash between the two world champions evoked a lot of interest in last month's Chess Classic, at Mainz, which was won by the Indian. This time around, Kramnik is well placed in the tournament and in the lead with 3.5 points from five games while Anand is not having so great an event, having lost once to Veselin Topalov and drawn four times for two points.

Yet Anand, the NIIT brand ambasssador, tried to look optimistic with the view that there are still five more rounds to go.

"Well there's one more half to go. Sure it has not been what I would have expected or wanted. But that's how it is sometimes," he said.

The game, which saw Kramnik adopt the Petroff defence, lasted merely 17 moves and was drawn in less than two hours.

In another game, Veselin Topalov and Peter Leko played out a 26 move draw after a Queen's Indian defence in the opening. Topalov had white.

The third game, which was an English opening between Alexander Morozevich and Michael Adams, was still in progress.

So after five rounds and the first half of the event, Kramnik is the sole leader with 3.5 points, while Topalov and Leko have three points each. Anand has two. Morozevich has one point, while Adams has 1.5 points and their individual clash was in progress.

Anand said there was no point in taking chances on the board as there was no clear advantage with white for him to continue.

"Once he (Kramnik) played a6 on the 16th move, it limited options for me. I offered a draw; he took it," said Anand.

After five rounds, Anand has four draws and one loss and has two points, a very low score for him. Kramnik has two wins and three draws for 3.5 points, a clear 1.5 points ahead of Anand.

Kramnik's going for Petroff defence made it clear he was happy with a draw.

The two players will clash once more in the ninth round and that time Kramnik will have white pieces.

In terms of career meetings, the NIIT-sponsored Anand held a slight edge in their previous 83 meetings. With 14 against nine losses, it might seem a big gap, but the fact is the Indian has a huge advantage in rapid and blitz games. Kramnik is slightly ahead in classical events.

Interestingly, at the Dortmund event last year, Anand went down to Kramnik and after that his next loss came against Topalov in the third round. In between, Anand had won numerous titles, including the World Cup in China and the World Championships in classical chess, and remained unbeaten.

Tuesday will be a rest day. On Wednesday, Anand has white against Morozevich.

In the other games in the sixth round, Kramnik will have white against Topalov and Adams will have white pieces and a chance to avenge his first round defeat against Leko.

Earlier report
Anand draws fourth game with Hungarian Peter Leko