Chess

Vladimir Kramnik is having a good year. Last month he won the Melody Amber tournament; this week he won the first leg of the PCA Grand Prix in Moscow, beating Garry Kasparov in the final.

The Kramnik-Kasparov games were rather disappointing: three cautious draws, and Kramnik winning the match when Kasparov tried to win a drawn position in a five-minute decider.

There had been great fun in the semi-finals, however, with this game between Kasparov and Anand providing fine entertainment. Anand had lost the first game, and needed to win this one to stay in the tournament.

His sacrifice of a pawn in the opening, then a rook with 19.Nf4 and 20.Nxg6 brought both his bishops raging into action. Kasparov's 24...Nf3+ and 25...Qe1+ seemed to give him a comfortable ending, the exchange ahead, , but the bishops continued to cause him trouble. His 28...Bc8 and 29...g5 was necessary to drive the white rook from the f-file, and finally he achieved the draw he needed.

Anand-Kasparov:

1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 d6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Nf6 5 Nc3 a6 6 Bc4 e6 7 0-0 Be7 8 Bb3 0-0 9 f4 b5 10 e5 dxe5 11 fxe5 Nfd7 12 Qh5 Bc5 13 Be3 Bxd4 14 Bxd4 Nc6 15 Be3 Ncxe5 16 Rad1 Bb7 17 Rd4 Ng6 18 Ne2 Qe7 19 Nf4 e5 20 Nxg6 hxg6 21 Qxg6 exd4 22 Bxd4 Ne5 23 Qg3 Rae8 24 Rf5 Nf3+ 25 gxf3 Qe1+ 26 Qxe1 Rxe1+ 27 Kf2 Rd1 28 Bc5 Bc8 29 Rf4 g5 30 Re4 Rfd8 31 Re5 R8d2+ 32 Kg3 Be6 33 Rxg5+ Kh7 34 c4 Rh1 35 cxb5 axb5 36 Be3 Rxb2 37 Rh5+ Kg6 38 Rg5+ Kh7 39 Rh5+ draw.