Chess

Vladimir Kramnik won a remarkable game against Garry Kasparov in the fifth round of the Novgorod tournament. Playing against the world champion's favourite King's Indian Defence, Kramnik found a curious but effective way of attacking on the K-side, which is where Black is supposed to have the advantage. The winning move, however, came from a piece that had seemed stranded on the other wing.

When Kramnik grabbed a pawn with 16.g3 followed by Qh5 and Qxg5 it seemed as though Black's K-side attack was on course. After 20...f5 White's king looked vulnerable and his white squares weak, but 22...Kh7 was a bad misjudgement.

With 23.gxf4! and 24.Kh1! Kramnik regained the initiative by clearing the way for his rook on a3 to reach the K-side. His 25.Nf3! was finely calculated: 26...Ne5 loses to Nxe5, while 26...Nh4 is met by Ng5+. The move that killed Kasparov, however, was 31.Nc7!! in the diagram position, when 31...Qxc7 32.Qxh6+! Kxh6 33.Rh3 is mate. At the end, 32.Ne6 Rg8 lets Black fight on, since 33.Rxg8 Qxg8 34.Bxf4 Ra1+ wins for him, but 32.Bxf4! is fatal. After 32...Bxf4 33.Ne6 Rg8 34.Rxg8 Qxg8 35.Qf5+ Kh8 36.Qf6+ Black is dead.

White: Vladimir Kramnik

Black: Garry Kasparov

1 Nf3 Nf6 17 Bxh3 Bxh3

2 c4 g6 18 Qh5 Qd7

3 Nc3 Bg7 19 Qxg5 h6

4 e4 d6 20 Qe3 f5

5 d4 0-0 21 Qe2 f4

6 Be2 e5 22 Nb5 Kh7

7 0-0 Nc6 23 gxf4 exf4

8 d5 Ne7 24 Kh1 Bg4

9 b4 Nh5 25 Nf3 Ng6

10 Re1 Nf4 26 Rg1 Bxf3+

11 Bf1 a5 27 Qxf3 Ne5

12 bxa5 Rxa5 28 Qh5 Qf7

13 Nd2 c5 29 Qh3 Nxc4

14 a4 Ra6 30 Rf3 Be5

15 Ra3 g5 31 Nc7 Rxa4

16 g3 Nh3+ 32 Bxf4 resigns

Scores after round six: Kasparov and Kramnik 41/2; Topalov 3; Bareyev 21/2; Gelfand 2; Short 11/2.