[chessmind] Dennis Monokroussos: Game 4: Anand-Kramnik: Live blogging with regular updates

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Posted by Dennis Monokroussos:
Game 4: Anand-Kramnik: Live blogging with regular updates
http://chessmind.powerblogs.com/posts/1224337404.shtml


   9:45
   After the excitement of yesterday's game, the players have found their
   way to a more sedate position this time around. Here are the moves so
   far:
   1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Be7 5.Bf4 O-O 6.e3 Nbd7 7.a3 c5 8.cxd5
   Nxd5 9.Nxd5 exd5 10.dxc5 Nxc5 11.Be5 Bf5 12.Be2 Bf6 13.Bxf6 Qxf6
   Some brief comments.
   (1) No Nimzo-Indian today! What that means is unclear, but it's at
   least worth noting.
   (2) 5.Bf4 isn't as popular as 5.Bg5, but it's also important and
   common. Oversimplified, the advantage is that the bishop is better on
   f4 than on g5, and the disadvantage is that Black easily achieves
   ...c5. Black winds up with an isolated pawn, but in a situation where
   it's generally a pretty minor disadvantage.
   (3) 6...c5 is both more popular and more sharp than Kramnik's choice,
   when the main line continues 7.dxc5 Bxc5 8.a3 Nc6 9.Qc2 Qa5 10.O-O-O.
   This has occurred in hundreds if not thousands of games, including a
   2002 Anand-Kramnik game! That was an "Advanced Chess" game (i.e. man +
   machine), and wound up a lively draw. Kramnik's choice is more solid,
   but has the drawback that the knight is more passive on d7 and leads
   to an IQP (isolated queen pawn) position where he can only draw.
   (4) Kramnik's 12th move was not yet a novelty, but is rare - as far as
   I can tell, it has occurred just twice before, in a couple of 2007
   games by GM Goloschapov.