Anand strikes back

Indian world champion Vishwanathan Anand lived upto his reputation of being the world's best in Rapid chess when he crushed Kramnik to stage a comeback on the fourth day of his 10-game clash against Braingames champion Vladimir Kramnik of Russia, at the Mainz Chess Classics Rapid festival.

Anand came good when it mattered in an exciting game that had the experts and laymen guessing. And in the end, with less than third of a minute left on his clock, Vladimir Kramnik put out his hand in a gesture of resignation and that brought the duel of the World Champions at the Rheingoildhalle in Mainz alive once again.

Later in the evening, the two drew the sixth game where Anand played with white pieces.

After six games, the two are now level at 3-3 and there are four more games to go.

Anand, pulled out a great move, which is a novelty and could not at least for the moment be found on most databases. His 17th move, h6, was one that Kramnik failed to read and in the end spelt disaster for him.

Kramnik probably felt he could not win and so may well have gone for a draw. That seemed to be the reason for throwing his minor pieces for a clutch of pawns. Anand kept playing as the watching Grandmasters agreed and differed by the minute.

When one of the Indian scribes asked about how he felt after the loss and now after winning and equalling the match, the smiling Anand said, "I really don't want to look back. It is now level and there is four more games to go. Maybe after the match, I will go over it and then see it all."

On the matter of him facing the time pressure, Kramnik smiled and said, "As the time went down, so did my position. The time I could handle, but not the position." Then he later added, "Maybe I had drawing chances. I think I saw them in my head, but needed a little time to play them."

As the end of the fifth game approached, Anand was slowly but surely gaining ascedancy and at the same time Kramnik kept indicating that a draw was possible. But when it came to the end, Anand had two minor pieces to Kramnik's three pawns and Anand managed pulled off a win with that.

There were times when Kramnik was under serious time pressure and at one stage he had just three seconds on the clock and then he rattled off three moves in quick succession to get back to more than half a minute.

But no amount of time could save him, or so it seemed and ultimately with 18 seconds on the clock, he resigned on the 48th move to give the Anand a much-needed win.

Anand had little time to reflect on his win in the fifth game as the the sixth game was just round the corner, the players drew in 24 moves from an Archangelsk variation in the Ruy Lopez.

Round 5
White: Vladimir Kramnik
Black: Vishwanathan Anand
Result: 0-1

1. d4 d5 2. c4 dxc4 3. Nf3 e6 4. e3 Nf6 5. Bxc4 c5 6. O-O a6 7. Bb3 Nbd7 8. Qe2 b5 9. a4 Bb7 10. axb5 axb5 11. Rxa8 Qxa8 12. Nc3 b4 13. Nb5 Qb8 14. e4 cxd4 15. Nbxd4 Bd6 16. Bxe6 fxe6 17. Nxe6 h6 18. Nxg7+ Kf7 19. Nf5 Bxe4 20. Nxh6+ Kg7 21. h3 Rxh6 22. Bxh6+ Kxh6 23. Rd1 Bxf3 24. Qxf3 Be5 25. Qe3+ Kg7 26. Qg5+ Kf7 27. Qf5 Nf8 28. b3 Bc3 29. g3 Qe5 30. Qxe5 Bxe5 31. f4 Bc3 32. Kg2 Ne4 33. g4 Nd2 34. f5 Nxb3 35. g5 Nc5 36. Kf3 b3 37. h4 b2 38. h5 Bd2 39. Rb1 Bc1 40. Ke2 Nb3 41. Kd3 Nd2 42. Rxb2 Bxb2 43. Kxd2 Kg7 44. Kd3 Bc1 45. g6 Nd7 46. Ke4 Nf6+ 47. Ke5 Nxh5 0-1

Round 6
White: Vishwanathan Anand
Black: Vladimir Kramnik
Result: 1/2-1/2

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O b5 6. Bb3 Bc5 7. a4 Bb7 8. d3 O-O 9. axb5 axb5 10. Rxa8 Bxa8 11. Nc3 b4 12. Nd5 Nxd5 13. Bxd5 d6 14. c3 bxc3 15. bxc3 Ne7 16. Bxa8 Qxa8 17. d4 exd4 18. cxd4 Bb6 19. Qc2 h6 20. Re1 Re8 21. Bd2 Ng6 22. h3 d5 23. e5 Nf8 1/2-1/2

Earlier reports:
Anand faces uphill task
Kramnik downs Anand in game 3
Anand-Kramink draw first two boards