BONN game IV

It was a moderately interesting game.

In tennis the motto is: If your opponents breaks you, turn round and get a point yourself immediately.

In chess it seems to be: If you lose as White, take a breather with a draw.
Hmmmm.

QGD, 5.Bf4 system, as played my many top level players today. Replacing 5.Bg5.

One theme running through the middle game was the placement of Black's Knight: =e6= or =e4=, a dilemma coming up at various stages of the game.

Move 11....Bf5 was a bit of a stirrer. Played before of course, but still a bit of a surprise to Anand it seemed, as it set him thinking.

Move 13.Bxf6 had a few alternatives. One was 13.0-0 which looked reasonable too, but no promise of an advantage.

I had high hopes of 14.Qxd5 rather than the text 14.Nd4, but again, this line seems to fizzle out as well.

14....Ne6 was considered somewhat rash on Kramnik's part. I saw little wrong with it. 14...Ne4 would have helped White as would 14...Be4

If, as Anand suggested after the game, Kramnik had played 18...d4, rather than the text 18....Nc5, we could have had a bit of fun.

A real hornet's nest would have been opened up. Pity we won't ever get to see that.

As it was, game IV trundled into a draw without much excitement but sufficient interest to keep us admiring their OTB skill and home preparation.