BONN game X

The battle for the =e5= square.

Weird, unhinged game.

Both players on the wing, Kramnik on the queenside and Anand on the kingside.

Unfathomable moves, but particularly from Anand. He seemed to hand out gifts on various moves. Admittedly the first one had all the hallmarks of a Trojan Horse, but the others were rather transparent attempts to prolong the match by at least one game.





The engines looked askance at Anand's move 21....e5, but at 20 ply Junior 11 accepted it as a reasonable alternative to the top favourite.

Rybka stuck with 21...h6






“I didn’t do anything special,” admitted Kramnik, “but the position became winning. It was a surprise.”

Exactly.