KRAMNIK - ARONIAN GAME 03

KRAMNIK WINS ROUND THREE.

All even now, after today's lively game.
A pleasure to follow and I have no favourite but am glad that they are even now.
Although tomorrow Aronian will play with White and have the ascendance.









1.e4 suddenly became Novelty of the week.
For Kramnik anyways. He hasn't played this for six years.

Then he goes on to surprise Aronian by turning the game into a Scotch.
Another first which means Aronian has to delve into his own past.
Today's game was such fun because in a way they weren't straining at the leash of a serious game. I'm not even sure this will count towards the ratings.

Obviously Aronian was going for a win to start with.Move 5...Bc5 [and then to -b6-]rather than pushing further to -b4- is a witness to that.

And then comes the first coup-de-foudre: preparation for 0-0-0 from White 7.Qd2 followed by the push 9...d5, which was becoming a necessity after what Black played up till then and leading to that spectacular Queen sacrifice.

They did us proud today: it was fun, witty even, in a poetic sort of way, and Kramnik especially, very competent.