Kramnik in a corner?

Viswanathan Anand has dominated the first half of the world championship match. The defending champion’s massive 3-0 lead leaves challenger Vladimir Kramnik in an unenviable position. Either Kramnik goes gentle into the night trying to limit damage with four draws (the best-of-12 match ends when either reaches 6.5). Or, he takes big risks.

The danger in fighting back is that Kramnik could lose by a bigger margin. Comebacks from 0-3 are not unknown but rare. Kasparov did it to Karpov in 1984 (actually from 0-5!) and Karpov returned the compliment in 1986. On the other hand, Larsen had lost 6-0 to Bobby Fischer when he tried to level a 0-3 deficit.

The odds on Anand losing three from six are very low but it’s in the realm of the possible. It’s also an open question whether Anand will be inclined to coast since he’s played very aggressively so far and may seek a KO. In practical terms, the Russian GM looks shell-shocked and it would need a remarkable transformation in form and attitude to turn this into a fight.

Game 6 was perhaps the most impressive of the three victories Anand has pulled off. Unlike games 3 and 5, where Kramnik was caught in the opening and committed tactical errors in time-trouble, game 6 was a middle-game crush delivered from even terms.

Anand took more time early despite introducing a new idea (9.h3). He had only a slight advantage in the middle game. Kramnik made a pawn sacrifice 18-c5, which Anand described as “It gives him a helluva lot of play but I keep the pawn”. Over the next 20 moves, Anand kept the pawn, nullified play and made material count.

Anand’s preparation has been so good that he has never looked in trouble and had significant pressure in four games. The adoption of 1.d4 with white was a masterstroke. According to Chessbase, Anand has played 1.d4 only 67 times in 885 games with white. It nullified Kramnik’s black preparation. Inventing the razor-sharp Bonn Variation of the Slav pushed Kramnik onto the backfoot when Anand had black. Kramnik didn’t have a plan B. We’ll know on Thursday whether he’s managed to invent one on the fly.