I hoped you would know

I am completely out of book and/or silicon. But the a7 pawn is poisionous, right? (14...Rd8)

So Kramnik doesn't want to play 12 Nxc5 Bxc5 13 Qa4+. I was assuming this would force 13...Ke7, but maybe it didn't matter.

My. I'm no expert - where's Inn2 when you need him? - but this dxc5 doesn't look terribly pressing. Can it be that Kramnik really wants to halve this out with White?

'Genuinely' in my last post should have said 'generally', of course.

It will be very interesting to see what the next game brings.  It seems very likely that Kramnik will aim for another Catalan -- he has done decently with that so far, and it makes little sense to change to something riskier at this stage.  The real question is whether Topalov will be willing to play a Catalan again -- it is dangerous to give Kramnik so many bites at that apple, especially since he has had a few extra days to work something out.  Topalov must also be sorely disappointed with the results of the last three games (I mean the 4, 6, and 7). He went from a game in which he had some pressure and missed his chances, to a quick draw, to a game where Kramnik turned down some implicit draw offers to try for the full point.  This doesn't count as progress.  It therefore seems likely that Topalov will try something new -- Kramnik was patient enough when -1 against Leko, but I don't think Topalov has the same level of comfort in match play, and especially given how he got his first point, he must be growing concerned.

So, I will also be bold and predict a Kramnik victory.  He looked sharp today, willing to fight on even after equalizing, and since he hasn't had the White pieces in a while, I am sure that he is ready for a battle.  Since another victory at this point would virtually seal the match in his favor, I have to believe that he is going to strive for 1-0.  I'm looking forward to an exciting game, regardless.

In reply to Markovich: I think this might be one of those games where the commentators are very keen to sacrifice someone else's pieces - or in this case weaken someone else's kingside for vague compensation. 25 g4's all very well, but......

IMJohnCox wrote on 10/04/06 at 20:56:54:


That would be me, in the unlikely event of a KID I predicted dxe5! and draw, as Georgiev did against the Mad Hacker Sutovsky to win a tournament earlier this year. I forget which tournament though, but I am sure some forum poster will fill in the blanks.

In any case the exchange variation against the KID should be enough of a deterrent against someone desperate to win as Black. Dutch, Benko or Mordern Benoni are all better for this purpose I would think.

Toppy  

Keano wrote on 10/04/06 at 16:30:24:


Not a very good game after the opening, I opine.  White dithered.