Game Two also ends in a draw

In a sharp endgame battle Anand kept the Queen, rook and bishop while Adams had Queen, rook and knight. Forgoing the right to castle Adams was made to resist white’s advances.

However, Anand could not make any headway in the Queen and bishop versus Queen and knight ending and the game was drawn after 48 moves.

EXCITING STUFF: Adams and Anand played a high quality five-hour draw in the first game of their round 7 clash. The players demonstrated admirable fighting spirit and Adams in the end was pressing Anand until it was clear nothing would remain on the board but the two Kings. Adams chose one of his favourite anti-Sicilian weapons. “I expected Bb5+ either on move 3 or 6,so this opening wasn’t a surprise at all.”

Anand mentioned afterwards. Adams had played 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.c3 Nf6 4.Be2 g6 5.O-O Bg7 6.Bb5+ several times before in the tournament. Adams offered an interesting pawn sacrifice with the move 7.d4!? and Anand who was generally spending several minutes per move didn’t hesitate before taking with 7..Nxe4.

The players followed a game Ulibin – Garcia Ilundain, Las Palmas 93 until Adams varied with the theoretical novelty 16.Qh3!? (Ulibin had played 16.Qe2 e5 17.Bxf6 Bxf6 18.Ne4 with compensation for the pawn.) Anand reacted with the move 16..Kf7 “I should play 16..g5!” felt Anand.“ Then I can draw. But I decided to go fishing and ended up getting less from the position.”

Adams put the clamps on Black’s e6 and d6 pawns with 17.f4! and set about increasing the pressure. France’s top player Joel Lautier thought black was doing fine in this position, “Black should try and exchange the dark square bishops. Then white might double on the d-file but Anand’s position is solid.” For several moves Anand might have offered a bishop exchange, even 21…Nd5!? is possible, but preferred to keep bishops on the board. Adams went for the black King with 21.g4 and 22.g5 and it wasn’t clear who had the advantage. Anand’s move 28..Rxh6 signalled he would be happy with a draw as he was returning his extra material to defuse the position (28..Rxc4 is a try for Black advantage). Anand offered a draw with his move 29..Rxg3+ which Adams declined as he was regaining all his material and his pieces were more active than Black’s.

The rook endgame after 33.Nxf6+ gave White a slight but clear advantage. Anand said “I felt he missed something in this ending but I’m not sure where.” Adams repeated moves around the time control (move 40) to gain thinking time and then found a strong plan (39.Rb5 and a5-a6) Anand defended actively with his King and rook and Adams never had a clear win. Anand thought that 43.b3 wasn’t the best move. “43.Rxa7 looks better, but there is this variation I calculated where he gets his pawns to a7 and g7, I win his rook after queening my c-pawn and it is still a draw!" (An example of Anand’s idea might be White: Ra7, Rg7, Kf5 Black: Kc1, Rd8 White to play. 1.Kf6 or 1.Kg6 Ra8! and White can only draw.)Moves

GAME 2 (Anand vs Adams)

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 d5 4. d4 c5 5. cxd5 cxd4
6. Qx4 Nxd5 7. e4 Nxc3 8. Qxc3 Nc6 9. Bb5 Bd7 10. O-O Qb6 11. a4 Qc5 12. Qd3 Qd6 13. Qe2 Qc7 14. e5 Bc5 15. Rd1 a6 16. Bd3 h6 17. Bf4 Nb4 18. Be4 Bc6 19.
Nd2 Rd8 20. Bxc6 Qxc6 21. Ne4 Rxd1 22. Rxd1 Be7 23. Nd6 Bxd6 24. exd6 Nd5 25. Be5 f6 26. Qh5 Kf8 27. Bg3 Qe8 28. Qg4 h5 29. Qe4 Qd7 30. h4 Kf7 31. Rc1 g6 32. Qc2 Rd8 33. Qc4 Kg7 34. a5 Kf7 35. b3 Kg7 36. Qd3 Rc8 37. Rc4 Rxc4 38. bxc4 Nb4 39.Qd2 Nc6 40. Bf4 Nb8 41. Be3 Qc6 42. Qb4 Nd7 43. c5 Qd5 44.
Qa4 Qc6 45. Qf4 Kg8 46. Qc4 Kf7 47. Qf4 Kg8 48. Qc4 1/2-1/2