Kramnik Impressive In Game One
By Arvind Aaron
Underdog by rating and public opinion, Vladimir Kramnik gave a sterling display in the first game to draw Garry Kasparov by remaining in the comfort zone all the while. A rare opening choice and a good follow up strategy saw Kramnik make a draw in 25 moves with the black pieces.
Kasparov opened with the king pawn and Kramnik went 1...e5. When all expected the Petroff to come up Kramnik chose 2...Nc6, inviting the Scotch game. Kasparov opting for the Ruy Lopez saw Kramnik prefer the Berlin variation, one of the quiet lines from the Spanish book.
Kasparov's innovation came on the twelfth move when he improved on a Shirov-Krasenkov game with 12.h3. Kramnik had anticipated this and blasted out moves in quick sequence. By move 14 Kasparov was down to the last one hour and Kramnik's lead on the clock was massive.
After white could not break through with the four against three pawn structure on the king side, Kramnik planted a knight on the f5 square and offered a draw at move 25 that Kasparov took. Kasparov had under eleven minutes on his clock to Kramnik's 29. It was a disappointing result but a good one for the challenger.
In game two, Kramnik will have the advantage of making the first move on Tuesday. Fifteen games remain to be played in this $2 million dollar (is it still there?) event.