By IANS,
Bonn : Viswanathan Anand surprised Vladimir Kramnik by going in with a Nimzo-Indian even as many expected a Petroff from him in the second game of the World Chess Championship here Wednesday that also ended in a draw.
With this both games have ended in draws and in the third game Kramnik will hold white pieces.
The opening surprisingly was in Nimzo-Indian Samisch variation and like the first game ended in a 32-move draw.
After Anand drew easily with black it seemed he would capitalize with white and he did try. There were expectations of a Petroff Defence, in which Kramnik lost at Dortmund to Arkady Naiditsch and Vasily Ivanchuk.
But the NIIT-backed Anand instead of 1. e4, went in for a 1. d4. It was a sharp game from Anand’s side and both players once again sized each other well. At no stage did either seem to have an any definite advantage.
Into the middle game, Anand did try and create more play for himself, but Kramnik did not give him any chances.
A fair bit of the opening line seemed to have been prepared by Anand in advance and Kramnik also read it well enough not to allow any advantage to the Indian.
Though there was no overt aggression, it was clear that there was greater probing in the second game than the first.
Ultimately the duo decided to split the point and move on.
The first player to reach 6.5 points in the 12-game final will be declared the World Champion.
The 12-game match carries a purse of euro 1.5 million ($2.04 million) to be equally divided between the two, regardless of who wins.
In recent months, both Anand and Kramnik have played sub-par in tournaments, but that can also be because they have not revealed their preparations for the Bonn match.
The third game of the match will be played Thursday. In case of a 6-6 draw, they will play a tie-breaker.
Moves of round 2
World Chess Championship, Bonn
Anand v Kramnik
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. f3 d5 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 c5 7. cxd5 Nxd5 8. dxc5 f5 9. Qc2 Nd7 10. e4 fxe4 11. fxe4 N5f6 12. c6 bxc6 13. Nf3 Qa5 14. Bd2 Ba6 15. c4 Qc5 16. Bd3 Ng4 17. Bb4 Qe3+ 18. Qe2 O-O-O 19. Qxe3 Nxe3 20. Kf2 Ng4+ 21. Kg3 Ndf6 22. Bb1 h5 23. h3 h4+ 24. Nxh4 Ne5 25. Nf3 Nh5+ 26. Kf2 Nxf3 27. Kxf3 e5 28. Rc1 Nf4 29. Ra2 Nd3 30. Rc3 Nf4 31. Bc2 Ne6 32. Kg3 Rd4 1/2-1/2