1[Event "Tilburg Fontys"] 2[Site "Tilburg"] 3[Date "1998.10.24"] 4[Round "2"] 5[White "Anand, Viswanathan"] 6[Black "Kramnik, Vladimir"] 7[Result "1-0"] 8[ECO "C42"] 9[Opening "Petrov"] 10[Variation "classical attack, Chigorin variation"] 11[Annotator "pgn4web with notes from http://www.chessgames.com"] 12[WhiteElo "2825"] 13[BlackElo "2810"] 14[WhiteFideId "5000017"] 15[BlackFideId "4101588"] 16[WhiteTitle "GM"] 17[BlackTitle "GM"] 18 19{ pgn4web personal account on Kramnik and the Petrov, part 1: in October 201998, I watched this game live from the tournament hall in Tilburg. At some 21point I was hoping to witness a masterpiece sacrifice win from Kramnik, but 22apparently Anand was well prepared. } 23 241. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nf3 Nxe4 5. d4 d5 6. Bd3 Nc6 7. O-O Be7 258. Re1 Bg4 9. c3 f5 { This is a very old line, with games from Lasker and 26Capablanca's times. } 10. Qb3 O-O 11. Nbd2 Na5 12. Qa4 { Later White tried 27an alternative plan with Qc2 followed by b4 and rapid expansion on the 28queenside, often preceeded by a repetition, as in } (12. Qa4 Nc6 13. Qb3 29Na5 14. Qc2 Nc6 15. b4 { see Anand-Leko, Leon 2001 and the next game of 30this PGN file }) 12... Nc6 13. Bb5 Nxd2 { After this game Black tried to 31improve with } (13... Bh4 14. g3 Bf6 15. Bxc6 bxc6 16. Qxc6 Re8 { as in 32Anand-Kamnik at Wijk An Zee 1999 and in Shirov-Kramnik, Belgrade 1999 }) 3314. Nxd2 Qd6 { So far following Anand-Yusupov, Linares 1993, where 15. Nb3 34ensued, eventually a draw. } 15. h3 { $1 This novelty was suggested by 35Anand's second Ubilava after the game in Linares. 15. h3 diverts Black's 36Bishop control of the e6 square and makes sure the h Pawn will not be 37captured when the Black's Queen arrives on h2. This move was voted the 4th 38most important novelty in Informant 74. } 15... Bh5 16. Nb3 Bh4 17. Nc5 39Bxf2+ { A thematic sacrifice for the variation, but Anand was well 40prepared. } 18. Kxf2 Qh2 19. Bxc6 bxc6 20. Qxc6 f4 21. Qxd5+ Kh8 22. Qxh5 41f3 23. Qxf3 { Apparently Anand's home analysis already assessed this 42position as won for White. } 23... Rxf3+ 24. Kxf3 Rf8+ 25. Ke2 Qxg2+ 26. 43Kd3 Qxh3+ 27. Kc2 Qg2+ 28. Bd2 Qg6+ 29. Re4 h5 30. Re1 Re8 31. Kc1 Rxe4 32. 44Nxe4 h4 33. Ng5 Qh5 34. Re3 Kg8 35. c4 { Sadly, it was not the day for a 45masterpiece sacrifice win from Kramnik, but look at the next game to see 46what happened more than 10 years later. } 1-0 47 48[Event "London Chess Classic"] 49[Site "London"] 50[Date "2009.12.13"] 51[Round "5"] 52[White "Howell, David"] 53[Black "Kramnik, Vladimir"] 54[Result "1/2-1/2"] 55[ECO "C42"] 56[Opening "Petrov"] 57[Variation "classical attack, Chigorin variation"] 58[Annotator "pgn4web"] 59[WhiteElo "2597"] 60[BlackElo "2772"] 61[WhiteFideId "410608"] 62[BlackFideId "4101588"] 63[WhiteTitle "GM"] 64[BlackTitle "GM"] 65 66{ pgn4web personal account on Kramnik and the Petrov, part 2: since the 67previous game at Tilburg 1998 I did not attend in person any other top 68event until December 2009. More than 10 years had passed when I was in the 69tournament hall in London, watching Kramnik sacrificing a piece in the same 70variation of the Petrov. Again, I did not witness a masterpiece sacrifice 71win from Kramnik, but the similarity between the two games amazed me. } 72 731. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nf3 Nxe4 5. d4 d5 6. Bd3 Nc6 7. O-O Be7 748. Re1 Bg4 9. c3 f5 10. Qb3 O-O 11. Nbd2 Na5 12. Qa4 Nc6 13. Qb3 Na5 14. 75Qc2 Nc6 15. b4 a6 16. Rb1 b5 17. a4 Rb8 18. axb5 axb5 19. Ne5 Nxe5 20. dxe5 76Nxf2 { Again a piece sacrifice on f2 for attacking chances, however Howell 77defends well. } 21. Kxf2 Bh4+ 22. Kf1 Bxe1 23. Kxe1 Qh4+ 24. g3 Qxh2 25. 78Nf1 Qxc2 26. Bxc2 Rbe8 27. Bd3 Rxe5+ 28. Kf2 f4 29. gxf4 Bf5 30. Bxf5 Rexf5 7931. Ng3 R5f6 32. Kf3 Rc6 33. Bd2 g5 34. Ne2 gxf4 35. Nd4 Rg6 36. Nxb5 Rg3+ 8037. Kf2 Rd3 38. Rg1+ Kh8 39. Ke2 Rg3 40. Kf2 Rxg1 41. Kxg1 c5 42. Nd6 cxb4 8143. cxb4 Kg7 44. Bc3+ Kg6 45. b5 Rd8 46. Be5 Rb8 47. Bd4 Rd8 48. Be5 Rb8 8249. Kf2 Rb6 50. Kf3 Kg5 51. Nf7+ Kg6 52. Nd6 Kg5 53. Nf7+ Kg6 { Once again, 83not the day for a masterpiece sacrifice win from Kramnik. Maybe Kramnik and 84I will be more lucky next time, I'll tell you about part 3 of this personal 85account in another 10 years. pgn4web, London 2011. } 1/2-1/2 86 87