pgn4web personal account on Kramnik and the Petrov, part 1: in October 1998, I watched this game live from the tournament hall in Tilburg. At some point I was hoping to witness a masterpiece sacrifice win from Kramnik, but apparently Anand was well prepared.

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Date: October 24, 1998
Location: Tilburg
Tournament: Tilburg Fontys
Round:
Opening: C42 Petrov's Defence, including Marshall Trap
Submitted by: pgn4web with notes from http://www.chessgames.com
Published on: July 27, 2018

[Event "Tilburg Fontys] [Site "Tilburg] [Date "1998.10.24] [Round "2] [White "Anand, Viswanathan] [Black "Kramnik, Vladimir] [Result "1-0] [ECO "C42] [Opening "Petrov] [Variation "classical attack, Chigorin variation] [Annotator "pgn4web with notes from http://www.chessgames.com] [WhiteElo "2825] [BlackElo "2810] [WhiteFideId "5000017] [BlackFideId "4101588] [WhiteTitle "GM] [BlackTitle "GM"] { pgn4web personal account on Kramnik and the Petrov, part 1: in October 1998, I watched this game live from the tournament hall in Tilburg. At some point I was hoping to witness a masterpiece sacrifice win from Kramnik, but apparently Anand was well prepared. } 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nf3 Nxe4 5. d4 d5 6. Bd3 Nc6 7. O-O Be7 8. Re1 Bg4 9. c3 f5 { This is a very old line, with games from Lasker and Capablanca's times. } 10. Qb3 O-O 11. Nbd2 Na5 12. Qa4 { Later White tried an alternative plan with Qc2 followed by b4 and rapid expansion on the queenside, often preceeded by a repetition, as in } (12. Qa4 Nc6 13. Qb3 Na5 14. Qc2 Nc6 15. b4 { see Anand-Leko, Leon 2001 and the next game of this PGN file }) 12... Nc6 13. Bb5 Nxd2 { After this game Black tried to improve with } (13... Bh4 14. g3 Bf6 15. Bxc6 bxc6 16. Qxc6 Re8 { as in Anand-Kamnik at Wijk An Zee 1999 and in Shirov-Kramnik, Belgrade 1999 }) 14. Nxd2 Qd6 { So far following Anand-Yusupov, Linares 1993, where 15. Nb3 ensued, eventually a draw. } 15. h3 { This novelty was suggested by Anand's second Ubilava after the game in Linares. 15. h3 diverts Black's Bishop control of the e6 square and makes sure the h Pawn will not be captured when the Black's Queen arrives on h2. This move was voted the 4th most important novelty in Informant 74. } 15... Bh5 16. Nb3 Bh4 17. Nc5 Bxf2+ { A thematic sacrifice for the variation, but Anand was well prepared. } 18. Kxf2 Qh2 19. Bxc6 bxc6 20. Qxc6 f4 21. Qxd5+ Kh8 22. Qxh5 f3 23. Qxf3 { Apparently Anand's home analysis already assessed this position as won for White. } 23... Rxf3+ 24. Kxf3 Rf8+ 25. Ke2 Qxg2+ 26. Kd3 Qxh3+ 27. Kc2 Qg2+ 28. Bd2 Qg6+ 29. Re4 h5 30. Re1 Re8 31. Kc1 Rxe4 32. Nxe4 h4 33. Ng5 Qh5 34. Re3 Kg8 35. c4 { Sadly, it was not the day for a masterpiece sacrifice win from Kramnik, but look at the next game to see what happened more than 10 years later. } 1-0