Qatar Masters 2014
Kramnik started with two draws, against GM Halkias (rated 2519, but in fact much stronger than that) in an Evans Gambit (!) when he was worse, and against Shyam Sundar, rated 2484. I have in fact played Shyam back in 2008, in Benasque, when an interesting game ended in a draw. At least I was black then.
Kramnik was white against Shyam and I was very surprised to read that he considered himself “unlucky” in that game. Does a World Champion rated 300 points more than his opponent, and playing with the white pieces, need luck to beat his opponent? I am a big fan of Kramnik, but sometimes these guys are really way too entitled, expecting everything to come to them, even Lady Luck, when they can’t get the job done by playing good moves. And when this doesn’t happen, they whine about it! A shame, really.
Still, let’s not forget that Kramnik is a strong player. Today he produced a nice attacking effort:
Qh5 more accurate takes away Bf8 possibility which still mates… Kramnik a surgeon till the final blow