World chess champion Viswanathan Anand of India survived a scare and moved to within a half point of retaining his title with a hard-fought draw against his Russian challenger Vladimir Kramnik in game nine here on Sunday. This gives Anand a 6-3 advantage in the 12-game match. He now only needs one draw out of the last three games to keep his title. After the game, Anand acknowledged that his situation was at times dire. “I had the worst position I've had so far. There were quite a few moments when I thought I was lost,” he said. Kramnik chose to defend the Semi-Slav Defense as Black. “I must have done something wrong in the opening and sort of messed it up,” Anand said. He pointed to his 18th move as one possible mistake. Kramnik had the bishop pair and open lines for which Anand had scant compensation. “My position was just better, but it was not so easy,” Kramnik said. Anand spent 23 minutes on his 20th move, leaving himself with only 27 minutes for the next 20 moves. Each player gets two hours for his first 40 moves. Kramnik gave up the bishop pair in order to win a pawn but in so doing introduced opposite-color bishops into the position, which would complicate any winning tries. In the end, both players ran short of time, and it was in mutual time trouble that Kramnik's chances slipped away. “My position was close to winning but I was a bit short of time,” Kramnik said. At move 35, he acknowledged, he came close to blundering into a checkmate, spending a precious minute calculating a losing move. Unfortunately, instead of playing the losing move, he also did not play what English grandmaster Daniel King called “the only move to keep winning chances alive.” At that point, Kramnik got the queens off the board. His 38th move was clever - it sacrificed a bishop to get an advanced passed pawn. “It threw me off,” Anand said. This did not, however, change the essential nature of the position because Anand could always return the material to stop the pawn. Having passed the first time control, Kramnik spent a half hour on his 41st move. He had an obvious forced draw but was able to find a way to keep the game going a few moves longer. Anand called the idea “a nice trap.” He easily sidestepped it and Kramnik had little choice but to give up his advanced pawn for Anand's bishop and then shake hands. Asked about game 10 on Monday, where he will have the white pieces and must win to keep the match going, Kramnik said: “I understand that I don't have many chances, but I will fight.” The moves: Anand-Kramnik, game nine: 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 c6 5. Bg5 h6 6. Bh4 dxc4 7. e4 g5 8. Bg3 b5 9. Be2 Bb7 10. Qc2 Nbd7 11. Rd1 Bb4 12. Ne5 Qe7 13. O-O Nxe5 14. Bxe5 O-O 15. Bxf6 Qxf6 16. f4 Qg7 17. e5 c5 18. Nxb5 cxd4 19. Qxc4 a5 20. Kh1 Rac8 21. Qxd4 gxf4 22. Bf3 Ba6 23. a4 Rc5 24. Qxf4 Rxe5 25. b3 Bxb5 26. axb5 Rxb5 27. Be4 Bc3 28. Bc2 Be5 29. Qf2 Bb8 30. Qf3 Rc5 31. Bd3 Rc3 32. g3 Kh8 33. Qb7 f5 34. Qb6 Qe5 35. Qb7 Qc7 36. Qxc7 Bxc7 37. Bc4 Re8 38. Rd7 a4 39. Rxc7 axb3 40. Rf2 Rb8 41. Rb2 h5 42. Kg2 h4 43. Rc6 hxg3 44. hxg3 Rg8 45. Rxe6 Rxc4 draw agreed. - AP __
