Kramnik and Anand Draw to Begin Match

The World Chess Championship Match began today, with Vladimir Kramnik taking White against current Champion Viswanathan Anand. Kramnik began the match with 1. d4, and the game quickly moved into a relatively quiet line of the Exchange Slav. Although Kramnik won a pawn, Anand had plenty of counterplay and comfortably held the draw in 32 moves. The complete score of the first game:

White: Vladimir Kramnik
Black: Viswanathan Anand
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.cxd5 cxd5 5.Bf4 Nc6 6.e3 Bf5 7.Nf3 e6 8.Qb3 Bb4 9.Bb5 0-0 10.Bxc6 Bxc3+ 11.Qxc3 Rc8 12.Ne5 Ng4 13.Nxg4 Bxg4 14.Qb4 Rxc6 15.Qxb7 Qc8 16.Qxc8 Rfxc8 17.0-0 a5 18.f3 Bf5 19.Rfe1 Bg6 20.b3 f6 21.e4 dxe4 22.fxe4 Rd8 23.Rad1 Rc2 24.e5 fxe5 25.Bxe5 Rxa2 26.Ra1 Rxa1 27.Rxa1 Rd5 28.Rc1 Rd7 29.Rc5 Ra7 30.Rc7 Rxc7 31.Bxc7 Bc2 32.Bxa5 Bxb3 draw agreed.

Game Two is Wednesday at 3 PM local time (9 AM Eastern US), and represents Anand's first game as White. I think we can expect somewhat sharper play in Anand's first white game, though he may be using the game to feel things out and settle into the match as well. An early win by either player would do a lot to open up play, especially in a relatively short match such as this one.