Khalifman and Akopian draw game two of World Chess Championship match

by Sam Sloan
Khalifman and Akopian had a rather uneventful draw in the second game of their six-game match for the world chess championship.

Vladimir Akopian

Khalifman had a clear though small advantage out of the opening, as Akopian moved his queen and bishop back and forth. However, Khalifman messed up when he played 13. Ng5. As Browne pointed out and Khalifman agreed in the press room after the match, Khalifman could have kept the pressure on with 13. Nd4 instead.

On move 18, Khalifman threatened mate in one with 18. Qc3. Rather than wait to see whether Akopian would see that, the two players agreed to a draw.

All in all, it was a rather stupid game.

Grandmaster annotations of this game are available in the following two web sites:
http://www.chessclub.com/event/fide99/fidewcg2.html
http://www.clubkasparov.ru/news/lasvegas/g17_e.htm

After the game, Khalifman came to the press room and answered a variety of questions on a variety of topics. Regarding the Internet, Khalifman said, "I am on the Internet every day. This is my job."

Final Position - Khalifman vs. Akopian

[Event "FIDE World Chess Championship"]
[Site "Las Vegas USA"]
[Date "1999.08.23"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Khalifman,Alexander"]
[Black "Akopian,Vladimir"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[Opening "Nimzo-Indian: classical, 4...c5"]
[ECO "E38"]
[NIC "NI.22"]
[Time "17:29:18"]
[TimeControl "6000+30"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 c5 5. dxc5 Qc7 
6. Nf3 Bxc5 7. g3 Qb6 8. e3 Be7 9. Bg2 a6 10. O-O Qc7 
11. b3 d6 12. Bb2 Nbd7 13. Ng5 Rb8 14. Rac1 O-O 15. Rfd1 
b6 16. Nce4 Nxe4 17. Nxe4 Bb7 18. Qc3 {Game drawn by mutual
agreement} 1/2-1/2

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