World chess champion Viswanathan Anand took a commanding two-point lead over challenger Vladimir Kramnik on Monday when the Russian handed him a victory by making a horrible blunder under time pressure. The win gave Anand, of India, a 3.5-1.5 lead after five games in their 12-game match. It was Anand's second victory with the black pieces; the other three games have been drawn. Kramnik called his situation “difficult but not completely hopeless.” Anand repeated the same line of the Meran Variation that brought him spectacular success in game three but varied from that game on move 15, thus sidestepping anything that Kramnik and his team might have come up with in the meantime. Still, the outlines of the position were similar to the previous game. Black's king was stuck in the center while he had pressure against White's castled king along the half-open g-file with support from his bishop on b7. In addition, White had two outside passed pawns on the queenside and Black had a central pawn majority. “I had a feeling I should be better,” Kramnik told reporters after the game. On move 19, Anand had only used 20 minutes while Kramnik had used more than an hour. Each player has two hours to make the first 40 moves or forfeit the game. Anand will have the white pieces in game six on Tuesday. The moves: Kramnik-Anand, game five: 1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 e6 5. e3 Nbd7 6. Bd3 dxc4 7. Bxc4 b5 8. Bd3 a6 9. e4 c5 10. e5 cxd4 11. Nxb5 axb5 12. exf6 gxf6 13. O-O Qb6 14. Qe2 Bb7 15. Bxb5 Rg8 16. Bf4 Bd6 17. Bg3 f5 18. Rfc1 f4 19. Bh4 Be7 20. a4 Bxh4 21. Nxh4 Ke7 22. Ra3 Rac8 23. Rxc8 Rxc8 24. Ra1 Qc5 25. Qg4 Qe5 26. Nf3 Qf6 27. Re1 Rc5 28. b4 Rc3 29. Nxd4 Qxd4 30. Rd1 Nf6 31. Rxd4 Nxg4 32. Rd7+ Kf6 33. Rxb7 Rc1+ 34. Bf1 Ne3 35. fxe3 fxe3 White resigns. – AP __
