[Event "GMA"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee NED"]
[Date "2004.01.14"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Kramnik,V"]
[Black "Svidler,P"]
[Result "1-0"]
[Annotator "Henderson"]
[BlackElo "2747"]
[ECO "B97"]
[EventDate "2004.01.10"]
[WhiteElo "2777"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Bg5 e6 7. f4 Qb6 8. Qd2 Nc6 9. O-O-O Qxd4 10. Qxd4 Nxd4 11. Rxd4 Be7 12. Na4 Bd7 13. Nb6 Rd8 14. Nxd7 Rxd7 15. Be2 h6 16. Bh4 Nh5 17. Bxh5 Bxh4 18. Rhd1 Bf2 19. R4d3 Ke7 20. Kb1 Rc8 21. Bg4 Rc4 22. Bf3 g6 23. b3 Rcc7 24. Be2 Rd8 25. g4 Bc5 26. Rh3 Rh8 27. Kb2 Rcc8 28. a3 Rcd8 29. b4 Bf2 30. a4 d5 31. Rf3 Bb6 32. exd5 Rxd5 33. Rxd5 exd5 34. Rd3 Bc7 35. Bf3 Bxf4 36. h3 b6 37. Kb3 Kf6 38. Bxd5 Re8 39. c3 a5 40. bxa5 bxa5 41. Rf3 g5 42. Kc4 Re3 43. Rxe3 Bxe3 44. Kb5 Ke5 45. Bxf7 Kd6 46. c4 Bf2 47. Be8 Ke7 48. Bc6 Kd6 49. Bb7 { For much of the middlegame Kramnik had nurtured - as only big Vlady can - a miniscule edge, converting it into a opposite coloured bishop ending where he had an extra pawn. I don't know about you, but I was always brought up to believe that such endings should be played out as invariably they are all drawn. 
The result of 1-0 went up, and both players hastily left the playing hall. No one really thought much of this and just accepted it at face value from two of the strongest Russian GMs in the world that it was indeed just a win. After all, Herr Fritzy believed it was a win, so why shouldn't it be? The alarm bells only started ringing in the press room with the arrival of Vishy Anand. He took one look at the monitor with the final position and the result, and immediately declared that the result must be wrong as it was an "easily" drawn position. Easy for him, but for us poor hacks and Herr Fritzy, it was certainly far from clear. 
But Anand was adamant that the result must be wrong. We immediately asked Tournament Director Jeroen van den Berg if he could check the result with the arbiter at the hotel. Sure enough, the arbiter confirmed that the scoresheet had been singed by both players as "1-0". Perplexed by it all, I decided to make my way back to the hotel. On arrival, I spotted big Vlady heading out the door for his habitual evening walk and asked him what had happened. "Well, of course it was all very embarrassing," said Vlady, "poor Peter had simply resigned in a drawn position!" 
Vlady then explained that Svidler had made all the only moves up to the final position that would have secured a draw, and then simply resigned. 
"Of course, it gives me no joy winning in such a manner," he added. "I was totally confused when he held his hand out. For a very brief moment I thought he was agreeing to a draw - then suddenly I realised I hadn't offered him one and he was actually resigning! There was nothing I could do under such circumstances." 
Back at the hotel, it was suddenly sinking in on poor Peter what he had done. The next day at breakfast, he was still shaking his head in disbelief and also remembering how he had done something similar playing Vishy Anand at the Dos Hermanas tournament of 1999, when he agreed a draw in a totally won ending! "Why me?," mumbled Peter. "Once, perhaps. But twice?" 
There seems to be many top players following this saga on the ICC, such as Alexander Grischuk (who should really have been invited to this tournament) and Jon Speelman who have claimed to have found a win for white in the final position. However, according to Messers Kramnik, Anand and Svidler, it is actually a draw. } ( 49. Bb7 Kc7 50. Bd5 ( 50. Ba6 Kd6 51. Kxa5 Be3 52. Bb5 Bf2 53. Ka6 ( 53. Kb4 Be3 54. Kc3 Bb6 55. Kd3 Ke5 $1 ) 53... Kc7 ) 50... Kd6 51. Kxa5 Kc5 52. Ka6 Kb4 53. a5 Bc5 54. Bf7 Bf2 55. Be6 Bc5 56. Bg8 Be3 { all should draw.
The simplest explanation how to draw came from Anand: "Basically, all black has to do is to keep the bishop on the a7-g1 diagonal. And, whenever the white king attempts to cross [for example via Ka6 to b7], the black king goes to c7 to prevent this. And, if white goes with his king to d3, black [while still keeping the bishop on the a7-g1 diagonal] immediately answers with Ke5, again preventing the king crossing." So there you have it! } ) 1-0