The second game of the World Cup finals was drawn, keeping Vladimir Kramnik in the lead with 1.5/2 in this best-of-four game match. Dmitry Andreikin had White, and once again a Queen's Gambit Declined appeared on the board, albeit this time with a Bf4 rather than Bg5. Both players were quickly out of their preparation - to judge by their clock times Andreikin was on his own after 6...b6 and Kramnik was out of prep after 8.Qc2.
It was probably at this point, and definitely on move 11, that Kramnik calculated the line that went through White's 23rd move and led to a pretty easily drawn ending, at least for a player of his technical skill. The calculation was very nice and involved at least three or four cute tactical points, most notably 14...Bxa3!, 15...Qe8+! and 18...Nce4! All of that was necessary to justify 11...e5(?), but it wasn't sufficient, as it appears that White would have had a meaningful advantage after 15.cxd7. Why Andreikin avoided it and Kramnik didn't fear it is at this moment a mystery to your faithful scribe, as the live broadcast ended before the players could make it to the commentary room. As the game led nowhere special for White, and Nigel Short, Garry Kasparov and the engines all concur on the value of 15.cxd7, it is a mystery indeed.
Kramnik has a chance to end the match tomorrow; in the meantime, you can replay today's game, with my notes, here.