14-Move Draw Leaves Cramling In Lead

GM Pia Cramling and IM Levy Rozman (GothamChess) drew by repetition in the second classical game of the Battle of Generations, in a game that lasted 14 moves. It turns out both players expected the other to deviate, to avoid the draw, but were stuck in the repetition when neither player did. Cramling, who won with the black pieces on the previous day, continues to lead the match by three points.

The third classical game will be on Wednesday, October 30, starting at 10 a.m. ET / 15:00 CET / 7:30 p.m. IST.

Score After Classical Game 2 Of 4

After a win for Cramling on the previous day, both players were evidently content with a quick draw in game two. A sleep-deprived Rozman explained his perspective: "I just came off a really bad tournament [scoring 2/9 in the 2024 Marshall Chess Club Labor Day Invitational] and losing the first game yesterday was not really my roadmap for the match, and then there's like nightclub music playing outside of my hotel until three in the morning."

He had about five hours of sleep, and stopping the bleeding was a decent outcome all things considered. If anything, he explained that he was nervous about potentially losing all four of the classical games. At least we know that won't happen anymore. The draw was straightforward, with White opting not to risk anything this time.

Cramling explained that the opening surprised her, and that generally Rozman is difficult to prepare against: "Levy can play lots of different things. He has such a wide opening repertoire, so it's always exciting to see what he will decide to play." Rozman said the same thing about her, and also pointed out that when preparing, he was awed by her wins against legends such as GMs Susan Polgar and Victor Korchnoi in the 90s.

Cramling also noted that she's played a similar setup to Rozman, from the black side, except with a pawn on c6 instead of a6. Putting the pawn on a6, as Rozman played, leaves the option of ...c5 open (this didn't happen in the game).

Cramling said she was surprised that Rozman went for the draw. "It's not that I don't mind if it's a draw or not, but I'm not so happy that we didn't play such a long game, I would have preferred to keep on playing." She thought he'd repeat once and then deviate, but by the time the repetition started, she could no longer avoid it without taking significant risk. Rozman later countered, "The pressure is on White in this position to, kind of, play."

You can listen to GothamChess' video recap below.

We're not going to repeat another game in 20 moves, I highly doubt it," concluded Rozman at the end of the broadcast. As Cramling pointed out, there are still 20 more games to go!

The Battle of Generations is an over-the-board match between GM Pia Cramling and IM Levy Rozman featuring multiple time controls: four classical games (90+30), six rapid games (15+10), and 12 blitz games (3+2). It takes place at the Svarta Hasten in Stockholm, Sweden. The prize fund is $10,000, with $6,000 going to the winner.

Previous Coverage: 

• Pia Cramling Wins With Black In Game 1 Vs. GothamChess
• Chess Legend Pia Cramling To Face Off With Levy Rozman In Battle Of Generations