I don't see the point of excluding rapids from the answer - within WCCs they're still the very epitome of stress, and it probably takes just as much bxlls to sacrifice when you've got much less time to work out the consequences as when you're playing classical games.

I prefer "Schach and Awe", based on the banner shown here:

"Nxd4 was losing move."

I would never drop a '?' on that move. I'm pretty sure I would never have spotted 34...Ne3. I would have gone for...

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30...Qe4

And hope for 31 Rxd7+ Kf6 and Rxb7 then Rc1+, Bf1, Rxf1+ and Qb1+ with a per-perch.

If White tries to avoid it there is a neat mate in there.

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1.Ke2 Qc2+ 2.Kf3 Qd3+ 3. Kxf4 e5 mate. (and that is how I would have lost this game as White.)

Anand says he saw the idea when playing 25...Qe5

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(...and when he played 34...Ne3 Kramnik was stunned.)

Hmmm... I know I said that Ne3 is chess on a higher level but let's not get too carried away.

I've always liked Anand, I do not think he would ever upset me or incur my wrath.
I do not mind Kramnik, he is OK in small doses but of late he has crossed a line so I'm currently firing shots at him with a pea shooter. I'd use heavier artillery but he may be unwell.

However in this instance Anand is obviously mistaken (Kramnik would be lying - Anand mistaken, see how it goes.)
There is nothing in that previous diagram, no sign post to indicate the Ne3 shot was in the wind.

This aspect of the game is all about pattern recognition. I've played 1,000's of combinations but none have been original, I have picked up the idea from somewhere.
Anand is a much better player than me but I am good and I, like other good players can usually trace the how and the why and spot the when.

Here after 28...Rc3

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NOW! with a good dollop of hindsight you can see it coming. Although I would never have seen it till after 33...Rc1+ having dismissed this line as totally losing and gone for the, easy to avoid, perpetual cheapo.
Now, thanks to this game I would 'hopefully' see the Ne3 idea. It was new to me, that is why I raved on about it.

I cannot sniff it at move 25, Anand says he did, I say he is mistaken...The interviewer, Hartmut Metz also has one apprehensive foot in my camp.

"That sounds incredible! Seeing a combination a dozen moves ahead."

Anand: "I pondered for a minute...Gosh I have this move Ne3..." (A minute...)

The Interviewer is still not convinced.

"In the press room some grand masters couldn't recall a similar idea. Are you aware of any precedent for it?" (the pattern recognition part which you must have if seeing an idea so many moves in advance....How will Anand answer?)

Anand: 'Actually I'm not, (there you are...No!) when it came up on the board I quickly identified it.'
(now we are getting closer to reality - '...when it came up on the board.')

Next question;

"Before you played 34...Ne3 you seemed to be rather nervous and hesitant."

Anand replies here he was surprised Kramnik missed it. (Both Me and Mr. Metz are surprised Anand saw it back on move 25) and was double checking it.

But on World Championship level I’d say it deserves a ”?”. The position goes from equal to lost in one move, and Anand found it without having to spend all that much time.

<One wonders when did Anand see 34...Ne3. Did he see it before Kramnik played 29.Nxd4>

If he hadn’t seen it he would just have played into a lost position when allowing Nxd4.

<Anand is obviously mistaken>

Remember I only saw the interview after my first post. So staying within the interview.

My reasoning - though I can see how lopsided it is. I reckon Anand saw it whilst waiting for Kramnik to play 29.Nxd4.

Kramnik obviously never saw it - who would as White thinking you are winning.

It is a tough spot, but looking at it again, it is a miscalculation so a reluctant ? with a ! to highlight it is a no wonder he missed what was coming.
This is not a face slap blunder. No wonder Kramnik was stunned..

It has (IMO) all the making a rare chance combo brilliantly spotted by Anand.
He had his back to the wall and firing on all pistons.
In his other two wins from this match, all relaxed and cozy Anand missed two quicker wins much easier to see than Ne3 moves, making the games last longer.

If Kramnik thought 29.Nxd4 was good, why didn't he play it earlier, say 27.Nxd4 ... ?

To that P.H. Nielsen provides a plausible explanation in NIC 8/2008: he may have feared 27...Rc5 "as White's way to keep an advantage is inhuman to put it mildly: 28.Rd1 Rg5 29.Nf5+ Kf8 30.Qxf4 exf5 31.Rxd7 Bxg2 32.Rd3!!, and White puts his rook on g3, his bishop on f1 (...)"

It is stated that Anand saw the Ne3 trick when playing 25...Qe5.

"Kramnik explained that he rejected 27.Nxd4?? because of 27...Ne5?? (...) '27.a5 was possible, just to push my a-pawn'".

I was close to deleting everything I had written and just let it run with Anand said he saw it back on move 25.
I knew it would make me look like a smart alec or a dummy.

But post and be damned if you really think you are right...of even if you think you are just a little bit right and if you are wrong, it will not be the first or last time. (so post it anyway)

Nielsen wrote about his man seeing Ne3 on move 25 back then in 2008 in NIC, it's then reproduced with different words in 2019 - but just as "Here Anand spotted the trick he used ten moves later in the game." No attribution, so it's possible Anand told this only to his seconds, not to the press...

But let's not overdramatize this. Given that he wanted to play Qe5, it doesn't take an Anand to see 26.Nf3 Df6 27.Nxd4 with the X-ray to d7. After that everything is completely forced until Rc1+ Bf1 and certainly calculable for minor masters... in the game it was just delayed by two moves.

That is two sources, his second and Hartmut Metz , who as I mentioned was also, not sceptical, but surprised enough to keep asking about it.

I always knew Anand was good and had brilliant patches but to spot - nay, invent OTB a pattern or idea nobody, including Anand, has seen before 11 moves in advance in two minutes is unbelievable. (I'm now using that term as praise.)

I wish I had read the interview in 2008 instead of fawning over the game. We could have had this discussion in January 2009.