In Germany, with Viswanathan Anand leading the match already at 6-to-3 after Game 9, the match was expected to be decided in his favor with three more games to play and needing only a draw in the next game. But Vladimir Kramnik still managed to draw blood at Game 10. Yet in Game 11, Kramnik settled for a draw, letting go of his reach for the crown.
Anand the King
And Anand the King was crowned the world champion.
It was a game of almost unbearable tension. Anand switched to 1.e4, Vladimir Kramnik went for do-or-die complications, Anand obliged, and for a couple of hours nobody knew what would happen. In the end, Vishy Anand prevailed, got a slightly better position and Vladimir Kramnik offered a draw. Anand remains World Champion.
World chess chammpionship 2008 Round 6: Anand wins again, score now 4.5:1.5. He’s now two points behind to retaining the title – i.e., 4 draws. I would have expected Kramnik to at least win a game from this match, but from how it’s going–nevermind.
Viswanathan Anand, the defending champion, draws the first blood with black on the 3rd game of the World Chess Championship yesterday against the challenger, Vladimir Kramnik. This was after the first two games were agreed two by the two players.
It seems that in this match, players don’t recognize the dangers of the failure to castle. They just seem like to complicate things, to the delightment of the fans!
The board is arranged at the starting position. Everything seems ready for the World Championship. Who will reign as the king of chess? Watch out for that as the World Championship 2008 unfolds tomorrow in Germany.
The match will be a best of 12 games. Players score 1 point for a win and half a point for a draw. Time control will be 120 minutes, with 60 minutes added after move 40, 15 minutes added after move 60, and additional 30 seconds per move starting from move 61. The match will end as soon as any player scores 6.5 points.
If, after 12 games, the score is equal, a tie-break of four rapid games will be played. Time control for these games will be 25 minutes plus 10 seconds per move. In case of equal scores two additional blitz games will be played (5 minutes plus 10 seconds per move). If these games do not decide the winner, a decisive Armageddon game will be played (6 minutes for white, 5 minutes for black, black declared champion in case of a draw). There will be a new drawing of colours before rapid games, as well as before blitz games and an Armageddon game.
I find a head-to-head match-up like this more exciting than a round-robin (e.g., the World Chess Championship 2007) for a world chess championship. In the former, you’ll have the opportunity to witness the rush of blood as players hammer each other on a round per round mental combat. Get yourself marveled at how each player switch strategy in the middle of the match to accommodate the outpouring pressure. In the latter, oftentimes you’ll just wait and see till the last round who has the nearest reach to the crown.
A round-robin world championship will be just like a boxing match, with eight players inside a ring at the same time. The last man standing will be the world champion. In chess, most likely you’ll just wait and see by the end of the show who will come out victorious. But in boxing, hey, this is pretty exciting!
Vishwanathan Anand is the World Chess Champion after the World Championship 2007 in Mexico City. He is the fourth grandmaster to have reclaimed the crown, after Alexander Alekhine, Mikhail Botvinnik and Anatoly Karpov. That is, however, granting that Garry Kasparov split from FIDE in 1993 and retired from active chess in 2005. Anand first won the FIDE crown in 2000.
The list of world champions according to FIDE’s is now updated with this development as follows:
Name
Years
Country
Wilhelm Steinitz
1886-1894
Austria / United States
Emanuel Lasker
1894–1921
Prussia/Germany
José Raúl Capablanca
1921–1927
Cuba
Alexander Alekhine
1927–1935
Soviet Union (Russia) / France
Max Euwe
1935–1937
Netherlands
Alexander Alekhine
1937–1946
France
Mikhail Botvinnik
1948–1957
Soviet Union (Russia)
Vasily Smyslov
1957–1958
Soviet Union (Russia)
Mikhail Botvinnik
1958–1960
Soviet Union (Russia)
Mikhail Tal
1960–1961
Soviet Union (Latvia)
Mikhail Botvinnik
1961–1963
Soviet Union (Russia)
Tigran Petrosian
1963–1969
Soviet Union (Armenia)
Boris Spassky
1969–1972
Soviet Union (Russia)
Robert J. Fischer
1972–1975
United States
Anatoly Karpov
1975–1985
Soviet Union (Russia)
Garry Kasparov
1985–1993
Soviet Union / Russia
Anatoly Karpov
1993–1999
Russia
Alexander Khalifman
1999–2000
Russia
Viswanathan Anand
2000–2002
India
Ruslan Ponomariov
2002–2004
Ukraine
Rustam Kasimdzhanov
2004–2005
Uzbekistan
Veselin Topalov
2005–2006
Bulgaria
Vladimir Kramnik
2006–2007
Russia
Viswanathan Anand
2007–present
India
Rows in italics represent the grey areas in the world chess history.
Viswanathan Anand became, for the first time, the undisputed World Chess Champion on September 29, 2007, after finishing the tournament with a score of 9/14, not losing a single game and a full point ahead of the second placer, Vladimir Kramnik.
To download the games in pgn and to view some pictures, visit chessbase.com.
Anand’s title, though, it appears, will be challenged again(!) next year sometime between May and September 2008 by no less than…. Vladimir Kramnik, in a best of 12 games one-on-one match. Why, read the wikipedia article.
For Kramnik’s part, I guess he’s better off playing a one-on-one match rather than playing in a round robin tournament. Just look at his 2000 match win agains Kasparov and the 2006 match against Topalov. Clear victories!
The 13-year schism over the world chess crown has finally ended after 16 games of full-packed chess action in Elista, Kalmykia, during the World Chess Championship Match 2006 intended to unite the titles of classical champion Vladimir Kramnik (Russia) and FIDE champion Veselin Topalov (Bulgaria).
Report follows:
Friday, October 13, 2006 (Elista, Russia):
Russia’s Vladimir Kramnik won a match against Bulgaria’s Veselin Topalov in a tiebreaker on Friday, becoming the first universally recognised world chess champion since 1993.
Kramnik won the tension-filled match by a score of 8.5-7.5 in a final day of quick, time-limited games.
Each of the 41-year-old players was to receive 500,000 dollar for taking part in the match, which was arranged to heal a 13-year-old schism in the chess world dating back to World Champion Garry Kasparov’s withdrawal from the World Chess Federation.
Kramnik secured his victory in the fourth game today, which Kramnik won with White. Today’s score was 2.5-1.5. (AP)
Well, the match being a “REUNIFICATION” match, was I think too short yet historic. It was a big event in the history of chess. You can even see and feel the struggle between the two players. The tie-break of 4 games even yielded only one draw. The rest were won one by Topalov, and two by Kramnik.
My observation in this match is brief: that it showed Kramnik can win a match against Topalov, even with 1 point odds. (duh!)
For me, it was a good thing that Kramnik won. It would be much easier for chess fans to accept the fact. Otherwise, the game 5 contoversy would be another gruelling deliberation that could unfortunately even lead to continued split in the world chess organization. At least, now we have a one and only legitimate world champion, and that is, in the person of Vladimir Kramnik!
After 13 years of schism in the world chess arena, they finally settled for a reunification of the two titles. FIDE champion Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria is staged to face PCA champ Vladimir Kramnik of Russia starting tomorrow, September 23, 2006, in a best-of-twelve series match in Elista, Kalmykia.
My bet goes to the current highest rated player, Topalov (after Kasparov retired from active chess in 2005).
To Val De Guzman, prepare for your starbucks treat next year. LOL