World Chess Championship 2008
 | This article documents a current sporting event. Information may change rapidly as the event progresses. Initial news reports, scores, or statistics may be unreliable. The last updates to this article may not reflect the most current information. |
 |
 |
 Viswanathan Anand (IND)Champion |
 Vladimir Kramnik (RUS)Challenger |
| Defending world champion: winner of the 2007 World Chess Championship |
Previous world champion: winner of the 2006 World Chess Championship |
| 38 years old | 33 years old |
| 2783 FIDE Rating[1] | 2772 FIDE Rating[1] |
The World Chess Championship 2008 is a twelve game match between the World Chess Champion, Viswanathan Anand, and the previous World Champion Vladimir Kramnik. Kramnik has been granted a rematch after losing his title to Anand at the World Chess Championship 2007.
The match takes place in Bonn, Germany, between 14 October and 2 November 2008.[2]
After two games, the score is level 1 – 1 and the next game is scheduled to take place on 17 October.
Background
This match is a one-off event in which the previous world champion (Vladimir Kramnik) has been given the right to challenge to regain his title. Its origin is in the complications in re-unifying the world title in 2006.
The chess world title was split between 1993 and 2006. In early 2006, FIDE had already announced the conditions for the World Chess Championship 2007: an eight player tournament which included FIDE World Champion Veselin Topalov, but not "Classical" World Champion Vladimir Kramnik. FIDE later organized a re-unification match between Kramnik and Topalov (the World Chess Championship 2006), with Kramnik to take Topalov's place in the 2007 tournament if he was to win the match. Kramnik did win the match and the re-unified World Chess Championship, and so Topalov was excluded from the 2007 World Championship.
In June 2007 FIDE announced that Topalov would get special privileges in the World Chess Championship 2009 qualifying cycle, while Kramnik, if he lost his title in 2007 (which he did, coming second behind Viswanathan Anand), would get a rematch with the champion in 2008.[3]
Previous head to head record
Between 1989 and 2008 Anand and Kramnik played 51 head-to-head games[4] with following statistics:
| Anand | Draws | Kramnik | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Anand (White) – Kramnik (Black) | 2 | 19 | 0 |
| Kramnik (White) – Anand (Black) | 2 | 22 | 6 |
| Total | 4 | 41 | 6 |
Match conditions
The match format is a best of 12 games. Players score 1 point for a win and half a point for a draw. Time control is 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 ends as soon as any player scores 6.5 points.
Tie break conditions
Two rounds of tie breakers are in place to resolve a tie. Before each round, there will be a new drawing of lots for colors.
- The first round will be four rapid games, with the players alternating white and black pieces. Time control for these games will be 25 minutes plus 10 seconds per move. If one player scores 2.5 points or more, then the match is over and the winner is declared champion.
- The second round will be two blitz games (5 minutes plus 10 seconds per move), each player having white once and black once.
If the score of the second round is a tie (two draws, or one win and one loss for each player), then a decisive Armageddon game will be played. The conditions of this final game are that white is given 6 minutes and black will only be given 5 minutes. However black is declared champion in case of a draw, which puts the burden to win on white who has the advantage of the first move, and an extra minute of time on his clock.[5] A drawing of lots will determine each player's color for this final game.
Schedule and results
| Game | Date | White | Result | Standing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 14 October | Kramnik | Draw | Match level ½ – ½ |
| 2 | 15 October | Anand | Draw | Match level 1 – 1 |
| 3 | 17 October | Kramnik | ||
| 4 | 18 October | Anand | ||
| 5 | 20 October | Kramnik | ||
| 6 | 21 October | Anand | ||
| 7 | 23 October | Anand | ||
| 8 | 24 October | Kramnik | ||
| 9 | 26 October | Anand | ||
| 10 | 27 October | Kramnik | ||
| 11 | 29 October | Anand | ||
| 12 | 31 October | Kramnik | ||
| Tiebreak | 2 November |
All games start at 3.00 PM CET (UTC+2 until October 25, UTC+1 from October 26)
Games
Game 1, Kramnik-Anand, ½-½
| a | b | c | d | e | f | g | h | ||
| 8 |            | 8 | |||||||
| 7 | 7 | ||||||||
| 6 | 6 | ||||||||
| 5 | 5 | ||||||||
| 4 | 4 | ||||||||
| 3 | 3 | ||||||||
| 2 | 2 | ||||||||
| 1 | 1 | ||||||||
| a | b | c | d | e | f | g | h | ||
Game 1 ended in a draw after Anand gave up a pawn but had sufficient counterplay to draw easily.
- 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.cxd5 cxd5 5.Bf4 Nc6 6.e3 Bf5 7.Nf3 e6 8.Qb3 Bb4 9.Bb5 O-O 10.Bxc6 Bxc3+ 11.Qxc3 Rc8 12.Ne5 Ng4 13.Nxg4 Bxg4 14.Qb4 Rxc6 15.Qxb7 Qc8 16.Qxc8 Rfxc8 17.O-O a5 18.f3 Bf5 19.Rfe1 Bg6 20.b3 f6 21.e4 dxe4 22.fxe4 Rd8 23.Rad1 Rc2 24.e5 fxe5 25.Bxe5 Rxa2 26.Ra1 Rxa1 27.Rxa1 Rd5 28.Rc1 Rd7 29.Rc5 Ra7 30.Rc7 Rxc7 31.Bxc7 Bc2 32.Bxa5 Bxb3 ½-½
Game 2, Anand-Kramnik, ½-½
The game ended in a draw with White retaining some advantage. The draw is explained by the time situation. Anand was down to only 2 minutes and 33 seconds while Kramnik had 9 minutes and 54 seconds.
Nimzo-Indian, E25
- 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.f3 d5 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.bxc3 c5 7.cxd5 Nxd5 8.dxc5 f5 9.Qc2 Nd7 10.e4 fxe4 11.fxe4 N5f6 12.c6 bxc6 13.Nf3 Qa5 14.Bd2 Ba6 15.c4 Qc5 16.Bd3 Ng4 17.Bb4 Qe3+ 18.Qe2 O-O-O 19.Qxe3 Nxe3 20.Kf2 Ng4+ 21.Kg3 Ndf6 22.Bb1 h5 23.h3 h4+ 24.Nxh4 Ne5 25.Nf3 Nh5+ 26.Kf2 Nxf3 27.Kxf3 e5 28.Rc1 Nf4 29.Ra2 Nd3 30.Rc3 Nf4 31.Bc2 Ne6 32.Kg3 Rd4 ½-½
References
- ^ a b "Top 100 Players October 2008". 10-01-2008. Retrieved 2008-10-01.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ UEP press release
- ^ Veselin Topalov and the new FIDE world championship cycle, Chessbase, June 24, 2007
- ^ For 1989 until 2007 the Megabase 2008 of Chessbase gives 50 head-to-head tournament games between Anand and Kramnik: Moskau 1989, Linares 1993, 1994, 1997, 1998 (2 games), 1999 (2), 2000 (2) and 2003 (2), Groningen 1993, Amsterdam 1993 (2) and 1996, Madrid 1993, Riga 1995, Dos Hermanas 1996, 1997 and 1999, Dortmund 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001 (2), 2003 (2), 2004 (2) and 2007, Las Palmas 1996 (2), Belgrade 1997, Wijk aan Zee 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2007, Tilburg 1998, Belfort 2004, Sofia 2005 (2) and Mexico-City 2007 (2). These results and the recent game Anand-Kramnik from Wijk aan Zee 2008 are the basis of the statistics. The result in speed games is 9-2 (39 speed games ended in a draw) in favour of Anand (in detail: Moscow 1994 (2), 2002 and 2007 (2), Monte Carlo 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2007, Cologne 1996, Frankfurt 1998 (6), 1999 (4) and 2000 (2), Villarrobledo 1998, Mainz 2001 (10), Cap d'Agde 2003 (2), Leon 2002 (6), Dortmund 2004 (2)), in Blitz games 4-1 (4 draws) in favour of Anand (Moscow 1994 (2) and 2007 (2), Frankfurt 1998 (3), Mainz 2001 (2)), Kramnik won 4 blind games against Anand's 3; 5 games ended in a draw (all 12 blind games were played in Monte Carlo in the years 1994-2001, 2003-2005 and 2007). Source for all mentioned results: Megabase 2008.
- ^ "REGULATIONS OF 2008 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH". Universal Event Promotion. Retrieved 2008-06-06.
External links
- World Championship 2008 official website
- FoidosChess - World Championship 2008 Official live internet broadcaster (requires payment to see games live)
- Chessdom - live game commentary by GM Vladimir Dimitrov
- ChessCube - live commentary by an IM and chess engine analysis (Registration required)
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