Anand vs Kramnik, World Chess Championship 2008
Final position Game 7

DEAD DRAW

What can Black do in above position? Sleep for 100 years, of course! He can't enter his opposition's castle, thus the outcome is obvious. I wonder what went in Kramnik's mind when he shook Anand's hand for the conclusion of game 7. 3 points down with only 5 games to go, he surely must do a gung-ho or bust in the most embarrassing defeat in his world championship history. Anand chose to play white, but this time Kramnik strayed away from his beloved Nimzo after defeat of game 6. After refusing Anand's pawn sacrifice on move 10, Kramnik unexpectedly offered to fix the pawns on move 31... a5. Anand, with 3 points in his bag, happily accepted. Then a series of pieces exchanges followed before the inevitable draw was agreed. You can follow the game here:

ANAND LEADS BY TWO POINTS!

... and both games won, incredibly, with the Black pieces! Today game 6 commences, and Kramnik has an Everest mountain to climb in order to cut the deficit. I follow the games at chesscube.com, with comments from Mark Levitt and analysis by Fritz 11. So far, it is Anand who states his intention of ever winning this championship, to retain his World Champion title, while Kramnik still has not reveal (I'm being kind, I know) his secret weapon yet. Can he do a Liverpool, or die miserably by Anand's onslaught, we just have to see. Replay game 5 here:

HOME PREPARATION

Game 3 of Anand vs Kramnik World Chess Championship match 2008 in Bonn, Germany shows how deadly prepared lines could be. I was among many chess enthusiasts who gets to see the game live because of the advancement of technology nowadays (I watched it at ChessCube). Anand gets the upperhand by moving very quickly which leaves a whopping 1 hour gap between the two (Anand used 20 minutes to reach move 20 to Kramnik's 1 hour and a half!). You can replay the game below:

As a player, I myself had the opportunity to prepare against a very good player once (he was 2196 FIDE rated!) during Royal Selangor 2004. He went down checkmated before reaching move 20! However, I did not move quickly so as not to reveal my home preparation. I just pretended to think even though I already knew what to move.

Yours Truly - FIDE Rated Player (2196)
Royal Selangor, 2004
Sicilian Defence

1.e4 Nf6 2.e5 Nd5 3.Nf3 c5 4.Nc3 e6 5.Nxd5 exd5 6.d4 Nc6 7.dxc5 Bxc5 8.Qxd5 Qb6 9.Bc4 Bxf2+ 10.Ke2 0-0 11.Rf1 Bc5 12.Ng5 Nd4+ 13.Kd1 Ne6 14.Ne4 d6 15.exd6 Bd7 16.Bd3 Bc6 17.Nf6+ gxf6 18.Qf5 Rfd8 1-0