ANAND WINS WORLD CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP 2008

Anand drew the 11th game to retain his title of the World Chess Champion with the final score of 6.5 to 4.5. As expected, Anand pushed the e-pawn to seduce Kramnik to play Petroff Defense, which is known to be very drawish among the top GMs. Understandably, Kramnik chose the sharp Najdorf to keep his chance alive. Anand replied with 6.Bg5, and soon the position went AWOL and the result could not be predicted. However, Anand got a slight advantage at the end so Kramnik offered a draw.

Kasparov commented on the championship in Chess Ninja:

"It was a very well-played match by Vishy. Except for the loss of concentration in the tenth game he played consistently and managed to enforce his style. His choice to open with 1.d4 was excellent. He reached playable positions with life in them, so he could make Kramnik work at the board. Anand outprepared Kramnik completely.

[In this match] Kramnik did not expect tough, sharp challenges with white, and this was the key for Anand. He kicked some sand in Kramnik's face and hit Kramnik's weakness: his conservative approach to the game itself. Suddenly Kramnik had to fight in these sharp positions and he wasn't able to do it. This result ends the illusion that Kramnik is a great match player. London was a unique occurrence and I still stand with Leonid Yudasin as the only players Kramnik has ever beaten in a match! Kramnik now has some work to do. His overly-defensive play seems to represent a general decline in strength."

Match director Josef Resch (left) with Anand and Campomanes
(pictures courtesy of chessbase.com)

Replay game 11 here:

KRAMNIK WON, AT LAST!

The score now 4 - 6. Kramnik have to win the last 2 games to bring the championship into a tie break. Last night, he chose the Kasparov variation to counter Anand's Nimzo-Indian Defense. He then moved his Queen to a6 and tied the black pieces down before forcing Anand's knight into the edge of the board. Once the rook entered the seventh heaven, Anand resigned.

Xabi celebrated his goal after the final whistle (pic from LFC official site)

RECORD BREAKING

Chelsea 0 - Liverpool 1. Do not adjust your computer screen, it is true. Liverpool had done what other teams could not do for the past 86 games (4 and a half years) by beating Chelsea at their own turf - the Stamford Bridge. Xabi Alonso's deflected goal was enough for the Reds to maintain their unbeaten run this season thus confirming their title credentials despite what others said or would say about them. One interesting fact I want to share with you - IM Malcolm Pein (picture right) is a Liverpool fan and last night he commented on the 9th game of Anand vs Kramnik from the stand at the Stamford Bridge.

Enough said. Now let us ponder upon Kramnik's record of going without a win for nearly 2 years now with the black pieces. He needed to win this game to have a chance of ever winning the championship. However, the game was delayed for about half an hour because of the daylight saving time. But this did not deter Anand from playing the ultra sharp anti-Moscow gambit in order to kill Kramnik off. Even a novelty with 11...Bb4 and a Bishop sacrifice could not stop Anand from getting the result he wanted. So, Kramnik's waiting continues.

Anand played the anti-Moscow gambit

Kramnik sprang a novelty

Kramnik sacrificed a Bishop

NOTHING IS FREE

Last night I had to watch game 8 of Anand vs Kramnik at the UKM library. As it happened, I forgot to bring my broadband modem. So, I used the wireless connection readily available at the library compound. Although it was quite fast, it blocked some features from the Internet. As a consequence, I cannot watch the game live at Chesscube, so I had to find some quick alternatives. I tried Playchess and ICC, all of which I had to download some .exe files and register in order to watch the game. It was troublesome, until I came across Chessdom. The drawback, however, was that I had to continuously refresh the browser. I cannot wait for my wife to finish her class and head home to watch this game using my broadband connection, in the comfort of Chesscube.

Back to the game. Kramnik was blown out of his preparation again as Anand sprang a novelty as soon as move 10. After sinking into deep thought for most of the game, Kramnik had to make a perpetual check to draw the game.

Anand's novelty 10...Bxb5!

You can replay the 8th game here:

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 was forced to move 16.Rg1

ANAND 4.5 - KRAMNIK 1.5

Anand did it again! Winning games when supposedly having bad piece placements. Forced to move 16.Rg1, it became uglier when Kramnik exchanged Bishops on g2. Whereas Kramnik's pieces comfortably placed in the middle of the board, commanding everything, Anand slowly pushed away Kramnik's control and made his pieces stronger with every moves. Finally, Kramnik became disoriented, and shortly after Anand's King got married with another Queen, Kramnik resigned. Replay the 6th game here:

Here are some pictures I took from chessbase.com:

Karpov made the first move for Anand

Kramnik offered his hand in resignation

The winner's smile

The loser

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:

KING OF COMEBACKS?

Kuyt celebrates after getting the winner, again!

Liverpool has done it again! Winning games after getting themselves a goal down, or even 2 goals down. Last night confirmed their title of the 'King of Comebacks' this season after winning the game when Wigan got on the scoresheet first. They have done it against Boro, Marseille, and even Manchester United! Virtually, I watched two games at the same time - game 4 of Anand vs Kramnik World Chess Championship running on my laptop while Liverpool game was on Astro. Both resulted in my favour, so to speak, as I am a fan of both Anand and Liverpool. Surely, Kramnik couldn't do a comeback, can he? Being a point down after losing the 3rd game yesterday, he lamely chose to offer Anand a draw which the latter duly accepted. Play the 4th game 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