Chessdom Report, Photo by Torsten Behl

The Indian grandmaster Viswanathan Anand defended his title of the World Chess Champion! The World Chess Championship match between Anand and Vladimir Kramnik was held from October 12 to 27, 2008, in the Art and Exhibition Hall of the Federal Republic of Germany. Anand was holding the title after the 2007 Mexico City tournament, while Kramnik had a right to challenge him as the winner of 2006 Elista match with Veselin Topalov.

Anand and Kramnik started out peacefully with two interesting draws, after which the Indian player exploded to score three wins - in game 3, game 5, and game 6. Especially difficult for Kramnik were the two loses with black in the same line which basically have decided the outcome of the match in early stage. Although Kramnik managed to pull a magnificent win in 10th game and spoil the celebration planned for Monday, Anand drew 11th game with white pieces to the delight of his fans in India and worldwide.

Game 1 - Slav Exchange (replay)

Game 2 - Nimzo Indian Saemisch (replay)

Game 3 - Queens Gambit Meran (replay)

Game 4 - QGD (replay)

Game 5 - Queens Gambit Meran (replay)

Game 6 - Nimzo Indian (replay)

Game 7 - Slav Defence (replay)

Game 8 - QGD Ragozin (replay)

Game 9 - Anti-Meran Gambit (replay)

Game 10 - Nimzo Indian (replay)

Game 11 - Sicilian Naidorf (replay)