★★★ INTRO ★★★

The 2006 World Chess Championship was between 31 year old Vladimir Kramnik of Russia who was the "classical" champion and 31 year old Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria who was the FIDE champion.

★★★ BACKGROUND ★★★

Prior to this matchup, there were 2 chess championships: the "Classical" championship (formed by the PSA) and FIDE championship. During the 2005 FIDE championship (see Game Collection: 2005 FIDE World Chess Championship), Kramnik got invited to participate, but since he was the "classical" champion, he refused to participate. However, he did agree to play the winner. Topalov won the tournament with a round to spare, and soon enough played Kramnik to determine one world champion.

★★★ CONDITIONS ★★★

The match was played in Elista, Russia. The match was a best of 12, meaning the first to 6 1/2 points would be declared the winner. If it was tied after 12 games, 4 rapid games would follow. If it was still tied, then 2 blitz games would follow followed by one armageddon game if necessary. The winner would be declared world chess championship and compete in the 2007 World Championship (see Game Collection: 2007 World Chess Championship) and earn the right for a rematch in 2008 if they lost. The loser would not compete in the world championship next year, but would be directly entered into the final match to decide the challenger for the 2010 match. The first game was played on September 23rd, 2006.

★★★ NOTABLE GAMES ★★★

Game 2: Topalov vs Kramnik, 2006

Game 8: Kramnik vs Topalov, 2006

Game 10: Kramnik vs Topalov, 2006

★★★ FINAL ★★★

Entering Game 12, Kramnik had the white pieces with the match tied up 5 1/2-5 1/2 (Kramnik vs Topalov, 2006 for game). That game was drawn, forcing a tiebreak. Game 13 was drawn (Topalov vs Kramnik, 2006), Kramnik won Game 14 (Kramnik vs Topalov, 2006), but Topalov won Game 15 (Topalov vs Kramnik, 2006), setting up an indentical situation as before, where Kramnik had the white pieces, and the winner of the game winning it all.

Game 16: Kramnik vs Topalov, 2006

With the win, Kramnik had become the one and only world champion by a final score of 8 1/2-7 1/2.

★★★ MINI TABLE ★★★

Kramnik 1 1 1/2 1/2 0 1/2 1/2 0 0 1 1/2 1/2 1/2 1 0 1 (5 wins, 4 losses and 7 draws) <56.7% score>

Topalov 0 0 1/2 1/2 1 1/2 1/2 1 1 0 1/2 1/2 1/2 0 1 0 (4 wins, 5 losses and 7 draws) <43.3% score>

★★★ OTHER LINKS ★★★

See also: Kramnik - Topalov World Championship Match (2006)

Head to Head Record Prior to 2006: http://www.chessgames.com/perl/ches... (19 wins, 9 draws and 34 draws in favour of Kramnik)

Previous "Classical" Championship: Game Collection: 2004 FIDE World Chess Championship

Previous FIDE Championship: Game Collection: 2005 FIDE World Chess Championship

Next World Championship: Game Collection: 2007 World Chess Championship