★★★ INTRO ★★★

The 2008 World Chess Championship was a match between 38 year old defending champion Viswanathan Anand of India and 33 year old challenger Vladimir Kramnik of Russia.

★★★ BACKGROUND ★★★

In 2006, the World Chess Champion was reunited in a match that saw Kramnik beat Veselin Topalov (see Game Collection: 2006 World Chess Championship for games and more info) to become the first world champion since 1993. However, FIDE decided to hold a tournament in 2007 that was a double round robin instead of the traditional match with the winner of the tournament being declared world champion (see Game Collection: 2007 World Chess Championship for games and more info). However, if Kramnik lost his title (which he did), he would get a rematch against the winner.

★★★ CONDITIONS ★★★

The match took place in Bonn, Germany. It was a best of 12, with the winner being the first to 6 1/2 points. If the match ended in a 6-6 tie, four rapid games, two blitz games and one armaggedon game would be played as necessary. Game 1 was played on October 14th, 2008.

★★★ NOTABLE GAMES ★★★

Game 3: Kramnik vs Anand, 2008

Game 5: Kramnik vs Anand, 2008

Game 6: Anand vs Kramnik, 2008

★★★ FINAL ★★★

Entering Game 10, Anand had a 6-3 lead, and needed just a draw in the remaining 3 games (2 blacks) to defend his title. In Game 10, Anand had black, but Kramnik won to cut the deficit to 6-4. Game 11 was played on October 29th, 2008. Entering the game, Anand had white, and needed just a draw.

Game 11: Anand vs Kramnik, 2008

With the draw, Anand becomes the first person since Garry Kasparov (1985-1990, 3 consecutive times) to defend his undisputed title. He also became the first person to ever win the world championship 3 different ways (knockout, round-robin and match).

★★★ MINI TABLE ★★★

Anand 1/2 1/2 1 1/2 1 1 1/2 1/2 1/2 0 1/2 (3 wins, 1 loss and 7 draws) <59.1% score>

Kramnik 1/2 1/2 0 1/2 0 0 1/2 1/2 1/2 1 1/2 (1 win, 3 losses and 7 draws) <40.9% score>

★★★ OTHER LINKS ★★★

See also: Anand - Kramnik World Championship Match (2008)

Head to Head Record Prior to 2008: http://www.chessgames.com/perl/ches... (18 wins, 15 losses and 91 draws in favour of Anand)

Previous World Championship: Game Collection: 2007 World Chess Championship

Next World Championship: Game Collection: 2010 World Chess Championship