2008 World Chess Championship: Bonn, Germany
October 14th - November 2nd

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Player Standings



Official Site

You can download the games here.

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Game 0 starts with 1.g4! b5!! {draw agreed} 1/2-1/2




Here is the video from press conference

http://blip.tv/play/AdL6LMAc

Press conference after game 1 and 2.

http://blip.tv/play/AdOrJcAc
http://blip.tv/play/AdPTMMAc

Anand takes the lead with a fine win with the black pieces.

Last moves from game 3 (they played last moves very rapidly, since they were both low on time) and the press conference.

http://blip.tv/play/AdSKaMAc

Press conference after game 4.

http://blip.tv/play/AdSUDcAc

Kasparov is back in the news... but not for politics. Even though he's predicted Kramnik to win, he's said some good things about Anand:

Kasparov: Anand kicked sand into Kramnik's face

Kramnik repeats the same opening line as in game 3 (which he lost), and Anand gives him another lesson.

Now Anand leads by two points and it looks like the myth about Kramnik's strength in match play is going to disintegrate.

Somebody commented that
"Lending the title is like lending a book - sometimes the other person just doesn't give it back."

Press conference after game 5.

http://blip.tv/play/AdTKb8Ac

Another fantastic display by Anand who is now leading 4.5 - 1.5

Can Kramnik recover or is the match already decided?
After 34 moves Susan Polgar made this comment on her blog:
"Kramnik and his team must be scratching their heads. He is being outplayed in complicated positions which typically favor Anand and he is also being outplayed by Anand in a dull and quiet position which supposed to favor Kramnik. They have to figure things out quickly as we are at the half way point of this very short match."

Yes, per your previous reference, it doesn't look like Anand wants to give the crown back...

Press conference after game 6.

http://blip.tv/play/AdT6SMAc

Wow... I know metal detectors are standard at chess tournaments nowadays, but I hadn't figured there would be a need for drug testing...

International Olympic Committee demands it if chess is to be recognised as an Olympic sport. But it's like Anand said - this is made for some other sport. The biggest problem in chess isn't doping, but to prevent players to receive outside help from computers.

There are some drugs to enhance the concentration for a short time, but they have side-effects later, making the person harder to concentrate. So if a player would use it, he may be better concentrated for one game, but would suffer in next 10 games
Doping is not really an issue in chess.

Well, a draw in Round 8. I am disappointed, but frankly, I'm not surprised.

If nothing else, at least the results have silenced the complaints about Anand not being the "true" champion...

After this match the unification process will finally be complete. Nobody will be able to dispute Anand's title anymore (which was ridiculous in the first place).


Press conferences after game 7 and 8:

http://blip.tv/play/AdWqIMAc
http://blip.tv/play/AdXDIsAc

For the first time in this match Kramnik had the advantage and was pressing for a win. Unfortunatelly for him he fumbled it in the time pressure and by move 40 the game was already objectivlly drawn.
After they agreed to a draw they stayed at the table for quite a while, discussing the game. It seemed like Anand has pointed out to Kramnik how he could have won.

I watched it all at http://sneak.foidoschess.tv/
First half an hour is for free and then you get kicked out. However if you login again, it lets you back in There is a video cam pointing to each player, and there is an "ambient" video camera. The commentaries are in English, German, Spanish and Russian. It's really great. Unfortunatelly the match will be over soon
The only hassle is that it throws you out every 5 minutes and you have to login again, but hey thats the price for a free ride.

Anand now leads with 6-3 and has secured at least the rapid play-offs. Kramnik needs to win all games to force the play-off.

quote:

Originally posted by ebutaljib:
Anand now leads with 6-3 and has secured at least the rapid play-offs. Kramnik needs to win all games to force the play-off.

It's also been decided that the match ends after one player reaches 6.5 points, instead of 12 games:

Game 9: After five hours a hard fight ended draw

This means that Kramnik is under a huge amount of pressure to win today... a draw would mean Anand automatically wins the match and keeps the title.

Press conference after game 9

http://blip.tv/play/AdX5ecAc