Thursday 30 October 2008

2008 WCC - Game 11

Anand Draws! (and therefore wins)
By drawing game 11 of the 2008 World Chess Championship, Viswanathan Anand reached the 6.5 points required to win the match. 
Anand's choice of 1.e4 (for the first time in the match) was sensible, in that Kramnik's usual defences (Petroff or Berlin Wall) wouldn't generate the counterplay Kramnik needed to win the game, and prolong the match. Instead Kramnik chose a Najdorf Sicilian (5. ... a6) but Anand played senisbly, with the clear intent of shutting down attampts by Kramnik to stir it up. Indeed by the time the game reached move 20 there was nothing left in the position for Kramnik, and Anand was even better when the players agreed a draw on move 23.
So Anand retains World Championship title he won in the tournament in Mexico last year, and also wins the World Championship title (matchplay format), which Kramnik has held since defeating Kasparov in 2000. Anand also won the FIDE World Championship (Knock-out format) in 2000, so given his victories in 3 disparate formats, there is no doubt that Anand is truly a worthy champion.




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