World Championship Match Begins Tuesday

After a long wait, the chess event of the year is nearly here: Viswanathan Anand vs. Vladimir Kramnik in a 12-game match to determine the World Chess Champion. The opening ceremony is Monday, and the first game is scheduled for Tuesday, 3 PM local time in Bonn, Germany (that's 9 AM Eastern US). The official site has complete coverage, including schedules, regulations, player background information and more.

Twelve games is rather short for a championship match, a far cry from the traditional 24 games (or more) that were customary throughout the 20th century. Perhaps the biggest problem with the match is the elimination of draw odds for the current champion (Anand); rather, a 6-6 tie will be broken by a 4-game mini-match of rapid games. A draw in the rapid portion will then give us the ridiculous situation of having the World Championship decided by blitz chess -- and a draw there would put us in the even less desirable position of having a World Champion decided by a single "Armageddon" tiebreak game. I don't think anyone truly believes these tiebreakers are the proper way of choosing the world's leading player.

Then again, we can cross that bridge when we get to it. For now, let's just look forward to a few weeks of great chess and hope it doesn't come to tiebreaks. Fan polls seem to be evenly divided between Kramnik and Anand, and it's easy to see why: Anand has seemed like the stronger in recent years, while Kramnik has historically been a better match player.

Trying to come up with a prediction for this match has been difficult, and I've gone back and forth in my mind as to who I think has the better chances. The match feels pretty close to a toss-up to be honest, and I think most experts would agree that the match could easily go either way. That said, my instinct is to give a slight edge to Anand, the current champion. Disregarding his disastrous result in Bilbao (which seems fair, considering he was likely saving opening preparation for this match), he's been the stronger player as of late. Incidentally, his proficiency in rapid and blitz chess make him a heavy favorite should the match come down to the dreaded tiebreak games.

I predict Anand will win 6.5-5.5. What do you think? Post your predictions, or vote in the poll below. I'll be adding more coverage of the match after each game.