Anand Retains World Championship Title

Congratulations to Viswanathan Anand on retaining the World Chess Championship! By drawing Vladimir Kramnik in the 11th game of their match, Anand ran the score to 6.5-4.5 -- clinching victory with one game to spare. With Kramnik pressing as Black in a Najdorf Sicilian (the first and only 1. e4 game of the match!), Anand achieved a superior position, and was more than happy to accept a draw.

White: Viswanathan Anand
Black: Vladimir Kramnik
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bg5 e6 7.f4 Qc7 8.Bxf6 gxf6 9.f5 Qc5 10.Qd3 Nc6 11.Nb3 Qe5 12.0-0-0 exf5 13.Qe3 Bg7 14.Rd5 Qe7 15.Qg3 Rg8 16.Qf4 fxe4 17.Nxe4 f5 18.Nxd6+ Kf8 19.Nxc8 Rxc8 20.Kb1 Qe1+ 21.Nc1 Ne7 22.Qd2 Qxd2 23.Rxd2 Bh6 24.Rf2 Be3 draw agreed.

Anand outplayed Kramnik in all phases of the game; Kramnik himself said he was eager to improve. It's hard to say whether Kramnik will ever get back into the World Championship picture; his conservative play style that served him well in gaining the World Championship over Garry Kasparov has not brought him nearly as much success in recent years. It may take some improvement to get back to the top -- a fact Kramnik himself admitted the same after the match ended.

As for Anand, this match only further validates his place atop the chess world. Any holdouts who disregarded his World Championship title because it was won in a tournament can now be satisfied; traditionally, championships have been won in matches, and now Anand has a convincing match victory to go along with his other achievements. He is still playing at an extremely high level, and his next challenger (presumably, Kamsky or Topalov) will have a tall order ahead of them next year -- or whenever it is that the next World Championship Match happens to be played.