Vishwanathan Anand versus Vladimir Kramnik

This is the match-up that most chess aficionados have been waiting for. The stage is set on October the 14th for the two ambassadors of chess to put their Queen's Gambit, Caro Kann, King's Indian, Ruy Lopez and most importantly Petrov's defence to test as they face off in the much awaited World chess Championship. The contest takes place in the Art and Exhibition Hall of the Federal Republic of Germany in Bonn. All the chess connoisseurs would agree that the level of the match up would live up to the hype and match the grade set by the battles between Capablanca - Alekhine, Fischer - Spassky and Kasparov - Karpov.

A brief look at the profiles of Vishy and Kramnik...

Vishwanathan Anand

Anand shot into limelight on the world stage by winning the Reggio Emilia Chess Tournament (Category 18) ahead of Kasparov and Karpov in the strongest tournament ever held until this time i.e 1991-92. Anand is considered the most complete player of all time as his haul of 4 chess oscars(a record he shares with Bobby Fischer) testifies. He is a master in tournament play which he has shown time to time by winning the prestigious Corus event 5 times (1989,1998,2003,2004 & 2006), Linares Super Tournament 3 times (1998 , 2007 and 2008), Dortmund Sparkassen 3 times (1996,2000 & 2004) and other important events like, Madrid Masters, Biel etc.

Vladimir Kramnik

Yet another case in point of the soviet monopoly, this 33 year old super grand masters excels in match play. Vladimir Kramnik was born in Tuapse, on June 25, 1975. In 1991 he won The World Under 18 Championship, and began a string of international success. At the Manila Olympiad 1992, he achieved a gold medal for best result on reserve board. Major tournament triumphs were soon to follow, such as Dortmund 1995, Tilburg 1997, and Wijk aan Zee 1998. Dortmund became a favorite stop, as Kramnik would go on to win seven more times, either as shared champion, or clear first. In 2000 Kramnik won his first Linares tournament, completing his set of victories in all three of chess’s “triple crown” events: Corus, Linares, and Dortmund. In 2000 Kramnik reached the pinnacle by defeating long-time champion Garry Kasparov for the World Championship in London by the score of 8 1/2 to 6 1/2. Kasparov was reported as saying, “He is the hardest player to beat in the world.”
The $1 million Kramnik-Topalov World Championship Match (2006), was played in Elista from September 21 to October 13, and drew record numbers of online followers on most major chess sites. After much controversy surrounding a forfeit in round 5, Kramnik won in the tiebreak phase, thereby becoming the first unified World Chess Champion since the schism of 1993.


Considering their head to head records one is struck by the clear pattern emerging which shows Anand leading 19 to 13, with 82 games ending in draw. A closer look reveals that 15 of Anand's 19 wins came in the rapid format. Kramnik on the other hand leads Anand 6 games to 4 on classical front giving himself a slight edge as the championship goes underway. Assisting Anand is his mate Surya Sekhar Ganguly and the 16 year old Norwegian prodigy Magnus Carlsen. The Kramnik Camp boasts of Peter Leko- the Hungarian GM who is beleived to have worked with Anand before his final match against Karpov in 1998.

The stakes are much higher for Anand this time as he gets set to prove his detractors wrong and thus showcase his killer instinct and mental strength in match play format. Although he has a bevy a records and tournaments under his belt a win against Kramnik this time while would rank ahead of them. Also is an elusive chance to put Soviet rule to an end and thus become the undisputed champion of the world.