World
Chess Championship in BonnThe World Chess Championship is taking place from October 14 – November 02, 2008 in the Art and Exhibition Hall of the Federal Republic of Germany in Bonn. The match consists of twelve games, played under classical time controls: 120 minutes for the first 40 moves, 60 minutes for the next 20 moves and then 15 minutes for the rest of the game plus an additional 30 seconds per move starting from move 61. The prize fund is 1.5 million Euro (approximately 2.35 million US Dollars) including taxes and FIDE license fees, and is split equally between the players.
The games are being broadcast live by FoidosChess, with video and commentary for €10 per game; and on Playchess.com. Details are given at the end of this report..
GM Levon Aronian, number seven in the world, analysing with ChessBase editors
How long will this feast continue? Today we had a very tasty dish, filled with
new ideas and very sharp play. Surprisingly it was Anand who came up with an
interesting novelty in the Slav Defence – Kramnik's bread and butter!
I have no doubt that Kramnik knows how to play in that line, just remembering
such a sheer amount of variations is tremendously taxing. In the game it seemed
that the sacrifice he made would lead the game to a calm haven, but Anand found
a brilliant way to continue the play, and gained the upper hand. Kramnik could
have produced more resistance, however he crumbled under the pressure –
and we saw the first scalp of the match.
Is there more to come, or will our magnificent chefs will cook something simple?
Video reports by GM Robert Fountain and Gérard Demuydt for Europe Echecs
Lev Aronian, one of our favourite guests in the ChessBase office
Once again we have a fascinating encounter! Afrter a very popular opening – at least for World Championship matches – it seemed for a moment at least that Anand had managed to keep the game from drying up. At that very moment Kramnik came up with yet another remarkable (in this match) defensive idea! His kingside pawns lift was a new word in this kind of position, and it worked well to maintain equilibrium. A very instructive game.
Video reports by GM Robert Fountain and Gérard Demuydt for Europe Echecs
Press conference after the games, with GM Klaus Bischoff moderating
Vladimir Kramnik in a pensive mood after the unexpected loss in game three
Anand explains what happened during this exciting game...
... and enjoys an exchange with a GM colleague from France
Kramnik lightens up in the course of the press conference (see Europe Echecs
video above)
World Champion Viswanathan Anand, the winner in round three
Later that night four well-known chess experts discuss the game
Georgios Makropoulos, Deputy President of FIDE and Supervisor of the Organisation
Committee
Prof. Dr. Robert K. Freiherr von Weizsäcker, President of the
German Chess Federation
and of the Organisation Committee
Nigel Freeman, FIDE Delegate from Bermuda, member of the Appeals Committee
Israel Gelfer, Israel, Honorary Vice President of FIDE, member
of the Appeals Committee
The French corner: Bachar Kouatly, Lebanese–French grandmaster, editor
of
Europe Echecs; and Igor Nataf, one of the most entertaining GMs of our aquaintance
Ashok Alexander, Director of the Indian section of the Bill and Melinda Gates
foundation
Ashok is an avid chess amateur, who is keen on increasing his 2235 FIDE rating to 2300 or even, some day, to IM strength, and is taking lessons from Igor Nataf ("the world's greatest chess teacher") to achieve this aim. He has know Anand since the days when he played next to the Indian superstar, who at the time was around eleven years old.
All photos by Frederic Friedel in Bonn
The games are being broadcast live by FoidosChess, which provides five parallel video streams to present the players and commentary by grandmasters in German, English, Spanish and Russian. The cost is €10 per game. The games are also being broadcast live on Playchess.com (without videos and commentary, but also without time delay).
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