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Anand continued his winning edge against Kramnik by beating him at Wijk aan Zee in the 12th round. Ironically, Kramnik had been displaying sparkling form and had even beaten the current world no. 1, Carlsen. Anand thus beat 2 of the 3 top players at the ongoing tournament. See full game: Key moments: 18 ... Bf8 Not losing, but Kramnik could probably just continue with 18. ... Bf5 19 Qe5 Qxe5 20. Nxe5 Bd6 and so on. A draw is not bad with the Petroff against the world champ. 27 .. Nb3? Again, Bf5 or Bc5 will do just fine. 34 .. Qg6? Loses immediately at these levels. Probably plain time pressure. One winning line for example is 35 Qxg6 hxg6 36. Bg4 Rxc4 37 Nf7 Kg8 38 Be6 Anand played the immediate Bg4, probably laying a trap into which Kramnik walked in playing Rxc4. The win was demonstrated with usual technique by Anand.

Another draw, but what a draw! Kramnik pushed Anand to the wall after a mistake in a complicated position. But to his credit, Anand played quality defensive moves under intense time pressure on both sides. Kramnik couldn't deliver the knock out punch, Anand escaped by the skin of his teeth. Game 10 is on 27 October and we'll be bringing it live as usual with on the spot analysis. Remember Anand needs just a draw to retain his World Chess Champion title. For Kramnik it's win or bust. Remember, Kramnik is playing with the white pieces and looking at his comeback to form, (which unfortunately is only good enough to draw the mighty Anand in this match), he will try to push hard again. Kramnik usually chooses dull openings. Hope he has taken a leaf out of Anand's book like he showed yesterday with the black pieces. If he plays without fear like he did for most part of yesterday, we'll have another juicy game. Match Score after Game 9 V Anand ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 1 ½ ½ ½ Total - 6 ...

"Battle Royale Beckons" says Rakesh Rao of the Hindu. Excuse the slight bent towards Anand, we'd like to call it emotional ;-) Read the Full Article Here

Kramnik again bested Anand at Dortmund. Same place, different opening. This time it was a Queen's Gamit accepted opening. Key Moments 17 ... h5 Careful with your King side pawns, Anand. h6 was far better. With 22 ... Ng4 23 hxg7 Rd8 24 Bxe7 Nxe7 black should be OK. 29 .... Ng6 Blunder. Anand is a pawn down and he will soon lose one more. He could have tried Rc6. Anand resigns two pawns down in rook ending but with no hope.

How will you feel if the World Chess Championship 2008 is decided with the help of an Armageddon game? Will it increase the sale of Digital Chess Clocks and 6 x 5 min games? Will it blast another round of frenzied debate ? Yes, the Anand - Kramnik match could be won or lost on an Armageddon shoot out. What the Rook! Gone are the days when the Kasparov Karpov games threatened to go towards the century mark, the later 2.5 hour first time control 24 game affairs, then the 16 game matches (Kasparov-Kramnik, Kramnik-Leko). Now we are down to 12 games plus the the speedier and speedier ones until the Armageddon threatens if they don't end it quickly. Check the Schedule and Regulations link on this site