World champ again, Anand calls it a huge achievement

Bonn:

Grandmaster Viswanathan Anand on Wednesday retained the world chess championship crown after drawing with Russian challenger Vladimir Kramnik in the 11th game, capping a remarkable victory in a tension-filled match in Bonn.

Playing white, Anand did not give any chance to a resurgent Kramnik who had got a bit of life after winning the 10th game of the match. (Watch)

Anand finished the match with an overall score of 6.5-4.5 points, which means a handy two point lead for the Indian ace in the 12-game match.

Kramnik, who had got a whiff of life after winning the 10th game of the match, could not do an encore with the black pieces and turned out to be a graceful loser in the end.

Anand won three while Kramnik won one game in the 11 games played in the match while rest of the games were drawn.

Anand, for the first time in the match, got his king pawn opening rolling and Kramnik was taken aback early even as he went for the sharp Sicilian defense.

Anand, who had been opting for the queen pawn opening all along in the competition, obviously wanted to score a point here giving ample evidence that he was prepared for all kinds of rusty play by the Russian. Anand went for the sharpest continuation against the Najdorf employed by Kramnik.

It was a do or die situation for the Russian and Anand realised it to come up with a positive approach signifying his intentions for a sharp battle.

"It's easier to get a draw with white when you don't want to", were Anand's words some time back during a function and the Indian ace proved it when he wanted a draw, clearly indicating that it was much easier to get the half a point when playing for a win with white.

Kramnik did not get any chance as he stood slightly worse in the middle game itself. Once the queens got traded, the Russian sought solace in a draw proposal as he simply did not have any winning chance. The game lasted just 24 moves.