2008 World Chess Championship Details

Play time is over.  This is the big one.  The World Chess Championship between the defending champion Viswanathan Anand from India and the challenger Vladimir Kramnik from Russia, sponsored by Evonik Industries and Gazprom, will take place in Bonn, Germany starting on 14th October 2008.  The match is being organised by Universal Event Promotions.

The match will be played over 12 games at time control of 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 (from move 61 onwards).

All games will start at 3pm local time (currently GMT+2, from October 26 onwards GMT+1) on the dates shown below.

If the scores are level at 6-6 after the 12 regular games, then 4 tie-break games shall be played with 25 minutes on the clock for each player with a 10 second increment per move.

If the scores are still level then 2 five-minute games shall be played with a 10 second increment per move.  If the tie is still not broken, there shall be a sudden-death game where white has 6 minutes, black has 5 minutes and no time increment. In case of a draw the player with the black pieces is declared as winner.

The ultimate prize in chess can only belong to one man; but who will that be?  It will surely be a close contest, just as the public vote is also too close to call.

It will be a battle of skill, technique, concentration, imagination, guile, determination, preparation, mental attitude, and above all else - nerves.  Just 10 days remain until hostilities commence.  This, ladies and gentlemen, is no game.  This is serious.