The long awaited "title unification match" between Bulgarian Veselin Topalov (2803), the highest rated chess player in the world, and Vladimir Kramnik (2743), who some consider the defending World Chess Federation champion, concluded last Friday October 13th with a horrendous blunder by Topalov in the fourth tiebreak rapid match (25 minutes plus 10 seconds per move) giving the undisputed title of World Chess Champion to the Russian. The match was full of drama, with Topalov losing the first two games and Kramnik losing a game by default in Game 5 during a protest following accusations that he was using a computer during his dozens of bathroom breaks during the 5-hour games. The regulation section (40 movies in 2 hours, followed by 20 moves in 1 hour) of the match ended with a bang, with three consecutive decisive games during Games 8, 9 and 10 with two consecutive wins by Topalov followed by a win by Kramnik to tie the match. After 12 games the score was tied 6-6, which led to the rapid tiebreak games, which Kramnik won by winning with the White pieces twice whereas Topalov was held to a draw in the first game.As a former international chess player as a junior, I still follow the game pretty closely myself.
I was always a big fan of Garry Kasparov, probably the greatest player ever. Topalov is his natural successor, while Kramnik is more in the mold of Kasparov's nemesis, Anatoly Karpov. Unfortunately, it looks like "Karpov" (Kramnik) won this round. However, the prize money of $1 million will be split evenly between the players. Topalov is already calling for a rematch to be held in March 2007.
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