After winning Game 8 in the reunification World Championship Match in Elista, Kalmykia, FIDE World Champion Veselin Topalov also won game 9 to take a 5-4 lead, Kramnik resigning in a positionally lost game.
Kramnik then struck back and won Game 10 to tie the match at 5-5, thanks to a horrendous blunder by Topalov on move 24.
That left only two games to decide the match in regulation time.
Game 11 saw Topalov fighting hard to try and grind down Kramnik, but perhaps this was not the best approach--maybe he should have tried to make game more complicated. As this was Topalov's last White in regulation time, he pressed for a win in the endgame, but found himself in grave danger. However, Kramnik did not have enough to win despite winning a pawn in a Rook + Bishops of Opposite Colors endgame. The game was drawn in 66 moves.
Game 12 is Thursday, and Kramnik will take his shot with White one final time. If either player wins tomorrow, they will be the unified World Champion. If the game ends in a draw, they will go to tiebreaks: four games at a time control of 25 minutes plus 10 seconds added after every move from move 1; if still tied, there will be two five-minute games with 10 seconds added after every move from move 1; if still tied there will be a final game: White will have 6 minutes, Black will have 5 minutes with no time added, but if the game is a draw the player with the Black pieces will be declared World Champion.
Expect one of the most exciting finishes in World Championship history!
To see replay the game and see ChessBase's analysis by GM Mihail Marin, click here.
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