KRAMNIK WINS! BECOMES UNIFIED WORLD CHAMPION; TEAM TOPALOV TO DEMAND REMATCH IN MARCH 2007

On Friday, the 13-year schism in the chess world finally ended, with Vladimir Kramnik of Russia capturing the unified World Chess Championship title by defeating Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria in the tiebreak stage.

After the first 12 games, the match was tied 6-6, Topalov winning Game 5 by forfeit. Each of these 12 games could have lasted a maximum of about 7 hours, though none went that long.

There were a series of tiebreaks in the match regulations if the score was 6-6 after the first 12 games. There would be 4 games played that could each last a maximum of about one hour, then 2 games that could last a total of about 10 minutes if needed, then an "Armageddon Game" to decide the title: the player with White would get 6 minutes, the player with Black 5 minutes, but Black gets draw odds (Black would win the game and the title if he won the game, OR if the game was a draw).

Kramnik won the first series of 4 tiebreak games with 2 wins, 1 draw, and 1 loss, so the other tiebreaks were not necessary.

Game 1 ended in a complex draw, Kramnik won a nice positional game in Game 2, and Topalov played brilliant attacking chess to capture Game 3.

In Game 4, Kramnik generated great pressure, and had a large advantage. But Topalov played a blunder on his 44th move, and then was said to close his eyes, instantly realizing his mistake. Kramnik played the move that would win a whole rook, and Topalov resigned, ending the match.

In the last couple of days Topalov's manager Silvio Danailov has promised to come out with a book about "Toiletgate" and will demand a $1.5M rematch in March 2007. Kramnik has said initially that he would not accept the offer, though FIDE regulations may force him to accept.

To play through the four tiebreak games from ChessBase with analysis by GM Mihail Marin, click here.