I was prepared for gloom and doom, with Karpov hanging onto his portion of the World Chess Championship and no possibility for a reunification match with Kasparov, but a miracle has occurred and Anand has defeated Karpov in game 6 to draw the match.

Now, the match goes into an even more ridiculous phase, with a high speed match of two games and, if that results in another draw, some games of blitz chess. This is a massive insult to the integrity of the "World Chess Championship".

I need to make an apology. Yesterday, I said that the USCF had falsely announced that it was providing live on-line coverage of the match. The USCF has made no such claim. I apparently read that on one of the outside links to the USCF site. My apologies. I regret the error.

Here is the sixth game of the match.

Sam Sloan

[Event "FIDE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL rate 100 30"]
[Site "Lausanne"]
[Date "1998.01.08"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Anand, V."]
[Black "Karpov, An."]
[ECO "A45"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "2765"]
[BlackElo "2745"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. Bg5 e6 3. e4 h6 4. Bxf6 Qxf6 5. Nc3 d6 6. Qd2 g5 7. Bc4 Nc6 8. Nge2 Bg7 9. Rd1 Bd7 10. O-O O-O-O 11. Nb5 a6 12. Na3 g4 13. f4 gxf3 14. Rxf3 Qe7 15. c3 h5 16. Rdf1 Rdf8 17. b4 Na7 18. Nc2 Bh6 19. Qe1 Kb8 20. Bd3 Bc6 21. Nf4 Rfg8 22. d5 Be8 23. Qf2 Bg7 24. Nd4 Bd7 25. dxe6 Bxd4 26. cxd4 fxe6 27. e5 Bc6 28. Ng6 Qd8 29. Nxh8 Bxf3 30. Nf7 Qh4 31. Qxf3 Qxd4+ 32. Kh1 d5 33. Rd1 Qxb4 34. Rb1 Qa4 35. Qxh5 Nc6 36. Qe2 Ka7 37. Qf2+ b6 38. Rc1 Kb7 39. h3 Rc8 40. Qf6 Nd4 41. Nd8+ Kb8 42. Nxe6 {Black resigns} 1-0

[Final Position]

Here is commentary: The Road to the World Chess Championship: Karpov's Path to HIS Glorious Victory .

Here is: Game One

Here is: Game Two

Here is: Game Three

Here is: Game Four

Here is: Game Five

Here is: Karpov defeats Anand in two Quick Chess games to retain FIDE World Championship.

Here is my chart showing all seven rounds of the 1997 FIDE World Chess Championship Candidate's 96 player knockout tournament, won by Anand: The FIDE World Chess Championship Candidate's Tournament Chart. This diagram was made possible by Willy Iclicki and the team at Chess Planet, whom we must all thank for the magnificent job they have done in providing first ever live on-line access to the FIDE World Chess Championship. Here is: The Chess Planet Web Site.