Kramnik had been granted a match after not winning the World Chess Championship 2007 tournament.

After eleven games, Anand successfully defended his title by a final score of 6½–4½ (three victories and one defeat).

[2] The match was a one-off event in which the previous world champion (Vladimir Kramnik) had been given the right to challenge to regain his title.

In June 2007 FIDE announced that Topalov would get special privileges in the World Chess Championship 2010 qualifying cycle, while Kramnik, if he lost his title in 2007 (which he did, coming second behind Viswanathan Anand), would play a match with the tournament champion in 2008.

The match regulations specified a series of three tie breaks:[5] Anand's seconds who helped his preparation were: Peter Heine Nielsen, Rustam Kasimdzhanov, Surya Ganguly and Radosław Wojtaszek.

)[8] Anand achieved a vicious attack and despite simplified material, Kramnik was unable to defend successfully.

GM Vladimir Dimitrov wrote, "Vishy took early the initiative in this game and forced Kramnik into a time trouble.

"[9] Anand was himself low on time and did not find 33...Bxd3+, which wins immediately, but the move he played (33...Bh3) also won.

Black accepted the isolated d-pawn in return for an active position and a lead in development and never appeared to be in serious trouble.

Queen's Gambit Declined, D37 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Be7 5.Bf4 0-0 6.e3 Nbd7 7.a3 c5 8.cxd5 Nxd5 9.Nxd5 exd5 10.dxc5 Nxc5 11.Be5 Bf5 12.Be2 Bf6 13.Bxf6 Qxf6 14.Nd4 Ne6 15.Nxf5 Qxf5 16.0-0 Rfd8 17.Bg4 Qe5 18.Qb3 Nc5 19.Qb5 b6 20.Rfd1 Rd6 21.Rd4 a6 22.Qb4 h5 23.Bh3 Rad8 24.g3 g5 25.Rad1 g4 26.Bg2 Ne6 27.R4d3 d4 28.exd4 Rxd4 29.Rxd4 Rxd4 ½–½ Repeating the same sharp line which brought victory in game 3, Anand sidestepped whatever antidote Kramnik had prepared by interpolating 15...Rg8 before Bd6.

Nimzo-Indian Defence, E34 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Qc2 d5 5.cxd5 Qxd5 6.Nf3 Qf5 7.Qb3 Nc6 8.Bd2 0-0 9.h3 b6 10.g4 Qa5 11.Rc1 Bb7 12.a3 Bxc3 13.Bxc3 Qd5 14.Qxd5 Nxd5 15.Bd2 Nf6 16.Rg1 Rac8 17.Bg2 Ne7 18.Bb4 c5 19.dxc5 Rfd8 20.Ne5 Bxg2 21.Rxg2 bxc5 22.Rxc5 Ne4 23.Rxc8 Rxc8 24.Nd3 Nd5 25.Bd2 Rc2 26.Bc1 f5 27.Kd1 Rc8 28.f3 Nd6 29.Ke1 a5 30.e3 e5 31.gxf5 e4 32.fxe4 Nxe4 33.Bd2 a4 34.Nf2 Nd6 35.Rg4 Nc4 36.e4 Nf6 37.Rg3 Nxb2 38.e5 Nd5 39.f6 Kf7 40.Ne4 Nc4 41.fxg7 Kg8 42.Rd3 Ndb6 43.Bh6 Nxe5 44.Nf6+ Kf7 45.Rc3 Rxc3 46.g8=Q+ Kxf6 47.Bg7+ 1–0 Kramnik chose the Slav Defense, and obtained a slightly worse position.