Vladimir Kramnik — Veselin Topalov
The game in which Vladimir Kramnik becomes the unified World Chess Champion. He plays another Catalan with supreme confidence, Topalov has no winning attempt and in fact falls into a worse position, and Kramnik converts a clean technical endgame to claim the ultimate prize. Final score: Kramnik 8½ – Topalov 7½. After a decade of division, the chess world has a single champion once more.
Kramnik's final Catalan of the match is played with the serene confidence of a man who knows exactly what he is doing — there is no haste, no anxiety, just pure chess.
A simplifying combination on move 27 trades off all of Topalov's counterplay and steers into a technically favourable endgame with a small but permanent advantage.
Topalov resigns as the endgame advantage proves decisive; Vladimir Kramnik is acclaimed as the reunified World Chess Champion, ending ten years of division in the chess world.