Highlights
- Game 1 - as black, Kramnik sacrifices his queen for rook and bishop, and outplays Leko in the ending to take the lead.
- Game 5 - Leko, as white, goes into an ending a pawn up with some winning chances, and outplays Kramnik to win, and level the match.
- Game 8 - Leko, as black in the Marshall Attack, plays into a line prepared by Kramnik's team, and finds the refutation over the board, to take a one point lead. Chessbase wrote, Many questions were answered by today's eighth match game. Does Leko have what it takes to beat Kramnik in a match? Is Kramnik's preparation simply unbeatable? Why don't many top players allow the Marshall Gambit with white? (That's "yes", "no", and "because no matter how well prepared you are you may get killed".)
- Game 12 - Leko switches to the Caro-Kann defence. Kramnik has winning chances, but Leko defends well and, with both players short on time, Leko offers a draw on move 34.
- Game 13 - Kramnik plays the Benoni, in a surprise attempt to win with black, but the game is drawn. Kramnik must now win the final game.
- Game 14 - Kramnik wins a dramatic final game to tie the match and retain his title.
Read more about this topic: Classical World Chess Championship 2004