Quite unexpectedly Grischuk, who was just drained during yesterday's press conference, had collected some new energy for the penultimate round and really put Anand to the test. The Russian could even have won somewhere after Vishy had blundered in the ending and so the last round could have been an exciting one. But with superhuman power the Indian managed to save the half point and thanks to the draw between his rivals Gelfand and Kramnik the Indian just needs a draw tomorrow with White against Leko to take over Kramnik's world title.Kramnik had hoped for a sharp line of the Semi-Slav but Gelfand opted for something Vladimir had more or less analysed to a draw after his match against Topalov. It took some time before the press conference started, the reason being?¢‚Ǩ¬¶ that the players had to attend anti-drug testing! The regulations say that the numbers one, two and three plus a random player (which became Leko) had to be tested and this led to a somewhat chaotic day since to the journalists it was totally unclear when the players would show up for the press conference and if they would have their say together or not.
Anand had emerged out of the opening with a slightly worse position but it all seemed to be a typical slight Vishy-disadvantage that wouldn't get him closs to a loss ?¢‚Ǩ‚Äú a strategy we have seen before in this WCC. 40?¢‚Ǩ¬¶Kc8? however was a big mistake after which the cunning 41.Rc2! allowed White to free his rook. Move 35 might have been the only moment though when White was clearly winning according to Grischuk. Anand himself said he knew the draw was in the pocket after 58?¢‚Ǩ¬¶f5. (The press conference starts a little differently because the Spanish journalist Leontxo Garc?ɬ?a suddenly took the initiative to start, while not all the journalist were yet present, inluding myself unfortunately.)
Aronian-Svidler started wildly but it was all theory until 14.Be3. Illescas and Van Wely feared for Black's life around 18.dxc4, since they expected White to continue with Nc3 and Rd2, and "if d6 falls then c5 falls too" (Loek) but Aronian played inaccurately allowing Svidler a liquidation that lead to a perpetual.
Against Leko, Morozevich chose a Rauzer line which was played by Topalov sucessfully against the same opponent in Morelia. This time Leko decided to play natural moves without too much thinking, which resulted in a model game in which
Moro was outplayed completely. To make matters worse, he then had to wait for Leko to return from the doping testing. After half an hour Alexander had enough and he fulfilled his duty by making the short statement that he lost terribly. About half an hour later Leko came to tell his version.
Normally speaking Anand-Leko will be a quick (but important) draw tomorrow and I wonder if the audience will start applauding while the other players are still playing their games. If Anand loses with White and Gelfand wins with Black (a "yeah, right" scenario) then with both on 8,5 points, Sonneborn-Berger decides (since Vishy and Boris drew twice against each other and both will have scored four wins). Correct me if I'm wrong but I believe SB equals the points of the opponents they have beaten plus half of the points of the opponents they drew with, which can only be calculated tomorrow. Only if everything is equal, a rapid tiebreak will be played. But Vishy for Victory it will be. One question remains: will Leko prepare for this game?
Standings (click for bigger version):
Results/schedule:
| Round 1: Thursday, Sept. 13th 2007, 14:00h | Kramnik | ?Ǭ?-?Ǭ? | Svidler | Morozevich | ?Ǭ?-?Ǭ? | Aronian | Anand | ?Ǭ?-?Ǭ? | Gelfand | Grischuk | ?Ǭ?-?Ǭ? | Leko |
| | Round 2: Friday, Sept. 14th 2007, 14:00h | Svidler | ?Ǭ?-?Ǭ? | Leko | Gelfand | ?Ǭ?-?Ǭ? | Grischuk | Aronian | 0-1 | Anand | Kramnik | 1-0 | Morozevich |
|
| Round 3: Saturday, Sept. 15th 2007, 14:00h | Morozevich | 1-0 | Svidler | Anand | ?Ǭ?-?Ǭ? | Kramnik | Grischuk | ?Ǭ?-?Ǭ? | Aronian | Leko | ?Ǭ?-?Ǭ? | Gelfand |
| | Round 4: Sunday, Sept 16th 2007, 14:00h | Svidler | ?Ǭ?-?Ǭ? | Gelfand | Aronian | 1-0 | Leko | Kramnik | ?Ǭ?-?Ǭ? | Grischuk | Morozevich | ?Ǭ?-?Ǭ? | Anand |
|
Free day: Monday, Sept. 11th 2007 |
| | Round 5: Tuesday, Sept. 18th 2007, 14:00h | Anand | 1-0 | Svidler | Grischuk | 1-0 | Morozevich | Leko | ?Ǭ?-?Ǭ? | Kramnik | Gelfand | 1-0 | Aronian |
|
| Round 6: Wednesday, Sept. 19th 2007, 14:00h | Aronian | ?Ǭ?-?Ǭ? | Kramnik | Gelfand | 1-0 | Morozevich | Grischuk | ?Ǭ?-?Ǭ? | Svidler | Leko | ?Ǭ?-?Ǭ? | Anand |
| | Round 7: Thursday, Sept. 20th 2007, 14:00h | Anand | 1-0 | Grischuk | Kramnik | ?Ǭ?-?Ǭ? | Gelfand | Morozevich | ?Ǭ?-?Ǭ? | Leko | Svidler | ?Ǭ?-?Ǭ? | Aronian |
|
Second half
| Round 8: Friday, Sept. 21st 2007, 14:00h | Svidler | ?Ǭ?-?Ǭ? | Kramnik | Aronian | ?Ǭ?-?Ǭ? | Morozevich | Gelfand | ?Ǭ?-?Ǭ? | Anand | Leko | 1-0 | Grischuk |
| Free day: Saturday, Sept. 22nd 2007 |
|
| Round 9: Sunday, Sept. 23th 2007, 14:00h | Anand | ?Ǭ?-?Ǭ? | Aronian | Grischuk | 1-0 | Gelfand | Leko | ?Ǭ?-?Ǭ? | Svidler | Morozevich | 1-0 | Kramnik |
| | Round 10: Monay, Sept. 24th 2007, 14:00h | Aronian | 1-0 | Grischuk | Gelfand | ?Ǭ?-?Ǭ? | Leko | Kramnik | ?Ǭ?-?Ǭ? | Anand | Svidler | ?Ǭ?-?Ǭ? | Morozevich |
|
| Round 11: Tuesday, Sept. 25th 2007, 14:00h | Anand | 1-0 | Morozevich | Gelfand | ?Ǭ?-?Ǭ? | Svidler | Grischuk | ?Ǭ?-?Ǭ? | Kramnik | Leko | ?Ǭ?-?Ǭ? | Aronian |
| Free day: Wednesday, Sept. 26th 2007 |
|
| Round 12: Thursday, Sept 27th 2007, 14:00h | Aronian | 0-1 | Gelfand | Kramnik | 1-0 | Leko | Morozevich | 1-0 | Grischuk | Svidler | ?Ǭ?-?Ǭ? | Anand |
| | Round 13: Friday, Sept. 28th 2007, 14:00h | Aronian | ?Ǭ?-?Ǭ? | Svidler | Grischuk | ?Ǭ?-?Ǭ? | Anand | Leko | 1-0 | Morozevich | Gelfand | ?Ǭ?-?Ǭ? | Kramnik |
|
| Round 14: Saturday, Sept. 29th 2007, 14:00h | Anand | | Leko | Kramnik | | Aronian | Morozevich | | Gelfand | Svidler | | Grischuk |
| Sunday, Sept. 30th 2007 Possible tiebreaks, closing ceremony |
|
Quite unexpectedly Grischuk, who was just drained during yesterday's press conference, had collected some new energy for the penultimate round and really put Anand to the test. The Russian could even have won somewhere after Vishy had blundered in the ending and so the last round could have been an exciting one. But with superhuman power the Indian managed to save the half point and thanks to the draw between his rivals Gelfand and Kramnik the Indian just needs a draw tomorrow with White against Leko to take over Kramnik's world title.Kramnik had hoped for a sharp line of the Semi-Slav but Gelfand opted for something Vladimir had more or less analysed to a draw after his match against Topalov. It took some time before the press conference started, the reason being?¢‚Ǩ¬¶ that the players had to attend anti-drug testing! The regulations say that the numbers one, two and three plus a random player (which became Leko) had to be tested and this led to a somewhat chaotic day since to the journalists it was totally unclear when the players would show up for the press conference and if they would have their say together or not.
Results/schedule:
