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Anand survives

PeterDoggers
| 0 | Chess Event Coverage
Although after today four rounds still have to be played, the game Kramnik-Anand was of course a crucial one at this WCC. Again Vishy survived a position with a slight material deficit against Kramnik and consolidated his lead since Gelfand had placed a perpetual at Leko's king. Like in almost any game, Svidler was surprised by Morozevich's opening choice but still could have won in one position. It was a draw. Aronian won, according to his opponent Grischuk with a "brilliant attack" in the ending.

All day all attention was focused on Kramnik-Anand. Some were surprised by Vishy's opening choice and called it too sharp, but with his preparation nothing was wrong. A well-timed exchange sacrifice eventually led to a situation in which both sides couldn't really improve their position anymore.

First an intro. You will surely recognize its director Macauley, who's in Mexico for ICC. Since I'm here, I haven't embedded his videos but I surely have to mention them again because in my humble opinion they're top-notch. Watch them Video thumbnail. Click to play
Click To Play


And here the full press conference:



The good thing is that he can still laugh about it, but Svidler keeps on preparing for anything but the openings his opponents play. Morozevich chose the Caro-Kann, which he very rarely does. In the time scramble both players suffered from a blind spot and missed a mate on g7 in a certain variation.



It wasn't the first time Gelfand had to defend himself for playing a draw within thirty moves. He praised Leko's preparation and tried to explain that enough interesting games have been played so far at this WCC.



Aronian-Grischuk was special because of its original start and even more because of the very nice final combination by White.



Anand is very close to the world title now. With a point clear of Gelfand he'll play Morozevich with White, Svidler with Black, Grischuk with Black and then Leko with White. He will not lose a game, normally speaking (and with this form) and it's highly unlikely somebody else will be able to score 8,5 out of 14.



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 
  Morozevich
Gelfand 
  Svidler
Grischuk 
  Kramnik
Leko 
  Aronian
Free day: Wednesday, Sept. 26th 2007
Round 12: Thursday, Sept 27th 2007, 14:00h
Aronian 
  Gelfand
Kramnik 
  Leko
Morozevich 
  Grischuk
Svidler 
  Anand
Round 13: Friday, Sept. 28th 2007, 14:00h
Aronian 
  Svidler
Grischuk 
  Anand
Leko 
  Morozevich
Gelfand 
  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

PeterDoggers
Peter Doggers

Peter Doggers joined a chess club a month before turning 15 and still plays for it. He used to be an active tournament player and holds two IM norms. Peter has a Master of Arts degree in Dutch Language & Literature. He briefly worked at New in Chess, then as a Dutch teacher and then in a project for improving safety and security in Amsterdam schools. Between 2007 and 2013 Peter was running ChessVibes, a major source for chess news and videos acquired by Chess.com in October 2013. As our Director News & Events, Peter writes many of our news reports. In the summer of 2022, The Guardian’s Leonard Barden described him as “widely regarded as the world’s best chess journalist.”

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