Anand takes the lead

It was a great fifth round I've been watching here in Mexico. this fifth round that I could watch on the spot A great fifth round it was, While I was editing the footage of the start of the round, the players were involved in some great fights. Only Leko-Kramnik was a quiet draw which forced me to run to the room next to the press room quickly to film their post-mortem (a rare thing here at the Wch) and press conference. Much later Anand took the clear lead by beating Svidler with White and during their press conference Grischuk won with White against Morozevich. A third White win was scored by Gelfand; his victim was Aronian.

First I'll show you my first video:

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If you want to become world champion, you have to be able to win with White. Anand hadn't come close to an advantage in his first two White games and so he must have been happy to see Svidler's 2...Nc6. Of course what followed was the Marshall Gambit and just like Svidler had done before in this tournament, Vishy accepted the pawn sacrifice. At first Svidler reacted well to his opponent's preparation but he needed much time and in upcoming time trouble he went astray.

The press conference op Anand-Svidler:

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You could say Grischuk-Morozevich was all about one move. When Moro decided to take both the pawns on c3 and a3, he probably had missed the great move 24.exf5!. At least that's what Grischuk suspected and said during the press conference and Morozevich did not deny it. After winning the exchange Grischuk considered the position winning already.

The press conference:

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Leko-Kramnik was mostly interesting because of the Italian opening, that doesn't occur that much on this level. But perhaps this is going to change because the reason for Leko is clear: no more Petroff. Kramnik did not dislike White's second move - he played it himself a few times - and so the two gentlemen with the oh so solid style cruised to a quick draw anyway.

Here their post-mortem:

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And there the press conference they gave right afterwards:

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Gelfand played a very strong game today. His new idea 6.Nf3 and 7.e4 was already a nice start; a novelty that was lying on the shelf since April. He thought 25...g4 to be the principled move but still he wasn't sure if it was good, because a few moves later he was "simply a pawn up". Aronian thought his queen might have better gone to c8.

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Standings:




Playing 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     Kramnik Gelfand     Morozevich Grischuk     Svidler Leko     Anand	Round 7: Thursday, Sept. 20th 2007, 14:00h Anand     Grischuk Kramnik     Gelfand Morozevich     Leko Svidler     Aronian

Second half

Round 8: Friday, Sept. 21st 2007, 14:00h Svidler     Kramnik Aronian     Morozevich Gelfand     Anand Leko     Grischuk	Free day: Saturday, Sept. 22nd 2007
Round 9: Sunday, Sept. 23th 2007, 14:00h Anand     Aronian Grischuk     Gelfand Leko     Svidler Morozevich     Kramnik	Round 10: Monay, Sept. 24th 2007, 14:00h Aronian     Grischuk Gelfand     Leko Kramnik     Anand Svidler     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