During the world championship the spectator seats hadn't exactly been overflowed with Mexicans, but for the last round the venue was packed with local chess fans who wanted to see with their own eyes how Anand and Leko were pretending to play chess for twenty moves. But most of the people didn't know or care, since Vishy was winning a well-deserved world title.There was a special atmosphere today in the playing hall. Anand was called on stage first, and received a warm applause already. During the short game both he and Leko played their moves cautiously and both often went away from the board to the area with the drinks. Leko thought for about twenty seconds after Vishy offered a draw with 20.Be3, and then he was the first to congratulate Anand with his world title. A soft applause could be heard but when Anand stepped out of the playing hall, about a hundred fans and many journalists were waiting, armed with mobile phones, photo cameras and video cameras. In the press room Anand received a new applause and the atmosphere during the press conference was a mixture of relief and joy.
Considering the rest of the games, it was quite an exciting round. Kramnik showed himself a worthy ex-world champion by, as he had announced, also playing for a win in his last White game and he was succesvol against Aronian, who acted disappointingly in Mexico. During the game the Armenian couldn't find a proper answer to the powerful Rb1 + Ba1, another great example of opening preperation by Kramnik.
In this last round Svidler scored his first win but he wasn't that proud of it. His victory was based on a strong novelty (Rc1), copyright of his second Alexander Motylev. Svidler gave him all the credits during the press conference. "I asked him to refute the Najdorf and he did."
The last moves of the WCC were made by Morozevich and Gelfand. The opening phase followed J.Polgar-Shirov, Prague 1999, but there 17?¢‚Ǩ¬¶Bb4 was played. It became pretty complicated and on move 23 Black made a big mistake with Qg6 but it's not easy to refute (both players missed it and so it's a nice puzzle. You'll find the answer in the press conference).
Afterwards I asked some questions to Anand, Leko and Gelfand. The colours in the Anand part are wrong (my camera was switched on night vision and unfortunately I only found out afterwards) but I don't want to keep it from you:
Final 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 | ?Ǭ?-?Ǭ? | Leko | Kramnik | 1-0 | Aronian | Morozevich | ?Ǭ?-?Ǭ? | Gelfand | Svidler | 1-0 | Grischuk |
| Sunday, Sept. 30th 2007 Closing ceremony |
|
During the world championship the spectator seats hadn't exactly been overflowed with Mexicans, but for the last round the venue was packed with local chess fans who wanted to see with their own eyes how Anand and Leko were pretending to play chess for twenty moves. But most of the people didn't know or care, since Vishy was winning a well-deserved world title.There was a special atmosphere today in the playing hall. Anand was called on stage first, and received a warm applause already. During the short game both he and Leko played their moves cautiously and both often went away from the board to the area with the drinks. Leko thought for about twenty seconds after Vishy offered a draw with 20.Be3, and then he was the first to congratulate Anand with his world title. A soft applause could be heard but when Anand stepped out of the playing hall, about a hundred fans and many journalists were waiting, armed with mobile phones, photo cameras and video cameras. In the press room Anand received a new applause and the atmosphere during the press conference was a mixture of relief and joy.
Results/schedule:
