It really has begun now

After the quiet start of round one, the second round in Mexico City was a big spectacle. Both Kramnik and Anand won their games convincingly after a strong novelty and Svidler got very far with a different treatment of Leko's Marshall. Only Gelfand-Grischuk was a draw in first-round style.

Kramnik's game was impressive. His 8.0-0 did not come up in my database but after 8?¢‚Ǩ¬¶0-0 it was known again via transposition (with 9.Bd2). The piece sacrifice that followed must have been cooked up in Paris and this must have been not much fun for Moro. From hindsight I guess 16?¢‚Ǩ¬¶Ra7 will have to be analysed because after the pretty 18.Da4! it's already over.

Anand came with the powerful 17?¢‚Ǩ¬¶c5 and he must have looked at Aronian's piece sac with his second Peter Heine Nielsen. With the very subtle way of declining Bg7-e5-g7 he got an advantage which he didn't let go anymore.

Svidler's 15.Qe2 is rare and I hadn't seen 18.Rxe8 followed by 19.f3 before but I'm not sure. Eventually he kept his extra pawn but the little fellow on g4 saved the day for Black almost on his own.

As said before, Gelfand-Grischuk wasn't very interesting.



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     Svidler Anand     Kramnik Grischuk     Aronian Leko     Gelfand	Round 4: Sunday, Sept 16th 2007, 14:00h Svidler     Gelfand Aronian     Leko Kramnik     Grischuk Morozevich     Anand
Free day: Monday, Sept. 11th 2007	Round 5: Tuesday, Sept. 18th 2007, 14:00h Anand     Svidler Grischuk     Morozevich Leko     Kramnik Gelfand     Aronian
Round 6: Wednesday, Sept. 19th 2007, 14:00h Svidler     Aronian Kramnik     Gelfand Morozevich     Leko Anand     Grischuk	Round 7: Thursday, Sept. 20th 2007, 14:00h Grischuk     Svidler Leko     Anand Gelfand     Morozevich Aronian     Kramnik

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 Kramnik     Svidler Morozevich     Aronian Anand     Gelfand Grischuk     Leko	Round 10: Monay, Sept. 24th 2007, 14:00h Svidler     Leko Gelfand     Grischuk Aronian     Anand Kramnik     Morozevich
Round 11: Tuesday, Sept. 25th 2007, 14:00h Morozevich     Svidler Anand     Kramnik Grischuk     Aronian Leko     Gelfand	Free day: Wednesday, Sept. 26th 2007
Round 12: Thursday, Sept 27th 2007, 14:00h Svidler     Gelfand Aronian     Leko Kramnik     Grischuk Morozevich     Anand	Round 13: Friday, Sept. 28th 2007, 14:00h Anand     Svidler Grischuk     Morozevich Leko     Kramnik Gelfand     Aronian
Round 14: Saturday, Sept. 29th 2007, 14:00h Svidler     Aronian Kramnik     Gelfand Morozevich     Leko Anand     Grischuk	Sunday, Sept. 30th 2007 Possible tiebreaks, closing ceremony