With a fine win against Grischuk, Anand has regained clear first in the standings. Not that the other leader Gelfand had a bad result; he can be satisfied with his excellent draw with Black against Kramnik. The seventh round had started with a quick draw between Svidler and Aronian after the former had played the Ruy Lopez Exchange for the first time ever. Morozevich and Leko fought out the longest game (not for the first time!) and despite Leko's advantage at some point this game was drawn as well.Soon after the game had started, Grischuk wasn't too happy about his position. His Bc8-g4 more or less forced matters into a comfortable situation for White, although Anand wasn't sure if Black, with stubborn defence, had to loose.
Naturally Anand was hunted by several journalists after this press conference, since at half-time on this WCC the world's no. one has the best chances. The friendly Vishy never says no, and certainly not against his countrymate Vijay Kumar, who travels after him everywhere, to make television reports for millions of people in India.
What was most remarkable about the game Kramnik-Gelfand was Black castling queenside on move 33. The world champion had to admit he'd completely forgotton about this possibility for Black and he immediately went for the draw.
In a few games against the Exchange Spanish Aronian hadn't played the main line and this was one of the reasons for Svidler to try this opening (except for the fact that he was becoming pretty fed up with the Marshall). This time the main line was played but Black's Bd6 was inaccurate, and so was White's Kf2. More or less because he was disgusted about this, Svidler accepted Aronian's cordial draw offer.
Morozevich thought that after the interesting opening phase he was a bit outplayed by Leko, who on his turn had the feeling the game resembled Fischerrandom a bit. The two agreed that exchanging the rooks didn't help Black to make progress.
First half standings:
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 |
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| 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 | | Kramnik | Aronian | | Morozevich | Gelfand | | Anand | Leko | | Grischuk |
| Free day: Saturday, Sept. 22nd 2007 |
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| 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 |
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| Round 11: Tuesday, Sept. 25th 2007, 14:00h | Anand | | Morozevich | Gelfand | | Svidler | Grischuk | | Kramnik | Leko | | Aronian |
| Free day: Wednesday, Sept. 26th 2007 |
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| 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 |
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| Round 14: Saturday, Sept. 29th 2007, 14:00h | Anand | | Leko | Kramnik | | Aronian | Morozevich | | Gelfand | Svidler | | Grischuk |
| Sunday, Sept. 30th 2007 Possible tiebreaks, closing ceremony |
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With a fine win against Grischuk, Anand has regained clear first in the standings. Not that the other leader Gelfand had a bad result; he can be satisfied with his excellent draw with Black against Kramnik. The seventh round had started with a quick draw between Svidler and Aronian after the former had played the Ruy Lopez Exchange for the first time ever. Morozevich and Leko fought out the longest game (not for the first time!) and despite Leko's advantage at some point this game was drawn as well.Soon after the game had started, Grischuk wasn't too happy about his position. His Bc8-g4 more or less forced matters into a comfortable situation for White, although Anand wasn't sure if Black, with stubborn defence, had to loose.
