Anand survives

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 here.

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And here the full press conference:

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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.

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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.

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

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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  ½-½  Svidler Morozevich  ½-½  Aronian Anand  ½-½  Gelfand Grischuk  ½-½  Leko	Round 2: Friday, Sept. 14th 2007, 14:00h Svidler  ½-½  Leko Gelfand  ½-½  Grischuk Aronian  0-1  Anand Kramnik  1-0  Morozevich
Round 3: Saturday, Sept. 15th 2007, 14:00h Morozevich  1-0  Svidler Anand  ½-½  Kramnik Grischuk  ½-½  Aronian Leko  ½-½  Gelfand	Round 4: Sunday, Sept 16th 2007, 14:00h Svidler  ½-½  Gelfand Aronian  1-0  Leko Kramnik  ½-½  Grischuk Morozevich  ½-½  Anand
Free day: Monday, Sept. 11th 2007	Round 5: Tuesday, Sept. 18th 2007, 14:00h Anand  1-0  Svidler Grischuk  1-0  Morozevich Leko  ½-½  Kramnik Gelfand  1-0  Aronian
Round 6: Wednesday, Sept. 19th 2007, 14:00h Aronian  ½-½  Kramnik Gelfand  1-0  Morozevich Grischuk  ½-½  Svidler Leko  ½-½  Anand	Round 7: Thursday, Sept. 20th 2007, 14:00h Anand  1-0  Grischuk Kramnik  ½-½  Gelfand Morozevich  ½-½  Leko Svidler  ½-½  Aronian

Second half

Round 8: Friday, Sept. 21st 2007, 14:00h Svidler  ½-½  Kramnik Aronian  ½-½  Morozevich Gelfand  ½-½  Anand Leko  1-0  Grischuk	Free day: Saturday, Sept. 22nd 2007
Round 9: Sunday, Sept. 23th 2007, 14:00h Anand  ½-½  Aronian Grischuk  1-0  Gelfand Leko  ½-½  Svidler Morozevich  1-0  Kramnik	Round 10: Monay, Sept. 24th 2007, 14:00h Aronian  1-0  Grischuk Gelfand  ½-½  Leko Kramnik  ½-½  Anand Svidler  ½-½  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