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:

Second half