Anand takes the lead
19 September 2007 9:15 AM CET | Last modified: 9:40 | By Peter Doggers | Filed under: Reports | Tags: Videos
It was a great fifth round I’ve been watching here in Mexico. this fifth round that I could watch on the spot A great fifth round it was, While I was editing the footage of the start of the round, the players were involved in some great fights. Only Leko-Kramnik was a quiet draw which forced me to run to the room next to the press room quickly to film their post-mortem (a rare thing here at the Wch) and press conference. Much later Anand took the clear lead by beating Svidler with White and during their press conference Grischuk won with White against Morozevich. A third White win was scored by Gelfand; his victim was Aronian.
First I’ll show you my first video:
If you want to become world champion, you have to be able to win with White. Anand hadn’t come close to an advantage in his first two White games and so he must have been happy to see Svidler’s 2…Nc6. Of course what followed was the Marshall Gambit and just like Svidler had done before in this tournament, Vishy accepted the pawn sacrifice. At first Svidler reacted well to his opponent’s preparation but he needed much time and in upcoming time trouble he went astray.
The press conference op Anand-Svidler:
You could say Grischuk-Morozevich was all about one move. When Moro decided to take both the pawns on c3 and a3, he probably had missed the great move 24.exf5!. At least that’s what Grischuk suspected and said during the press conference and Morozevich did not deny it. After winning the exchange Grischuk considered the position winning already.
The press conference:
Leko-Kramnik was mostly interesting because of the Italian opening, that doesn’t occur that much on this level. But perhaps this is going to change because the reason for Leko is clear: no more Petroff. Kramnik did not dislike White’s second move - he played it himself a few times - and so the two gentlemen with the oh so solid style cruised to a quick draw anyway.
Here their post-mortem:
And there the press conference they gave right afterwards:
Gelfand played a very strong game today. His new idea 6.Nf3 and 7.e4 was already a nice start; a novelty that was lying on the shelf since April. He thought 25…g4 to be the principled move but still he wasn’t sure if it was good, because a few moves later he was “simply a pawn up”. Aronian thought his queen might have better gone to c8.
Standings:
Playing schedule:
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Second half
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Good job Peter!!
Enjoy!
Supreme coverage!
Yes, excellent coverage of a very strong tournament. But to enter a note of controversy, I hope that none of your readers will fall into the trap of regarding this event as a world championship. Let’s be quite clear about it - whatever happens in Mexico, Kramnik remains the true world champion, until such time as somebody defeats him in a match. That is how one becomes world chess champion - by defeating the existing champion in a match. Always has been so, always will be, whatever the FIDE dunderheads (to coin a phrase) might say.
Zwijmel! Ownage to the bone!
Yes, fantastic coverage, Peter. Please keep this up. There’s one thing I’d like to know though, if anyone could tell me, what is the intro music to all the videos in this article? I swear, I’ve heard this tune many times and always wondered what it’s name was. Can anyone tell me?
Well Steve, dont worry, a match is scheduled for next year, no matter what!
Steve,
Suppose, Kramnik wins this match, according to your logic I can and of course you can challenge him and FIDE will be wrong in not allowing me and you.
What on earth are you talking about??
Dont be emotional. Just read again what you have written.
Steve, do you think the chess world had a world champion in 1949? (Btw Julian sits next to me and sends his regards!)
Yes, the world champion in 1949 was Botvinnik. On two occasions, necessity has forced the determining of a champion without a match. One was when Alekhine died in 1946, taking the title to the grave with him. The other was in 1975, when the champion (Fischer) refused to defend his title against the duly qualified challenger (Karpov). In both cases, it was not possible for the title to change hands in the usual way, so other arrangements had to be made. If Kramnik drops dead tomorrow, or retires from chess, then again we would have to find a way to determine a new champion. But all the while he is alive and playing, the only way for anybody to become champion is to beat him in a match.
I think, peter talked about chicken-egg problem.
@Shad
“La femme d’argent” from the album “Moon Safari” by Air, a French duo. Great album by the way.
Steve,
Kramnik, if he doesn’t win in Mexico, will disagree with you, but I guess you are free to call whoever you wish world champion. In any case, there will be a match between Kramnik and the new one, which, although a bit unjust, is a Good Thing [TM].
Well, Kramnik’s motivation for saying what he did, and agreeing to play in Mexico remains a mystery. I assume he was bribed with a substantial amount of money - that’s usually the reason people abandon their principles. Whatever his reason, it is a great shame for chess, and it undoes much of the good he did a year ago, when facing down Topalov. Of course, the correct course of action was to refuse to play in Mexico and insist that it be a Candidates’ event, the winner of which would earn the right to a world championship match against Kramnik.
The most wonderful thing Kramnik did was to agree to play a match against Topalov (winning that match comes in second). Both Kramnik and Topalov made some sacrifices in order to end the Kasparov’s schism. The conditions for Mexico were part of the conditions of the Elista match: that the winner would play in Mexico and the loser would not, but most importantly, that there would be no controversy as to who is the current world champion and which way the next one would be determined.
I’m not happy to see the WCC title being given out in a tournament format, but let’s not beg for yet another schism. Looks like we really may look forward to a match between the two chess giants of the 21st century. Isn’t it great!