Anand close to world title

Because he had also beaten Vladimir Kramnik, Alexander Morozevich could perhaps have been the one to stop Anand from becoming world champion that quickly, but Vishy already decided to act as true world champion by avoiding a repetition of moves and beating Moro with a beautiful combination. He was received in the press room with a big applause and it wasn’t clear who had more difficulty: the journalists in keeping their objectivity or Vishy with hiding his smile.

The day started surprising with the thirteen-move draw in Grischuk-Kramnik but about this already posted this afternoon. Not long after that Gelfand and Svidler also called it a day; Gelfand thought he was slightly worse but Svidler wasn’t happy with his position either. But this was based on a miscalculation, which he realised more or less during the press conference.

Click To Play

Leko was playing a strong game today against Aronian, till he, in his own words, started to get hallicunations. He gave away his advantage and then tried his luck for a while in a rook ending that he knew was a dead draw.

Click To Play

Meanwhile Anand had refused Morozevich’s silent draw offer (a repetition of moves), because he saw some winning chances. It was slightly risky but eventually Vishy could finish his game study-like.

Click To Play

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  1-0  Morozevich Gelfand  ½-½  Svidler Grischuk  ½-½  Kramnik Leko  ½-½  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