Aronian is back

In round 4, played on Día de la Independencia which celebrated the 197th birthday of Mexico’s independence, it was Aronian who improved his standings with a victory over Leko. Kramnik and Anand drew their games but both missed wins against Grischuk and Morozevich respectively. In Svidler-Gelfand Black grabbed another easy half point in the Petroff.

It was more Leko losing than Aronian winning. The Armenian didn’t do anything special but the Hungarian spent much time on the clock and still made an error after he missed a little tactical idea.

Just like in the third round Grischuk spent an enormous amount of time but this time he must have been satisfied with his draw. Kramnik was building up an already great position and according to the world champion White missed several wins. Especially 38.Rxa7 was inaccurate I think.

Morozevich surprised the spectators even more by not losing against Anand’s fantastic position that contained the bishop pair, a strong knight on d4 and an advanced passed pawn. The Indian will probably be considering this game a loss somehow.

Peter Svidler is one of the players that keeps faith in 1.e4, despite the existence of the Russian Defence. “The head-banging against the Petroff wall continues, with the same result as always,” he said after the game. This can be read in Ian Rogers’ column at USCF. “After the slightest inaccuracy you have nothing,” Svidler continued. He meant he should have played 17.Qd3, keeping the queens on the board and with that, more play.

Standings show that on the first restday today, Kramnik and Anand have a small lead with +1, while Leko and Svidler are on -1:

Playing 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     Svidler Grischuk     Morozevich Leko     Kramnik Gelfand     Aronian
Round 6: Wednesday, Sept. 19th 2007, 14:00h Aronian     Kramnik Gelfand     Morozevich Grischuk     Svidler Leko     Anand	Round 7: Thursday, Sept. 20th 2007, 14:00h Anand     Grischuk Kramnik     Gelfand Morozevich     Leko Svidler     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
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
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