The world champion goes down
24 September 2007 11:25 AM
| Last modified: 23:56
World champion Vladimir Kramnik went knockout today in the ninth round of the WCC in Mexico. A marvellous Morozevich was needed; the Russian with the unique playing style acted orthodoxly unorthodox again with a g-pawn push in front of his king, but Kramnik quickly choked on it. Update: last video has been added.
Anand had drawn relatively quickly against Aronian and he became the big winner of the day after Gelfand lost a rook ending that should have ended in a draw. The Indian is now a point clear from the Israeli (who’s still clear second) and 1,5 points ahead of Kramnik. The latter needs to beat Vishy with White tomorrow to keep chances of retaining his title.
Aronian’s choice of the Marshall was to be expected and Vishy tried an original defense with an early Kg1-f2, but during the preparation he and his second Peter Heine Nielsen (who stays in the hotel room opposite to mine and who I’ve seen on several mornings in pyjamas with laptop and cables under his arm shuffling to Anand’s room further down the hall) had both missed the important move …Qd7 that more or less neutralised everything.
Almost all the chess fans were relieved to see Svidler answering Leko’s first move with the Sicilian. The most popular defence against 1.e4 hadn’t been played before at this tournament! Which has something to do with fashion, but also with the fact that Topalov doesn’t play here. Anyway, Svidler regretted the fact that he still hadn’t checked Leko’s 12.Rg1 and was all by himself after 14…Ne8. But fared quite well.
At the start of the press conference it seems there’s thunder and (especially) lightning. This is because not all the lamps were on; later it gets better.
The third game finishing today was Kramnik being punched. The move g2-g4 wasn’t that powerful actually, but securely placed and it did made him stagger. His c5-c4 was wrong, as he noticed right after he hit the clock, and then it was just Moro punching and Vlad on the receiving end, till he could handle no more.
For Anand the sun started shining even brighter when that other Alexander (Grischuk) won against Vishy’s other competitor, Gelfand. Because of passive play Black had gotten into trouble but the rook ending was drawn. However, Black blundered with 56…h3? where 56…Kg5 should have been played.
So tomorrow is the big game. As Macauley mentioned during dinner, a certain player in Bulgaria might even be routing for Kramnik, since then he’ll get a title match, and otherwise he’ll play the winner of Khanty-Mansyisk to qualify for… a title match. As a reminder: the world champion will play a title match anyway (at the moment this will be a Anand-Kramnik match in 2008). But still today he looked pretty disappointed.
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
|
|
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
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Ought the rook ending in Grischuk-Gelfand really to have been drawn? It was a very bad ending for black under all circumstances. I personally like 43 a6! and how is black going to prevent Rb5-b7 with the lethat threat f4-f5+ without allowing the white rooks into his position? So plz can you corroborate the “drawn”-claim with some analysis?
Anyway, we rejoice in the prospect of a match Kramnik-Anand in 2008!
Onbegrijpelijk dat Anand 16.Dd7 gemist had! Het was de zet die door Fritz vrijwel onmiddellijk werd aangegeven! Gebruiken zij geen computers bij de voorbereiding?!
I agree that after Kasparov-Anand, 1995 and Kasparov-Kramnik, 2000 the match Kramnik-Anand, 2008 is very welcome!
Just from a brief glance of the game Morozevitch-Kramnik:
After 14. Be2 Kramnik played 14. …, Rc8.
What about giving up a pawn with 14. …, Ndc5 in order to supply the Nf6 with squares? 15. Bxc4, Nfe4 with ideas like Qh4 or f5; or is this just too primitive?
Why on earth do people rejoice in the idea of an Anand-Kramnik match?? It will be the most boring event since Kramnik-Leko. Every game where Kramnik is Black will be a Petroff, whilst where he is White, we will see a whole string of draws in a Catalan or Slav. I doubt that more than 3-4 games in the whole match will go beyond move 30.
In answer to Steve: Anand had to work hard to save a draw against the Petroff earlier this tournament against Kramnik (and Gelfand, too, for that matter), and the Catalan in Kramnik’s hands is yet another Spanish torture. I’d actually say Kramnik would be ever so slightly favored in a match against Anand.
I agree that Kramnik would be favourite, but that has nothing to do with what I said. My point was that the match will be deathly boring, whoever wins. I am sure that some varieties of paint dry more quickly than others - that doesn’t mean I would want to watch a race to see which dries first!
I think it would be great to see Anand and Kramnik play a long match. It would become an instant classic. Plus, chess history will benefit a lot from a clash between these two players who’ve been at the top of the chess world for over 15 years already. A Kramnik - Anand match MUST happen.
I think it would be boring if all players played like Topalov and Shirov. Variety is what makes it interesting.
It’s not one of my favourite Stones songs (Midnight Rambler is) but why do you always Paint it Black, Steve? Try to see it from another perspective: Anand might be digging up some great 19th century King’s Gambit line (to avoid the Petroff) backed-up with 21st century Rybka analysis - or should I say Zappa these days.
Btw I must that I wouldn’t mind FIDE schedule a Ivanchuk-Topalov match some day.
Kramnik-Leko 2004 wasn’t boring at all in my opinion. The match was, in fact a very nice fight. Ok, Kramnik and Leko are not suited with an enterprising style like Topalov or Ivanchuk, but they played extremely well.
You are right, Peter. One of the great disappointments of my life is that I have never been invited on the TV show “Grumpy Old Men”!
The editing of Kramniks suffering during this game was pretty hilarious…