Experience leading the field
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After the sixth round you could say that Experience is leading the field. After Anand had drawn his game against Leko with Black in a line they had studied together some ten years ago, Gelfand (after Anand the oldest player in the field, followed by Anand) won again, this time against Morozevich, and so the Israeli is joining Vishy on the first spot. Svidler and Grischuk fought a great battle today, which they both clearly enjoyed themselves as well. After both had had won positions, eventually the point was shared. This had also happend in the early afternoon between Aronian and Kramnik, who went through an ultra-correct Catalan.
Aronian was curious about how Kramnik, who’s so succesful himself in the Catalan, would react to this opening. The line that was chosen by the world champion isn’t known as very good for Black, but undeservedly. Aronian chose not to take risks and grabbed the draw when it was there.
Since Leko was so surprised by Anand’s opening choice, he decided to go for an old line (13.Be3, called “a relic” by Kasparov) and only his 17.Re1 was new, but not dangerous.
As mentioned there was much exciting stuff in Grischuk-Svidler. The whole Grischuk team had forgotten to check the line played by Svidler and so Black came out of the opening with an advantage. But 24…bxc4? was wrong and so was 37.Pxe6?.
Though Gelfand has a very serious attitude from outside, he’s probably the happiest player in the field right now. He reacted well to Morozevich’s Petrosian-like exchange sac by activating the white rook via the fourth rank, when suddenly things were going bad for Black.
Standings:
Results/schedule:
| Round 1: Thursday, Sept. 13th 2007, 14:00h |
|
Kramnik
|
½-½ |
Svidler |
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Morozevich
|
½-½ |
Aronian |
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Anand
|
½-½ |
Gelfand |
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Grischuk
|
½-½ |
Leko |
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| Round 2: Friday, Sept. 14th 2007, 14:00h |
|
Svidler
|
½-½ |
Leko |
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Gelfand
|
½-½ |
Grischuk |
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Aronian
|
0-1 |
Anand |
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Kramnik
|
1-0 |
Morozevich |
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| Round 3: Saturday, Sept. 15th 2007, 14:00h |
|
Morozevich
|
1-0 |
Svidler |
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Anand
|
½-½ |
Kramnik |
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Grischuk
|
½-½ |
Aronian |
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Leko
|
½-½ |
Gelfand |
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| Round 4: Sunday, Sept 16th 2007, 14:00h |
|
Svidler
|
½-½ |
Gelfand |
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Aronian
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1-0 |
Leko |
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Kramnik
|
½-½ |
Grischuk |
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Morozevich
|
½-½ |
Anand |
|
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Free day: Monday, Sept. 11th 2007
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| Round 5: Tuesday, Sept. 18th 2007, 14:00h |
|
Anand
|
1-0 |
Svidler |
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Grischuk
|
1-0 |
Morozevich |
|
Leko
|
½-½ |
Kramnik |
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Gelfand
|
1-0 |
Aronian |
|
| Round 6: Wednesday, Sept. 19th 2007, 14:00h |
|
Aronian
|
½-½ |
Kramnik |
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Gelfand
|
1-0 |
Morozevich |
|
Grischuk
|
½-½ |
Svidler |
|
Leko
|
½-½ |
Anand |
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| Round 7: Thursday, Sept. 20th 2007, 14:00h |
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Anand
|
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Grischuk |
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Kramnik
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Gelfand |
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Morozevich
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Leko |
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Svidler
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Aronian |
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Second half
| Round 8: Friday, Sept. 21st 2007, 14:00h |
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Svidler
|
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Kramnik |
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Aronian
|
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Morozevich |
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Gelfand
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Anand |
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Leko
|
|
Grischuk |
|
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Free day: Saturday, Sept. 22nd 2007
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| Round 9: Sunday, Sept. 23th 2007, 14:00h |
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Anand
|
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Aronian |
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Grischuk
|
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Gelfand |
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Leko
|
|
Svidler |
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Morozevich
|
|
Kramnik |
|
| Round 10: Monay, Sept. 24th 2007, 14:00h |
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Aronian
|
|
Grischuk |
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Gelfand
|
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Leko |
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Kramnik
|
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Anand |
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Svidler
|
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Morozevich |
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| Round 11: Tuesday, Sept. 25th 2007, 14:00h |
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Anand
|
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Morozevich |
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Gelfand
|
|
Svidler |
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Grischuk
|
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Kramnik |
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Leko
|
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Aronian |
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Free day: Wednesday, Sept. 26th 2007
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| Round 12: Thursday, Sept 27th 2007, 14:00h |
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Aronian
|
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Gelfand |
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Kramnik
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Leko |
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Morozevich
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|
Grischuk |
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Svidler
|
|
Anand |
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| Round 13: Friday, Sept. 28th 2007, 14:00h |
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Aronian
|
|
Svidler |
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Grischuk
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Anand |
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Leko
|
|
Morozevich |
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Gelfand
|
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Kramnik |
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| Round 14: Saturday, Sept. 29th 2007, 14:00h |
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Anand
|
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Leko |
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Kramnik
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Aronian |
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Morozevich
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Gelfand |
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Svidler
|
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Grischuk |
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Sunday, Sept. 30th 2007
Possible tiebreaks, closing ceremony
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According to Fritz 37. Pxe6 is the best move in the game Grischuk vs Svidler.
Why would it be wrong?
“Gelfand (after Anand the oldest player in the field)”
? Slip of the keyboard?
Gelfand is from 1968, Anand from 1969…
Milo,
since it throws the win away. White can win the a7-rook and take all Black’s pawns with check, but Black is saved thanks to his d-pawn. See: 41..Ke8 42.Qxa7 d3 43.Qxa6 d2 44.Qxe6+ Kf8 45.Qf5+ Ke8 46.Qxh5+ Kf8 and White can keep checking Black’s king around to no avail while 47.Qd1 Be4! with the idea Bc2 saves Black.
Keeping the knight is essential. Try 37.Qh8+ Ke7 38.Qg7 and now for example 38..Rf8 39.Nxe6! etc
Question: Will see Gelfand as a real world champion even if he wins ?
Personally i feel other players take a little more risk against Gelfand because you are supposed to score points again him while a safe draw against Anand or Kramnik is a good result.
Ofcourse he is still doing very well and it is nice to see a suprise on the top .. but still Gelfand vs Topalov .. i can predict the result of that one.
“Question: Will see Gelfand as a real world champion even if he wins ?”
What is then the point of him playing this tournament?
“Personally i feel other players take a little more risk against Gelfand because you are supposed to score points again him while a safe draw against Anand or Kramnik is a good result.”
Even if that was true, same judgment would be applicable to Grischuk, Svidler or Morozevich. And besides, Morozevich is known for making risky choices in both openings and middle stages of the game regardless of his opponent (but then again, his rook sacrifice was in some way forced, therefore not being risky at all).
“Ofcourse he is still doing very well and it is nice to see a suprise on the top .. but still Gelfand vs Topalov .. i can predict the result of that one.”
If I am not mistaken, Gelfand is the only player that went through qualification matches (against Kasimdzhanov and Kamsky) without losing a single game. He is obviously in good form; I think that the result of his match against Topalov would not be as easy to predict as you think …
When he wins, he won’t play Topalov, Topalov only comes into play when Kramnik wins. Otherwise Kramnik gets a rematch.