It’s gonna start

In exactly two hours it’s on. A year after the reunification match Kramnik-Topalov, with which the chess world finally got rid of the schism and Kramnik was crowned unified world champion, the tournament for the new world championship starts today. With Kramnik, without Topalov. The world champion defends his title against Viswanathan Anand, Levon Aronian, Boris Gelfand, Alexander Grischuk, Peter Leko, Alexander Morozevich and Peter Svidler. Tonight at 21.00 CET (14.00 local time in Mexico City) the first moves will be made. The pairing for the first round: Kramnik-Svidler, Anand-Gelfand, Morozevich-Aronian and Grischuk-Leko.

This is the participants list with the birth years and numbers of the current rating list:

 1  Anand, Viswanathan      IND  1969  2792
 3  Kramnik, Vladimir       RUS  1975  2769
 5  Morozevich, Alexander   RUS  1977  2758
 7  Leko, Peter             HUN  1979  2751
 8  Aronian, Levon          ARM  1982  2750
12  Svidler, Peter          RUS  1976  2735
13  Gelfand, Boris          ISR  1968  2733
14  Grischuk, Alexander     RUS  1983  2726

The biggest absents are Veselin Topalov and Vassily Ivanchuk (except for Garry Kasparov and… OK… Bobby Fischer). But Mamedyarov, Radjabov, Jakovenko and Shirov are also higher rated than Grischuk for example. This tournament was a necessary evil anyway, to some extend, and afterwards we can continue with matches again, as it should be. But this doesn’t mean we weren’t looking forward to this event! It’s simply a very strong tournament where the world title is at stake, whatever happened before and whatever complicated matters are waiting afterwards.

Based on more than a thousand votes, the ChessVibes poll results are as follows:

1. Vladimir Kramnik      33%
2. Viswanathan Anand     31%
3. Levon Aronian         20%
4. Alexander Morozevich   7%
5. Peter Leko             6%
6. Boris Gelfand          2%
7. Alexander Grischuk     1%
8. Peter Svidler          1%

The rate of play is 40 moves in 2 hours, then 20 moves in 1 hour followed by 15 minutes plus 30 seconds per move for the rest of the game. The pairings:

Round 1 (September 13, 2007)

Anand, Viswanathan     -  Gelfand, Boris
Grischuk, Alexander    -  Leko, Peter
Kramnik, Vladimir      -  Svidler, Peter
Morozevich, Alexander  -  Aronian, Levon          

Round 2 (September 14, 2007)

Aronian, Levon         -  Anand, Viswanathan
Gelfand, Boris         -  Grischuk, Alexander
Kramnik, Vladimir      -  Morozevich, Alexander
Svidler, Peter         -  Leko, Peter             

Round 3 (September 15, 2007)

Anand, Viswanathan     -  Kramnik, Vladimir
Grischuk, Alexander    -  Aronian, Levon
Leko, Peter            -  Gelfand, Boris
Morozevich, Alexander  -  Svidler, Peter          

Round 4 (September 16, 2007)

Aronian, Levon         -  Leko, Peter
Kramnik, Vladimir      -  Grischuk, Alexander
Morozevich, Alexander  -  Anand, Viswanathan
Svidler, Peter         -  Gelfand, Boris          

Round 5 (September 18, 2007)

Anand, Viswanathan     -  Svidler, Peter
Gelfand, Boris         -  Aronian, Levon
Grischuk, Alexander    -  Morozevich, Alexander
Leko, Peter            -  Kramnik, Vladimir       

Round 6 (September 19, 2007)

Aronian, Levon         -  Kramnik, Vladimir
Gelfand, Boris         -  Morozevich, Alexander
Grischuk, Alexander    -  Svidler, Peter
Leko, Peter            -  Anand, Viswanathan       

Round 7 (September 20, 2007)

Anand, Viswanathan     -  Grischuk, Alexander
Kramnik, Vladimir      -  Gelfand, Boris
Morozevich, Alexander  -  Leko, Peter
Svidler, Peter         -  Aronian, Levon         

Round 8 (September 21, 2007)

Aronian, Levon         -  Morozevich, Alexander
Gelfand, Boris         -  Anand, Viswanathan
Leko, Peter            -  Grischuk, Alexander
Svidler, Peter         -  Kramnik, Vladimir       

Round 9 (September 23, 2007)

Anand, Viswanathan     -  Aronian, Levon
Grischuk, Alexander    -  Gelfand, Boris
Leko, Peter            -  Svidler, Peter
Morozevich, Alexander  -  Kramnik, Vladimir       

Round 10 (September 24, 2007)

Aronian, Levon         -  Grischuk, Alexander
Gelfand, Boris         -  Leko, Peter
Kramnik, Vladimir      -  Anand, Viswanathan
Svidler, Peter         -  Morozevich, Alexander   

Round 11 (September 25, 2007)

Anand, Viswanathan     -  Morozevich, Alexander
Gelfand, Boris         -  Svidler, Peter
Grischuk, Alexander    -  Kramnik, Vladimir
Leko, Peter            -  Aronian, Levon          

Round 12 (September 27, 2007)

Aronian, Levon         -  Gelfand, Boris
Kramnik, Vladimir      -  Leko, Peter
Morozevich, Alexander  -  Grischuk, Alexander
Svidler, Peter         -  Anand, Viswanathan      

Round 13 (September 28, 2007)

Aronian, Levon         -  Svidler, Peter
Gelfand, Boris         -  Kramnik, Vladimir
Grischuk, Alexander    -  Anand, Viswanathan
Leko, Peter            -  Morozevich, Alexander   

Round 14 (September 29, 2007)

Anand, Viswanathan     -  Leko, Peter
Kramnik, Vladimir      -  Aronian, Levon
Morozevich, Alexander  -  Gelfand, Boris
Svidler, Peter         -  Grischuk, Alexander     

                              1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8
---------------------------------------------------------
1 Anand, Viswanathan    2792 ** .. .. .. .. .. .. ..  0.0
2 Aronian, Levon        2750 .. ** .. .. .. .. .. ..  0.0
3 Gelfand, Boris        2733 .. .. ** .. .. .. .. ..  0.0
4 Grischuk, Alexander   2726 .. .. .. ** .. .. .. ..  0.0
5 Kramnik, Vladimir     2769 .. .. .. .. ** .. .. ..  0.0
6 Leko, Peter           2751 .. .. .. .. .. ** .. ..  0.0
7 Morozevich, Alexander 2758 .. .. .. .. .. .. ** ..  0.0
8 Svidler, Peter        2735 .. .. .. .. .. .. .. **  0.0
---------------------------------------------------------

The games can be followed live here.

Coverage online
During the games there will be live coverage at ICC, Playchess, Susan Polgar, Chessdom, ChessOK and most probably on more sites. Mark Crowther’s TWIC has lots of interesting information. Do add interesting sites in the comments if you know more.

ChessVibes coverage
Of course we will cover the tournament intensively. Monday I’m flying to Mexico City from where I can provide inside information right from the press room. Howewer, Macauley is already there, working for ICC, and we will be working together a lot. His videos of the first four days will most probably be published here as well, so stay tuned!