World Championship Mexico, Round 11 – Anand!!

World Championship 2007 Mexico

The World Championship 2007 is taking place from September 12 to 30 in the Sheraton Centro Histórico Hotel in Mexico City. Eight players are qualified – the tournament is a double round robin. The prize fund is US $1.3 million.

Round eleven express report

Current standings

Note: a number of readers have asked us what the numbers in the column after the ratings are. These are the Elo performances of the players. For instance: Anand is rated 2792. The results he has provided so far would be normal and expected for a player rated 2880, so he has played 88 points above his nominal rating. Gelfand's performance is 2784, Morozevich is playing as if his rating was 2691 (2758 – 67).

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Picture gallery

Viswanathan Anand at the start of his game against Alexander Morozevich

Alexander Morozevich facing the Indian top seed with the black pieces

Levon Aronian facing Peter Leko with the black pieces

Alexander Grischuk with white against Vladimir Kramnik's Petroff

Peter Leko and Levon Aronian, both at 50%, eager to improve their standings

Boris Gelfand and Peter Svidler in their typical working positions

The two playing the shortest game of the tournament so far

Anand vs Morozevich, the game of the day

The games of round eleven are under way

35 minutes after the start of the round Grischuk and Kramnik are in the press conference

Kramnik was asked why he chose to play the Petroff in this critical situation where he needs every point he can possible get to defend his title. Before he could answere Grischuk grabbed the mike and said: "Yes, I too would like to ask the same question." Kramnik explained that the Petroff can be a sharp weapon, as he had previously shown, and that he had prepared it as his chief opening for this event.

Meanwhile on another board: Peter Leko watches Anand vs Morovich reach its climax

Morozevich, in deep trouble, rotates a pawn in his right hand

Anand, who know he is winning, has left the stage to pace the players' rest area

Anand is back, and Morozevich looking for a final desperate way to save the game...

... but in the end streches out his hand in surrender

The arbiters rush in to complete the paper work of Anand's victory

The two players remain on the stage to analyse their game in animated discussion...

... since all the other games are over, and they have the stage all to themselves

A chess couple has been rooting for their hero with two Tamil signs saying "Victory" and "Anand" (the equivalent of "Go, Anand!"). David Johnson, right, is Canadian, Ranjana Ariaratnam, middle, is Californian with roots in Tamil Sri Lanka. On the left is Anand's wife Aruna.

The two ladies talk, somewhat disappointingly, in English, although both are fluent in Tamil

Anand and Morozevich in their press conference. Note that at this world championship all players have appeared to speak to the press, even after bitter defeats. We hope that Mexico has set an example that will be followed by other super tournaments.

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Full Schedule and Results (second half)

Round 8: Friday, Sept. 21st 2007, 14:00h Peter Svidler  ½-½  Vladimir Kramnik Levon Aronian  ½-½  Alexander Morozevich Boris Gelfand  ½-½  Viswanathan Anand Peter Leko  1-0  Alexander Grischuk Games – Report	Free day: Saturday, Sept. 22nd 2007
Round 9: Sunday, Sept. 23th 2007, 14:00h Peter Leko ½-½  Peter Svidler Alexander Grischuk  1-0  Boris Gelfand Viswanathan Anand  ½-½  Levon Aronian Alexander Morozevich  1-0  Vladimir Kramnik Games – Report	Round 10: Monday, Sept. 24th 2007, 14:00h Peter Svidler  ½-½  Alexander Morozevich Vladimir Kramnik  ½-½  Viswanathan Anand Levon Aronian  1-0  Alexander Grischuk Boris Gelfand  ½-½  Peter Leko Games – Report
Round 11: Tuesday, Sept. 25th 2007, 14:00h Boris Gelfand  ½-½  Peter Svidler Peter Leko  ½-½  Levon Aronian Alexander Grischuk  ½-½  Vladimir Kramnik Viswanathan Anand  1-0  Alexander Morozevich Games – Report	Free day: Wednesday, Sept. 26th 2007
Round 12: Thursday, Sept 27th 2007, 14:00h Peter Svidler     Viswanathan Anand Alexander Morozevich     Alexander Grischuk Vladimir Kramnik     Peter Leko Levon Aronian     Boris Gelfand Games – Report	Round 13: Friday, Sept. 28th 2007, 14:00h Levon Aronian     Peter Svidler Boris Gelfand     Vladimir Kramnik Peter Leko     Alexander Morozevich Alexander Grischuk     Viswanathan Anand Games – Report
Round 14: Saturday, Sept. 29th 2007, 14:00h Peter Svidler     Alexander Grischuk Viswanathan Anand     Peter Leko Alexander Morozevich     Boris Gelfand Vladimir Kramnik     Levon Aronian Games – Report	Sunday, Sept. 30th 2007 Possible tiebreaks, closing ceremony

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Live coverage by Yasser Seirawan on Playchess

Playchess commentator GM Yasser Seirawan

The games of the World Championship 2007, which start at 14:00h local time (check the time in your location here), will be broadcast live on the official site and on Playchess.com server, where there will be daily live audio commentary by GM Yasser Seirawan, with a minimum of three one hour lectures per round, beginning approximately thirty minutes after play has started. For a charge of ten Ducats (about one Euro) a visitor gets a twelve hour pass to listen to the live lectures.

Ducats are the currency used on Playchess.com. You can purchase Ducats here. The amount will be credited to your playchess.com account. You need to allow one working day for processing. If you want your Ducats immediately you can order them using our Click&Buy service. Ducats can also be used to buy ChessBase products. Note that you can also purchase Ducats directly from Fritz or the Playchess client using the menu "Edit – Payments – Fill up account". This takes you to a special purchase page with your account name automatically passed on, to simplify the process.

Links

• Official World Championship web site – also available in Spanish
• Full overview on the world championship schedule (ChessBase)
• All ChessBase reports on the World Championship 2007

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Download all games so far in PGN Download free PGN reader ChessBase Light The games are being broadcast on Playchess.com