World Championship 2007 Mexico

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

One by one the players are led to the stage. If you look carefully you will recognise Peter Leko, Levon Aronian, Alexander Morozevich, Vishy Anand and Vladimir Kramnik, each behind a child that led them on the stage.

The kids who looked after the players at the opening ceremony

This one got the top seed!

Look who I got! The one that looks like a rock star!

And two more cuties, in charge of Boris Gelfand and Vladimir Kramnik

The Mayor of Mexico City, Marcelo Ebrard Casaubon addresses the guests

Former and now honorary FIDE President Florencio Campomanes speaks

The man behind this giant event: chief organiser Jorge Saggiante

FIDE dignitaries: Verification Committee Chairman Lakhdar Mazouz, Mrs Jarrett,
Executive Director David Jarrett, Mrs Peter Rajcsanyi

Vice President William Kelleher and FIDE Legal Adviser Morten Sand

Tumultuous scenes as Anand steps forward to draw his lot

A tough job for journalists – impossible to get a clear shot as Morozevich approaches

After the drawing of lots the pairings are displayed on a giant screen

Top seed Viswanathan Anand of India (ranked first in the world, rated 2792)

The man to beat (= take the title from): current world champion Vladimir Kramnik

Big Al Grischuk, extremely popular with half the local population

Alexander Morozevich, rated 2758, one of the most original participants

Peter Leko, top Hungarian GM, former world championship challenger

Part of the Leko Brigade: wife Sofi and father-in-law trainer GM Arshak Petrosian

Big, tall Danish grandmaster assisting the Indian player (okay, Peter Heine Nielsen, Anand's second)

FIDE General Secretary Ignatius Leong, coming all the way from Singapore

Our reporter and photographer in Mexico: Ali Nihat Yazici, super-active President of the Turkish Chess Federation

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Pairings and schedule

Here are the starting numbers of the players, which resulted in the pairings given below, and the general schedule:

No. Player Nat. Rtn Birth 1 Vladimir Kramnik RUS 2769 1975 2 Alexander Morozevich RUS 2758 1977 3 Vishwanathan Anand IND 2792 1969 4 Alexander Grischuk RUS 2726 1983 5 Peter Leko HUN 2751 1979 6 Boris Gelfand ISR 2733 1968 7 Levon Aronian ARM 2750 1982 8 Peter Svidler RUS 2735 1976

September 2007 Mon Tues Wed Thurs Fri Sat Sun           1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Open 13 Rd 01 14 Rd 02 15 Rd 03 16 Rd 04 17 Free 18 Rd 05 19 Rd 06 20 Rd 07 21 Rd 08 22 Free 23 Rd 09 24 Rd 10 25 Rd 11 26 Free 27 Rd 12 28 Rd 13 29 Rd 14 30 Close

Full Schedule and Results (first half)

Round 1: Thursday, Sept. 13th 2007, 14:00h Vladimir Kramnik     Peter Svidler Alexander Morozevich     Levon Aronian Viswanathan Anand     Boris Gelfand Alexander Grischuk     Peter Leko Games – Report	Round 2: Friday, Sept. 14th 2007, 14:00h Peter Svidler     Peter Leko Boris Gelfand     Alexander Grischuk Levon Aronian     Viswanathan Anand Vladimir Kramnik     Alexander Morozevich Games – Report
Round 3: Saturday, Sept. 15th 2007, 14:00h Alexander Morozevich     Peter Svidler Viswanathan Anand     Vladimir Kramnik Alexander Grischuk     Levon Aronian Peter Leko     Boris Gelfand Games – Report	Round 4: Sunday, Sept 16th 2007, 14:00h Peter Svidler     Boris Gelfand Levon Aronian     Peter Leko Vladimir Kramnik     Alexander Grischuk Alexander Morozevich     Viswanathan Anand Games – Report
Free day: Monday, Sept. 17th 2007	Round 5: Tuesday, Sept. 18th 2007, 14:00h Viswanathan Anand     Peter Svidler Alexander Grischuk     Alexander Morozevich Peter Leko     Vladimir Kramnik Boris Gelfand     Levon Aronian Games – Report
Round 6: Wednesday, Sept. 19th 2007, 14:00h Peter Svidler     Levon Aronian Vladimir Kramnik     Boris Gelfand Alexander Morozevich     Peter Leko Viswanathan Anand     Alexander Grischuk Games – Report	Round 7: Thursday, Sept. 20th 2007, 14:00h Alexander Grischuk     Peter Svidler Peter Leko     Viswanathan Anand Boris Gelfand     Alexander Morozevich Levon Aronian     Vladimir Kramnik Games – Report

Full Schedule and Results (second half)

Round 8: Friday, Sept. 21st 2007, 14:00h Peter Svidler     Vladimir Kramnik Levon Aronian     Alexander Morozevich Boris Gelfand     Viswanathan Anand Peter Leko     Alexander Grischuk Games – Report	Free day: Saturday, Sept. 22nd 2007
Round 9: Sunday, Sept. 23th 2007, 14:00h Peter Leko    Peter Svidler Alexander Grischuk     Boris Gelfand Viswanathan Anand     Levon Aronian Alexander Morozevich     Vladimir Kramnik Games – Report	Round 10: Monay, Sept. 24th 2007, 14:00h Peter Svidler     Alexander Morozevich Vladimir Kramnik     Viswanathan Anand Levon Aronian     Alexander Grischuk Boris Gelfand     Peter Leko Games – Report
Round 11: Tuesday, Sept. 25th 2007, 14:00h Boris Gelfand     Peter Svidler Peter Leko     Levon Aronian Alexander Grischuk     Vladimir Kramnik Viswanathan Anand     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