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 five express report

Current standings

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Pictures from round five

The only game that ended in a draw in round five

Boris Gelfand out-manoeuvering Armenian GM Levon Aronian (right)

Aronian tries to defend...

... but Gelfand does not let him get away

Finally the Armenian has to capitulate and resigns the game with a handshake

And the winner has words of comfort for his unfortunate opponent

Getting to the World Championship

The impossibly gigantic Boeing 747-400^, which actually flies, and that from Amsterdam to Mexico City in just over eleven hours. Spacious plane, good way to travel.

Sniffer dogs at the airport. It was fascinating to watch: this one scrambled over the bags on the conveyor belt and then sat down resolutely on a suspicious one. The officers tagged the bag and let it go around again. The next time it turned up the dog identified it again. It was taken away for examination.

What you want to see: somebody waiting at the airport holding up a sign with your name

Mexico is rainy at this time of the year

En route to the hotel we pass the Metropolitan Cathedral, the largest in the Western Hemisphere. We shall have to go there again under better weather conditions.

Heavy traffic and heavy rain in the narrow streets of downtown Mexico City

The Sheraton Centro Histórico Hotel, where the world championship is being held, looms

Nightfall in Mexico: the view from my 15th storey hotel window

It is late, but the organising committee is meeting to plan the next round

Naturally the round is over – the hall is being maintained

Hey, wait a minute... It is the chief sponsor and organiser of the world championship, Jorge Saggiante, and the President of the Turkish Chess Federation, Ali Nihat Yazici, who are playing a quick game of blitz on one of the official tables – a special edition made in France.

The sponsor does not have a chance against the president, who is a bit of a hustler

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Full Schedule and Results (first half)

Round 1: Thursday, Sept. 13th 2007, 14:00h Vladimir Kramnik  ½-½  Peter Svidler Alexander Morozevich  ½-½  Levon Aronian Viswanathan Anand  ½-½  Boris Gelfand Alexander Grischuk  ½-½  Peter Leko Games – Report	Round 2: Friday, Sept. 14th 2007, 14:00h Peter Svidler  ½-½  Peter Leko Boris Gelfand  ½-½  Alexander Grischuk Levon Aronian  0-1  Viswanathan Anand Vladimir Kramnik  1-0  Alexander Morozevich Games – Report
Round 3: Saturday, Sept. 15th 2007, 14:00h Alexander Morozevich  1-0  Peter Svidler Viswanathan Anand  ½-½  Vladimir Kramnik Alexander Grischuk  ½-½  Levon Aronian Peter Leko  ½-½  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  1-0  Peter Svidler Alexander Grischuk  1-0  Alexander Morozevich Peter Leko  ½-½  Vladimir Kramnik Boris Gelfand  1-0  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

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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