
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. Here are the players taking part in the press conference and in the
world championship:
Player |
Nat. |
Rtn |
Birth |
Vishwanathan Anand |
IND |
2792 |
1969 |
Vladimir Kramnik |
RUS |
2769 |
1975 |
Alexander Morozevich |
RUS |
2758 |
1977 |
Peter Leko |
HUN |
2751 |
1979 |
Levon Aronian |
ARM |
2750 |
1982 |
Peter Svidler |
RUS |
2735 |
1976 |
Boris Gelfand |
ISR |
2733 |
1968 |
Alexander Grischuk |
RUS |
2726 |
1983 |
Before the world championship
By Ali Nihat Yazici
The technical meeting was attended by all players or their seconds. The chief
arbiter started by discussing the rules and explaining the time controls. He
reminded the players that all kinds of electronic devices are strictly forbidden
in the playing hall. There will be metal detectors at the doors to screen the
players and the audience. The meeting was very short and all points agreed upon
without any objections.

Top FIDE dignitary in Mexico: Deputy President Georgios ("Makro")
Makropoulos

FIDE Hon. Vice President Israel Gelfer is responsible for the playing venue

Read my lips – no cellphone calls during the game! Makropoulos and
Gelfer

Why can't we get a few plates of ceviche
during the games? Anand at the technical
meeting* (with Paul German, one of the main organisers, looking into the camera)

I cannot believe you asked that. Aruna Anand, in Mexico supporting her husband*

The organising committe considering the players' requests

Gelfer confers with Chief Arbiter Antonio Bento, Vice President of the Brazilian
Chess Federation

Polina Tsedenova from the FIDE Office is in charge of accreditation and
accommodation

FIDE official Panagiotis Nikolopoulos (who, incidentally, is married to
Polina)

Kramnik's second Loek van Wely, Peter Leko's manager Carsten Hensel and
Peter

Peter Leko with his second (and father-in-law) GM Arshak Petrosian

Happy occasion: Peter turned 28 last Saturday in Mexico City

The other Peter: St Petersburg GM Pyotr Svidler is now 31 (would you believe
it?)

The veteran (at 39 over a year older than Anand!): Boris Gelfand, cool GM
from Israel

FIDE Vice President Geoffrey Borg, who is unenviably responsible for the
Internet and servers, here with Deputy FIDE President Georgios Makropoulos,
who is responsible for everything.

Geoffrey, Makro, Israel and Polina in a board room discussion

The main organiser of the world championship: Jorge Saggiante

Israel Gelfer and Panagiotis Nikolopoulos discuss the construction of the
stage

Wait, aren't we going to need a table and chessboard somewhere here?*

Nikolopoulos and Gelfer explain to Jorge Saggiante (middle) what is required

Come on, Jorge, there must be a table somewhere in Mexico...*

A view of the world championship hall under construction (Tuesday afternoon)

A giant backdrop for the stage

The computer control center of the world championship is being set up
* For new readers and visitors: some of the above captions may not accurately
reflect the situations in the pictures. Some members of the ChessBase news team
have a vivid imagination and are prone to flippant comments that are used purely
to entertain. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause our readers.
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.
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